While the incredible show Mont-Sainte-Annd put on to wrap up the 2023 World Cup season is just barely in the rearview mirror, and far from fading from memory, it was a long year. It was, for Canadians, also a really good year.
So, before we move on to the 2024 season, let’s take a look way back to the start of the ’23 season to pull out some World Cup highlights from Canuck riders.
Jackson Goldstone’s stellar rookie year
Jackson Goldstone started his first year in the elite category strong, with a podium in Leogang, and only got better from there. A win in Val di Sole and a series of more podiums carried the young Syndicate racer into contention for the overall title. That would be remarkable for any rookie but was all the more impressive considering he spent the first half of the season battling an ongoing injury, balancing training with surgery. Goldstone’s wrapped up his rookie year in the most spectacular way possible: winning the final World Cup at home in Canada at Mont-Sainte-Anne to secure second overall. Sensational effort from the young star.
Carter Woods’ wins
After a great 2022 season, Carter Woods started 2023 with a new team, joining Giant Factory Off-Road Team, and big goals. The success started early, with a perfect weekend in Val di Sole, Italy, where Woods won the under-23 short track (XCC) and u23 cross country Olympic (XCO) races. An unfortunate mechanical slowed down the Vancouver Islander’s world championships effort on the start line, but Woods rallied to take a spectacular win at the penultimate u23 World Cup round in Snowshoe, W.Va.
Emmy Lan repeats overall title
Emmy Lan, also from Vancouver Island’s Comox Valley, rolled into 2023 as the defending under-21 champion of the Enduro World Series. The series name may have changed, with UCI retitling it as Enduro World Cup, but the result stayed the same. Lan dominated the season with five wins in eight rounds to win the 2023 title. The Forbidden Synthesis racer also landed the Canadian enduro national championship title and, just for fun, raced downhill world championships and several downhill World Cup events between and after the enduro calendar.
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