It’s been a full month since the last mountain bike World Cup, but Lenzerheide, Switzerland is bringing a full roster of XC and DH action back this weekend. The double header starts Friday with short track cross country racing. Downhill takes over the slopes of Switzerland on Saturday before the Olympic distance XC race on Sunday.
46 Canadians are on the start list across junior, under-23, elite categories in downhill and cross country. The huge team will be hunting for podiums and experience, with newer riders joining the experienced elites in Switzerland.
Canadians to watch in Lenzerheide
What have Canadians been doing with the time off since Leogang? Well, winning Crankworx whip-off events, podiuming at Enduro World Series rounds and racing Canada Cup rounds back here in Canada.
Lenzerheide has been kind to Canadian racers in the past. Emily Batty and Elliot Jamieson won bronze world championships medals at the same venue back in 2018, in elite XCO and junior men’s DH, respectively.
Cross country: injuries and comebacks
Batty’s back in Europe for Lenzerheide, but will be missing her Canyon MTB teammate Jenn Jackson after the Canadian elite XCO champ broke her elbow in Leogang.
While Jackson is out, Léandre Bouchard, Canada’s elite men’s XCO national champ, is returning to World Cup racing after his own injury in Brazil. He’ll join Gunnar Holmgren, who has had a break-out elite year, the Disera brothers and several more Canucks in the elite men’s racing.
A huge squad of under-23s are in Switzerland for the weekend’s racing. That includes Carter Woods, Emilly Johnston, Roxane Vermette, Tyler Orschel and several more heading over for their first international races of the year.
Downhill: Canadians on the move
Canadian riders are charging hard in downhill right now. Finn Iles is back to health, with a sixth in Leogang after injury stalled his excellent start to 2022 in Lourdes, where he was second. Mark Wallace was right behind Iles in Austria, finishing 10th. Patrick Laffey and Seth Sherlock have also posted fast results this season, the later finding time to score two Enduro World Series podiums in his time “off” between downhill events….
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