Should Juniors still have a place on World Series Teams?

As the feeders series sit now, I do not think they are ready to fully help develop the juniors. 

I also see World Cup teams holding on to established pros longer before taking a chance on a junior if teams haven’t had a chance to see the young riders on the same tracks as the elites.

The generational riders like Asa and the Alrans will be okay, but the riders who take longer to develop are going to slip through the cracks.

Hell, forget juniors, how would someone like Dak come up today?

I think it's a terrible idea to discontinue juniors, especially for the non-europeans riders.  The tracks are so different in the US from the European tracks that going over as a junior is one of the only ways to learn.  Its seems the US riders get less interest than the European and very few end up on factory teams as it is.  I dont the the feeder series will be much help, as awesome as the Monster Pro DH and the National series races are, in giving the juniors enough exposure to be put on a factory team and then given enough time to learn the ropes in Europe to give their careers a chance. I know for me it would have been almost impossible to support my son in Europe as a junior without factory support and the US tracks just are not enough like the European tracks, not to mention getting used to being in Europe all the time.  IMHO I just think its a terrible idea.

with how the so called "feeder" series sit today, part of me thinks it would make more sense to make a U23 category similar to XCO & road.  first, it'd increase the size of the field (jrs is a notoriously small category, even on the mens side), plus it would give the riders more seasons to develop skills on the same tracks they'd race when moving up to elite.

Sounds terrible. On brand for WBD honestly. 

I think the absence of juniors or a lites class whether age based or entry based is a mistake.

These guys are making a huge effort to make the sport more like formula one but formula one has formula 2 and supercross has the 250 class.  If most downhill series can pull off 100 pro racers plus a full set of amateur categories these guys should be able to figure it out.

Only good thing these guys have brought to the table is broadcasting juniors and now it’s gone.  Par for the course with wbd.

What if we chopped the injured riders into dog food during the season, to help cover expenses for the series?

Or if we required donations of sperm and eggs from riders, which could be sold off to the highest bidder?

Another idea: We could ask the riders to choose one of their parents, and if they don't make the cut for finals at least once during the season, we feed that selected parent to a pack of starving dogs.

My main concern here is how we can make this race series more profitable. I believe we can do it, as long as we're willing to think outside the box!

Sorry if my sarcasm was a little too thick in the last post, but cutting the junior class is a mindboggingly terrible idea for the sport, and can only be justified as a cost cutting measure for feeding the beast at WBD.

It's baffling to read news like this and wonder how these ideas ever get approved. And then I remember, "oh yeah, it's not about the sport, or the athletes, or the fans, or for the sake of 'sport' in general. It's about wringing as much money out of the sponge as WBD can, even if they ruin the sponge in the process.

I like the sport the way it is, thanks. I still don't know what was accomplished by dropping a five-person podium. I've always enjoyed watching the junior category. Sometimes it's more interesting than elites.

I thought one of WBD’s main goals was to improve the juniors category and to support young riders.

Well, they actually achieved that goal — the depth of talent has never been greater in the junior ranks. I’d even go as far as to say it’s sometimes more exciting to watch the juniors than the elites. Hats off.

By scrapping the junior category, WBD isn’t just dropping the improvements — they’re abandoning one of their core goals: developing and supporting young riders. So either that goal was pure PR talk, or this is one of the first WBD decisions that really annoys me. (Because unlike most of the fans, i'm quite happy with the changes WBD brought into the sport)

People tend to forget that not all juniors are Zierls or Alrans who dominate their category and could easily challenge the elites. Junior categories exist for a reason — even riders like the Alrans and Rosas benefit from the environment and progression that come with racing among their peers, even if their speed and talent already match or exceed the elites.

edit: As long as I don’t see any official statement, I’d go as far as to say: the rumors about ditching the junior categories are bogus.

Rumor is all it is for now, and I really hope it stays rumor as the Junior category is so good. Especially now it's televised. There has been quite a few late bloomers in the men's junior category over recent years. And this season finally had insane depth in the junior women's category. So all in all scraping the junior WC category now would be crazy.

I had seen or read either on here or PB comments that it was some of the WC team managers who wanted to scrap the junior category and not WB. Curious to see what truth is in that.

Anyways the only small positives that may come out of canning the juniors would be

- More elites in finals (20 women and 40 men?)
- Easier scheduling so we get Q1 or Q2 or both live or kinda-live?
- Top teams sign juniors anyways and have them race WC and other events?

- Teams continue to talent scout 17-18 yr olds who don't race WC, just as they do currently for 15-16 yr olds?

 

If WBD was a guy you know, he’d be in sales. 

It's not tennis. We should never put the pressure of having a minor take their life in their hands to win $3000 trying to beat a seasoned 10 year professional with an unlimited budget & depth of experience that simply can't be replicated.

A 16 year old, well guided or not, would more often than not, risk getting paralyzed to get in finals.  There will always be a Jackson or an Asa.
But part of why they can put down a time that rivals the best of the Elite field is they're racing their peers. Teens. 

Removing Junior category leaves a young man/woman zero opportunity to balance a near deadly seasonal racing job with the hurdles of transitioning to adulthood.

Current format directly correlates to real life.
 

With XC riders that are of age for the U23 class can opt out and race elite, it happens all the time.  Why not keep a junior class for DH (whatever age cutoff) and allow riders to bump up to elite if they desire?

