Young guns: Who’s the next Sam Hill?

I don't think any of these are the next Sam Hill, but some solid groms out there. A lot of these aren't racers, though.

Finn Logan https://www.instagram.com/floganmtb/

Jacob Lingeman: https://www.instagram.com/jacoblingemann_mtb/?hl=en

TJ Hyser: https://www.instagram.com/tj.hyser.06/?hl=en

Connor Stitt: https://www.instagram.com/connor.stitt/?hl=en

Ryder Lawrence: https://www.instagram.com/bmxryderlawrence/?hl=en

Sylvain Riopel: https://www.instagram.com/sebastian.riopel/?hl=en

The Outlaw Crew have a bunch of solid riders. I'm not going to link all their individual accounts, but here's the team account:

https://www.instagram.com/outlawtribe/?hl=en

Rumor has it that Asa Vermette may be riding on Neko Mulally's Frameworks team next year- that would be a really solid mentor for his racing future!

Jackson Goldstone seems like the obvious candidate here with his already lengthy career, jumps skills and recent race results. 

But I'd also put Gracey Hemstreet as a possibility. Her race results were unreal this year, but after seeing a clip or two of her at Coast Gravity, she's clearly got the skills in the air to match. 

Curious how one is defining 'the next sam hill'?

Real question, we talking just results on paper? Doing things thought impossible (Champery)? Quiet demeanor but an assassin on the bike? Having 3 kids and still an elite pro?

hahaha, fair play for being honest...I agree with ya, @hogfly list of names was pretty great, lots of good talent in there. I will add Brooke Anderson, young lady from PNW. I worked with her since she was a little grom, and her skills are incredible, she kind of chilled on racing and focused on just riding, freeriding, but, she's got the race bug again-super nice kid that SHREDS https://www.instagram.com/brookebikes/

Seeing her ride at WBP this summer/fall was pretty outrageous. Going places for sure. Definitely got freeracer vibes.

Theres an insane amount of groms here at Whistler. Looking thru the results sheets in the Phat Wednesday (local dh races) the Juniors (14-17) often occupy 25% of the top 20 times of the day. (As in 15/16 year olds beating Kovarik...) The 10-13 year olds aren't far behind. Its kinda fucked getting slaughtered by your friends 10 year old son in a race after riding the park for longer than they have been alive...

Nice add of Brooke.  Sick rider.

In interest of adding girls into the mix, I'll also throw in Landrie McLain. She's focused mainly on riding XC, but she has serious enduro crossover potential (podiumed at Nats this year). Trains like a beast and her tech skills just keep getting better. At like 15 years old, she's slaughtered all the pro women in our local and regional enduro series. https://www.instagram.com/landrie_mclain/?hl=en

And then for a little more diversity, Loic Chabu is also a really talented rider. I'm kind of surprised he's flown under te radar as long as he has, as he's a dream pickup for some brand. POC with legit bike skills. He's fast, and he's got a good bag of tricks. https://www.instagram.com/loicchabu/?hl=en

I will say that if you're actually looking for the next Sam Hill, though, they probably don't have a big social media presence. It seems most of the really keen racers are pretty focused on their racing, not on making edits. Asa had a really small following until recently, despite seriously impressive results over the last two years. 

For non North American up and comers, watch out for

Till Alran

Mylann Falquet

Onni Rainio
Phoebe Gale
Stan Nisbet
Lucas Lagneau
Rosa Marie Jensen


 

Did they beat sober Kovarik or last week's possibly super drunk Korn cover band FaceBook posting Kovarik? 

Sorry Chris, but that was hilarious. 

Been following Onni Rainio on Insta for a bit. Holy crap that dude can slash a corner. 

The Northeast has some fast 15/16yr olds coming up:

Lucas DeDora, Gabe Johnson, Colton Hubbard, Collin Bourque, Jack Zenoni, Noah Couture and on the female side look out for Kale Cushman 

Not sure there will ever be a Sam Hill situation again in terms of results/performance, the field is just too deep in every age category. We thought is was going to be Daprela, but he is crashing out too much. The "unbeatable on a good run" guy seems to be Pierron, but he rose to fame relatively late and is also plagued with injuries. Even Jackson Goldstone, who would appear to be the next Messiah, was only winning 1/2 the races in juniors this year.

To answer Stickman, I would define "the next Sam Hill" as someone using a niche setup and making it work (in his case flat pedals). Would be sick to see someone win again in DH (in normal weather) on flats, or some other weird throwback like a 26in rear wheel for some insane steep course. From that point of view, Gwin with the chainless run kinda gets the closest to my criteria.

Here is France juniors and even younger are also frequently winning or podiuming in regional level races.

Erice van Leuven from NZ sponsored by Commencal and Suntour. Definetly one to watch in the future. Commencal has some really good kids undercover, they have the knowledge and they offer great support for their riders.

We have a world of kids in the Southeast that are thriving on chasing Dak, Gwinn and Neko Grice and the Shaw’s around the hills.   I spend more time than anyone scoring local dh and enduro races.   To get into “the pipeline” kids need to be pinned by 14, so managers can watch their 15 year and make plans for the 17-18 UCI junior years.

If you are old enough to remember the rise of Hill, you realize that Hill(or Gwinn) are generational game-changing talents.  Hill from his days as a junior, Gwinn being pulled in as an adult by fellas who had already eclipsed their own potential for USDH.

If i see anyone in the southeast/mid atlantic that I have great expectations for its the Logar sisters out of West Virigina.   The oldest is 14.  They both have been on pro women’s podiums this year for dh and enduro, and the eldest crushes any xc or cx race she shows up for.

It’s telling watching who Neko is selling Frameworks bikes to, as well.

At last weeks test race at Rock Creek we had 3 southeastern juniors (on two different teams) sweep the 17-18 podium and Asa Vermette in 4th in pro on the VT welded warhorses.   I asked Neko if Asa is “on the frameworks team” for next year- Neko is supplying him with frames, but it’s on the Vermette’s to find parts and continue their own program (which is clearly working for Asa!).

Yep, quite a lot of young rippers from nz

camden rutherford, really nice kid. Absolutely pins it down race tracks

jonty williamson, i ride with jonty a bit and man hes got mad potential. Anothet cool thing about jonty is that he's not from a place that has amazing dh tracks or any of that but he’s still so quick 

joe millington, rides for the yeti nz development team. Really quick

tyler waite

this kid seems to be very promising... i recall him being 3rd to dak and luca .. so.. it's a toss of course on how these kids evolve.. the issue with J Goldstone is that he is not the Sam Hill personality.. but  when most people would have bet he would have gone to be double black flipping, shooting movies and dropping into canyons instead the sank his teeth into the circuit... rainbow jerseys and all.. lets see