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Green is golden again

Green, Hesjedal in medals at World Championships Victoria’s Roland Green captured his second UCI Mountain Bike World Championship cross-country title in as many years on Sept. 1 in Kaprun, Austria.

Green, Hesjedal in medals at World Championships

Victoria’s Roland Green captured his second UCI Mountain Bike World Championship cross-country title in as many years on Sept. 1 in Kaprun, Austria.

While dirt is the name of the game, light rains throughout the day made for some heavy mud as the track was chewed up by the women, juniors and espoir racers earlier in the day. Green was barely recognizable as he crossed the finish line in two hours, 19 minutes and two seconds.

Although he fell short of winning his second consecutive World Cup title, finishing fifth in the overall Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) rankings, the 28-year-old showed why he is still one of the top mountain bikers in the world.

Nineteen seconds after Green, Filip Meirhaeghe of Belgium – the World Cup title winner for the 2002 season – crossed the line to earn a silver medal in 2:19:21. Third place went to Thomas Frischknecht of Switzerland, almost a minute and a half back of Meirhaeghe.

Also for Canada, Seamus McGrath of Ontario finished in eighth place, national champion Geoff Kabush finished 17 th , Chris Sheppard of Kamloops was 25 th , Peter Wedge of New Brunswick was 38 th , and Andreas Hestler of Victoria was 62 nd .

The women’s race went to Gunn-Rita Dahle of Norway in 2:14:05. Anna Szafraniec of Poland was second in 2:15:28, followed by Sabine Spitz of Germany in 2:16:53.

North Vancouver’s Alison Sydor missed the podium by less than a minute to finish fourth overall in the championships in 2:17:41.

The 36-year-old edged out some of the top riders in the world in some of the most challenging conditions of the season. Like Green, she also finished fifth overall on the World Cup circuit.

Two other Canadians finished in the top 10 at the world championships. Chrissy Redden of Ontario was seventh in 2:24:02 and Kiara Bisaro of Courtenay was eighth in 2:24:44.

Other Canadians included Marie-Helene Premont of Quebec in 2:20:16, Trish Sinclair of Victoria in 31 st , Eron Chorney of North Vancouver in 34 th and Sandra Walter of Victoria in 53 rd .

In the Under 23 Espoir category, Victoria’s Ryder Hesjedal won the bronze medal with his time of 2:02:34. Julien Absalon of France took the gold in 1:59:01, and Ralph Naef of Switzerland earned took silver in 2:01:33.

Ricky Federau of Abbotsford was 37 th , and Kris Sneddon of Sechelt was 42 nd .

Whistler rider Will Routley, 19, also raced, but had to leave when he was lapped. Shawn Bunnin of Saskatchewan was also lapped.

In the junior race, Trent Lowe of Australia took the top spot by almost two minutes ahead of Iouri Trofimov of Russia and Tony Longo of Italy. Frederic Bussieres of Quebec was the top Canadian in 24 th .

Lisa Mathison of Australia won the women’s junior race, followed by Elisabeth Osl of Austria and Petra Bublova of the Czech Republic. For Canada, Elsi Torresan was 22 nd , Jean-Ann McKirdy 23 rd , Kate Scallion 26 th and Marie-Laurence Lupien 28 th .

In the downhill competition on Saturday, Aug. 31, the 3.2 kilometre course was considerably drier and faster. The average speed of Nicolas Vouilloz of France, the gold medal winner in five minutes and 8.53 seconds, was over 37 kilometres per hour.

Steve Peat of Great Britian was second in 5:09.07, followed by Chris Kovarik of Austria in 5:13.88. Dustin Adams of Kamloops was the top Canadian in 17 th place with a time of 5:25.32.

The women’s downhill, to nobody’s surprise, went to Anne Caroline Chausson of France. She has raced flawlessly this season, winning every World Cup event as well as the 4X (four-cross) championship and title.

With a time of 5:45.58, she was almost six seconds faster than Fionn Griffiths of Great Britain and 10 seconds faster than Missy Giove of the U.S.

Michelle Dumeresq was the top Canadian in 24 th .

Whistler’s Sylvie Allen was 28 th overall, followed closely by Whistler’s Claire Buchar in 31 st . Cassidy Johnson was 36 th .

In the junior women’s race, Whistler’s Brook Baker finished sixth overall out of nine competitors. In her first season racing downhill – on a borrowed bike, no less – she won the Junior Expert category at the nationals to qualify.

Baker described the world championships as a great experience, one that she is definitely interested in repeating. Next year she says she will race both cross-country and downhill events on the B.C. Cup circuit and other important races.

"I’m pretty happy with my run. It was so much faster than my seeding run, although it didn’t feel like it. I rode it completely clean, and a little harder, but I wasn’t expecting anything like that," said Baker.

The course itself was challenging and included some "steep technical sections, slippery root sections, lots of berms, off-camber grass sections," that Baker said made it difficult to get a rhythm going.

The title went to Emmeline Ragot of France, followed by her teammate Claire Bauchet and Diana Marggraff of Ecuador.

The junior men’s championship went to Sam Hill of Australia, followed by George Atherton of Great Britain and Justin Havukainen of Australia.

Thomas Vanderham was the top Canadian in 30 th , followed by Kwanah Sioui-Moar in 38 th , and Mathieu Lagrange in 52 nd .

Complete results can be found at the UCI Web site at www.uci.ch .