I doubt this is coming from WBD. It’s coming from the teams. Sure if you have an Asa, Rosa, Gracey or an Alran, you’re set but otherwise you’re flying someone around the world to not qualify and get zero points. That’s the predicament for most teams. 

25 juniors qualify in mens.  Generally each team carries 1 junior though commencal carried the Alrans.  That means that of the 15 teams guaranteed into each race and the wildcard teams that if they have a good junior, should each have a junior in the race.  I dont know if the teams want juniors or not, but I dont think that  carrying a junior who won't qualify anyhow is a problem for the factory teams.  On the other hand privateer juniors pay a lot and may not qualify, but that is the same as an elite privateer.

that's how it used to be. 

Marketing.  Like sales except you don’t get paid based off closing deals and your budget comes out of everyone else’s.

I think the experience certainly helps a junior grow, but I am torn.  We see who the talents are in juniors.  Asa, Alran's, Jackson... they are something special and we get the exposure of that by having them at the same event.  I think we would have known who they are just the same without a junior category.  Richie was racing with the elites as a 2nd year junior, that was first year of the Junior category and they gave them the option to remain in elites or race with Juniors, Richie chose to race elites (I think he was the only one?).  The late bloomers will be difficult to get the exposure.  And to feed off of what someone else said, would we have a Dak??  Or how about Gwin???  These are guys who really never even raced DH until they were beyond their junior years.  I am sure there are others. 

Whatever happens, the true talent I think will always rise to the top but some of the guys we are hoping to get a top 10 or even top 20 may have a tougher time getting there.  

9 wins by U23 riders this year across mens and womens... So ya U23 is not the answer. Juniors is fine as is. Its working perfectly based on that first stat, they just meddling cause coporate overlords can't stop fidgeting

Eliminate Q1/Q2 which only serves to make riders take more undo risk and increase injuries. Eliminate the junior category. No protected riders. Increase the field size to 60 qualified riders. Broadcast the top 30 riders in final. Spank bank and show the run footy of the P1 hotseat rider at the start of the top 30 broadcast for recap. 

Boom: a format that respects the riders health, includes juniors and meets the WBD's goals of broadcasting less DH.  

The version of this rumor I heard was that Juniors would be eliminated, but the minimum age for elite drops to 17 and the elite fields each grow by 5. So Juniors sort of get absorbed in a way? Has anyone else heard this version?

Headline question has it backwards: the juniors will take all the places on world series teams. Team managers won’t want to be the guy who misses out on the next Alran or Vermette, ditching older / injured riders. That’s what happens in every sport. 

It came up in the Rampage thread I believe, but there's been studies done that humans don't fully develop their risk assessment abilities until they're in their 20s.  Couple that with teenagers being less physically strong than 20-somethings, if you force them to compete against adults, you're going to see a big uptick in injuries for the kids.  Yes, some of the truly gifted youngsters can put down heaters of times as good or better than the elites if they hit their lines perfectly but that's the exception, not the rule.

This sport has a much greater potential for traumatic injury than something tennis or figure skating (just to name a couple that my wife likes to watch, where teens are competing against adults).

Does this rule mean you have to be 18 or older to ride for an elite team? Or does it mean that if you’re fast enough, no matter your age that you can race in the elite category?

Personally, I think if a rider is fast enough (like many of the top juniors putting down incredible times), they should be allowed to compete with the elites. The only people who might have a problem with that are some elite riders who’ll realize they’re not as fast as they thought.

In the end, the real winners would probably be the teams. They could take advantage of younger riders by saying they “don’t have the experience yet,” even though they’re faster, meaning those riders might end up with lower contract offers.

Pierron Jizz pulling a premium

What if the top 5 juniors from qualifying ran with the Elites?  I get this from production standpoint. Holding a separate race is more expensive and, this year, it would have been great seeing the juniors run with the elites. 

What I find interesting in all of this is that for 2026, UCI have updated the DH rules and we finally have the option to split the results that get sent to UCI from National & Continental Championships into Elite & U19. While yes, less points for the junior class, it does remove any confusion (Elite age riders getting Junior'd for the elite title) and more symbolically means both the U19 & Elite winners have the opportunity to wear the jersey/sleeve on the world cup regardless of who sets the outright fastest times on the day at those events). 

They've also updated the Junior World Cup Entry criteria for 2026 to include 'National and Continental Champions' - closing an unfortunate gap in qualifying option due to the combined results mentioned above (i.e the 2025 Junior National champ didn't get any priority from UCI/WBD around world cup entry from that title, unless they were also the elite champ for that country). 

Seems like a lot of rule updates to then bin the category at a World Cup level a year later....

But then again they made the above changes but didn't do the same for Enduro. 

I think the media partner should have no say in how the sport is governed. 

It is madness that 40% of riders competing in finals are juniors. If they have their own category it should be a smaller size if UCI/WBD want to push elitism like they are doing in the elite categories. Scrap it and increase the field sizes for men and women, the best juniors can compete with elites early doors anyway. 

Cut ‘em. Give me a 90 minute broadcast of top 20 men and top 10 women on tracks that feature more range in technicality (ie bus stops, ultra tech, high speed sections, jumps/rhythms, and sections that exemplify cornering prowess). 

Make the junior category a category that gives riders 5 years to point out of, sort of like the 250 class in moto. If you can’t cut it in the b category and get enough points to race elites, then you have to go back to being a national/continental racer. This category would ideally be designed for riders ages 17-22 (u23 esque) and would give riders a clear path to world cups but maybe they only get to race 5 out of the 10 stops or they race the day before