Canadian juniors launched the team into the XCO events at 2025 world championships at Friday, landing solid top-10 results. After a week of downhill, short track cross country and relays, the junior men and women were the first to race the full Olympic-distance cross country events.
Rafaelle Carrier and Ethan Wood led the Canadian results, both earning impressive top-10 finishes.
Junior women
In the junior women’s XCO, Quebec’s Rafaelle Carrier again showed incredible world championships speed. The Canadian finished fifth on Friday, fighting it out with France’s Lison Desprez. Slovenia’s Marusa Tereza Šerkezi walked away with the win, attacking on the fourth of five laps to distance Switzerland’s Anja Grossmann. Czechia’s Barbora Bukovska rounded out the podium in third.
Maude Ruelland added to the Canadian team’s success, finishing 11th in Valais on Friday. Nico Knoll followed in 28th and Lily Rose Marois 36th, with all four Canadians finishing on the lead lap.
Junior men
Ethan Wood led Canada in a hotly contested junior men’s XCO in Valais. The B.C. racer moved forward every time through the finish line in the seven-lap race. Wood worked his way through the field from 16th all the way up to seventh at the finish line, 1:31 back, adding another top-10 to Canada’s results sheet at 2025 worlds.
Evan Moore followed moved up from a start position in the 50s to finish 30th, Tristan Taillefer placed 34th, and Nicolas Gauthier 70th. Emilien Belzile withdrew after four laps.
Lucas Tesete added to France’s staggering success at 2025 mountain bike world championships, taking the tricolor’s ninth gold medal in Valais. Roger Suren earn’s Namibia’s first medal of this world championships. Lewin Iten adds a bronze medal for the home Swiss team. All three finished within 31 seconds after seven laps of racing.
Full results: Junior men and women’s XCO, 2025 UCI mountain bike world championships (Valais, Switzerland)
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