Cooper cruises to junior men's cross country title

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Anton Cooper won a gold medal for New Zealand in the junior men's cross country race at the mountain bike world championships in Saalfelden, Austria on Saturday morning. The Kiwi rider upset defending champion Victor Koretzky (France) and Titouan Carod (France).

"One of my goals I set for this year was to win the world championships," said Cooper. "It's been a dream as a kid to win this thing. I'm finally satisfied. I felt relaxed. Everything just fell into place."

Cooper set the pace from the start and only Koretzky could hang at first; however, the French maintained a strong presence at the front of the field. On the first lap, Cooper was chased by three French riders in a row: Koretzky, Carod and Antoine Bouqueret (France) and Romain Seigle (France) was not far behind them.

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"The pace was hot. I knew going up the first climb because I could listen to the other riders breathing," said Cooper. "I got first into the singletrack. I wasn't quite on to it and I let a couple of the riders pass me, but I managed to get them back not long after and took the lead again. I played my cards well. I felt comfortable with my race and how it was going."

Carod bridged up to Cooper and Koretzky on lap two, but by the end of that lap, Cooper had dropped them both and would ride the rest of the start-loop-plus-four-lap race on his own off the front.

Koretzky and Carod were left to battle for silver and they remained close throughout the race, but the defending champion triumphed in the end.

"I felt good today, but Anton was stronger," said Koretzky. "For me, it was difficult on the uphill road sections. After he dropped me, I ended up in a race with Titouan. I went into the last singletrack first to keep my second place on that final lap.

"The French junior team is so good. It's a good achievement for us French juniors."

Carod said, "I feel very good. In the start, I had a bobble, and on the second lap, my legs were good, and I got on the wheel of Anton. We French are very strong. Anton and Victor got clear of me, but in the finish, Victor and I were very tight."

Seigle was fourth ahead of Keegan Swenson (United States) in fifth.

"I had a little problem at the start and missed my pedal. I had to catch up, but I felt good," said Swenson. "The race was fast - consistently fast."

Swenson, who will move up to the U23 ranks along with all of the top nine finishers on the day, is looking forward to the transition and was delighted to make his goal of finishing in the top five. "It was a great season. I had a bunch of top 10s and World Cup finishes and a national title. I'm excited for the U23s. It will be fun."

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