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Fort William, Scotland
usacycling.org
The U.S. National Team closed out the 2007 Mountain Bike World Championships on Sunday as Southridge local JD Swanguen (San Diego, CA) gave the United States its fifth and final medal of the week with a second place finish in the junior downhill competition.
Swanguen captured the silver medal after descending 1.74 miles down Aonach Mor, the ninth -highest peak in the United Kingdom, just 2.07 seconds off the pace of gold medalist Ruaridh Cunningham of Great Britain. New Zealand's Matthew Scoles earned the bronze medal, less than a half second behind Swanguen.
Swanguen's medal was the first downhill medal for the U.S. since 2004 when Kyle Strait won the junior men's bronze in Les Gets, France.
In total, 18 Americans competed in four Downhill categories on Sunday. In addition to Swanguen, Kathy Pruitt (Lake Almanor, CA) added a second top ten finish for the American contingent as the highest placed elite woman in ninth, 24.6 seconds behind winner Sabrina Jonnier of France.
Bronze 4-Cross medalist Melissa Buhl (Chandler, AZ) was 11th, 26.19 seconds off the winning pace of Jonnier. Rachel Atherton and Tracey Hannah rounded out the podium in second and third respectively.
Other American performances in the junior men's division on Sunday included Tyler McCaul (Aptos, CA) in 18th place, Logan Binggeli (St. George, UT) in 29th, Brad Oien (Fountain Valley, CA) in 30th, Tim Price (Great Falls, VA) in 33rd and Joey Schusler (Boulder, CO) in 41st.
The balance of the elite women's competition included a 24th-place effort from Amelia Colasurdo (Seattle, WA) while Lisa Myklak (Boulder, CO) was 30th, Darian Harvey (Durango, CO) was 32nd and Jessica Vogt (Boulder, CO) placed 36th.
Luke Strobel (Renton, WA) was the fastest American in the elite men's category with a 20th place finish. Strobel finished 16.33 seconds behind Australian Sam Hill who successfully defended his world title from a year ago ahead of France's Fabien Barel and Gee Atherton of Great Britain. Duncan Riffle (Santa Barbara, CA) placed 27th for Team USA, Cole Bangert (Twin Lakes, CO) finished 38th, T.J. Sharp (Boulder, CO) placed 62nd and David Klaassen Van Oorschot (Riverside, CA) was 63rd.
In the junior women's division, lone U.S. competitor Christina Pinney (Concord, CA) finished seventh, 3:29.41 behind winner Florain Pugin of France. Great Britain's Katy Curd won the silver medal and France's Myriam Nicole captured the bronze.
Swanguen joins the bronze medal winning Team Relay squad of Georgia Gould (Ketchum, ID/Luna Chix), Adam Craig (Bend, OR/Giant), Ethan Gilmour (Ludlow, VT/Devo-Okemo) and Sam Schultz (Missoula, MT/Subaru Gary Fisher), world 4-cross champions Jill Kintner (Seattle, WA/GT) and Brian Lopes (San Clemente, CA/Oakley-GT) and Buhl, the elite women's 4-Cross bronze medalist, as an American podium finisher at the 2007 Mountain Bike World Championships.
JUNIOR DOWNHILL RESULTS
1. Ruaridh Cunningham (GBr)...Bike Love Glasgow...5:06.82
2. JD Swanguen...Cove...+2.07
3. Matthew Scoles (Nzl)...2:45
18. Tyler McCaul...Trek-Fox...18.50
29. Logan Binggeli...Yeti...27.19
30. Brad Oien...odi-Southridge...27.63
33. Tim Price...Specialized...32.18
41. Joey Schusler...Specialized...42.68
WOMEN
1. Floraine Pugin (Fra)...5:50.18
2. Katy Curd (GBr)...+27.12
3. Myriam Nicole (Fra)...51.30
7. Christina Pinney...Ride SFO...3:29.41
ELITE DOWNHILL RESULTS
1. Sam Hill (Aus)...Ironhorse-Monster...4:52.01
2. Fabien Barel (Fra)...+0.64
3. Gee Atherton (GBr)...Animal Commencal...4.37
20. Luke Strobel...Maxxis...16.33
27. Duncan Riffle...Honda-Ironhorse...20.96
38. Cole Bangert...Morewood-Utopia...25.03
62. T.J. Sharp...Yeti-Fox...37.74
63. David Klaassen Van Oorschot...odi-Southridge...39.72
WOMEN
1. Sabrina Jonnier (Fra)...Ironhorse-Monster...5:28.35
2. Rachel Atherton (GBr)...Animal Commencal...+4.01
3. Tracey Hannah (Aus)...11.54
9. Kathy Pruitt...Jamis...24.60
11. Melissa Buhl...KHS...26.19
24. Amelia Colasurdo...Bear Naked Cannondale...50.53
30. Lisa Myklak...Leelikesbikes...1:01.39
32. Darian Harvey...Durango Rough Riders...1:12.34
36. Jessica Vogt...Dianese-Gamut-Fox...1:33.88
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