USA Cycling Announces 2018 World Champs Team 21

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

(July 30, 2018) Colorado Springs, Colo. – USA Cycling announced today the 41 athletes that will represent the United States in both cross country and downhill at the 2018 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships taking place in Lenzerheide, Switizerland September 5-9.

Among the competitors are several 2018 National Champions, crowned July 18-22 at the USA Cycling Mountain Bike National Championships in Snowshoe, W.VA.: Christopher Blevins (Durango, Colo.; Specialized Bicycles Factory Racing Team), Savilia Blunk (Inverness, Calif.; Whole Athlete) Kate Courtney (San Francisco, Calif; Specialized Bicycles Factory Racing Team), Sandy Floren (Berkeley, Calif; Bear Development Team), Howard Grotts (Durango, Colo.; Specialized Bicycles Factory Racing Team); Erin Huck (Boulder, Colo.), Neko Mulallay (Pisgah Forest, N.C.; The YT Mob), Madeline Robbins (Durango, Colo.; Bear Development Team p/b Trek); Quinn Simmons (Durango, Colo. Whole Athlete); and Samantha Soriano (Littleton, Colo.; COMMENCAL Junior Cartel).

“This Mountain Bike World Championship team represents the best U.S. athletes across the board from Junior to Elite. I expect them all to represent the United States well. I feel very good about the strength and depth of our Elite women’s XC and Junior Women’s DH teams and am also looking forward to seeing great performances from Aaron Gwin and Howard Grotts as well as the rest of our deep and talented team,” said Marc Gullickson, Performance Director of USA Cycling’s Mountain Bike Program.

- photo above by @maddogboris from our Vital MTB World Cup slideshow in Andorra

The Team USA roster is as follows:

DOWNHILL

Junior Women:

• Kaytlin Melvin (Sammamish, WA; Sweetlines Racing)
• Anna Newkirk* (Riehen, Switzerland; Team Project)
• Samantha Soriano* (Littleton, Colo.; COMMENCAL Junior Cartel)

Junior Men:

• Gideon Bender (Duvall, Wash.; Kona Junior Factory)
• Joey Foresta (Salt Lake City, Utah; GT Factory Racing)
• Zach Gareis* (Mars, Penn.; Billy Goat Bikes/Leatts Protectives Racing)
• Cole Suetos (Temecula, Calif; InCycle Racing)
• Nathan StClair (Statesville N.C.; Transition Bikes)

Elite Women:

• Abigail Hogie (Heidleberg, Germany; Pivot Cycles Devo)
• NOTE (August 2, 2018): Caroline Washam was added as an automatic qualifier for the Women's Elite DH as the Pro GRT Winner, we apologize for the error.

Elite Men:

• Aaron Gwin* (Murrieta, Calif.; The YT Mob)
• Charlie Harrison* (Trabuco Canyon, Calif.; Intense Factory Racing)
• Neko Mulally* (Pisgah Forest, N.C.; The YT Mob)
• Kiran MacKinnon* (Santa Cruz, Calif.; Santa Cruz Bicycles)
• Nik Nesteroff (San Marcos, Calif.; KHS Factory Racing)
• Dakotah Norton* (Davidson, Mich.; Unior Devinci Factory Racing)
• Luca Shaw* (Hendersonville, N.C.; Santa Cruz Bicycles)

XCO

Junior Women:

• Katie Clouse (Park City, Utah; Giant Liv Cycling Team)
• Mina Ricci (Woodacre, Calif.; Bear Development Team p/b Trek)
• Madeline Robbins* (Durango, Colo.; Bear Development Team p/b Trek)

Junior Men:

• Nolan Jenkins (Colorado Springs, Colo.; Whole Athlete)
• Paul Fabian (Prescott, Ariz.; Bear Development Team p/b Trek)
• Scott Funston (Maple Valley, Wash.; Team Kona)
• Quinn Simmons* (Durango, Colo. Whole Athlete)
• Kevin Vermaerke* (Rancho San Margarita, Calif; Whole Athlete)
• Jake Yackle (Spokane, Wash.; Yackle Brothers Racing)

U23 Women:

• Haley Batten* (Park City, Utah; Clif Pro Team)
• Savilia Blunk* (Inverness, Calif.; Whole Athlete)
• Gwendalyn Gibson (Ramona, Calif.; NORCO Racing)

U23 Men:

• Christopher Blevins* (Durango, Colo.; Specialized Bicycles Factory Racing Team)
• Carson Beckett (Brevard, N.C.; Bear Pro Team p/b Trek)
• Jerry Dufour (Birmingham, AL; Bear Pro Team p/b Trek)
• Cole Paton* (Durango, Colo.; Giant Factory Off-Road Team)
• Sandy Floren* (Berkeley, Calif.; Bear Pro Team p/b Trek)

Elite Women:

• Kate Courtney* (San Francisco, Calif.; Specialized Bicycles Factory Racing Team)
• Lea Davidson* (Syracuse, N.Y.; Clif Pro Team)
• Erin Huck* (Boulder, Colo.; CZ Racing)
• Ellen Noble (Kennebunkport, Maine; Trek Factory Racing Team)
• Chloe Woodruff* (Prescott, Ariz.; Stan's-Pivot Pro Team p/b Maxxis)

Elite Men:

• Howard Grotts* (Durango, Colo.; Specialized Bicycles Factory Racing Team)
• Keegan Swenson (Park City, Utah; Stan's-Pivot Pro Team p/b Maxxis)
• Luke Vrouwenvelder (Chapel Hill, N.C.)

Automatic qualifiers are noted with an asterisk (*).

The USA Cycling 2018 Mountain Bike World Championships selection criteria for XCO is available here and the criteria for DH is available here.

To cheer for Team USA at the 2018 World Championships, please follow @UCI_Cycling and @USACyclingLIVE on Twitter. For more about the 2018 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships, please visit the event website at https://lenzerheide2018.ch.