Ireland had a total of 12 representatives at the UCI Mountain Bike World Championships in Pal Arinsal, Andorra, in both cross-country and downhill disciplines.

 

Competition took place from Wednesday, August 28th until Sunday, September 1st and Callum Morris and Ben Fitzsimon were the first Irish riders on track.

 

The pair got underway in the Men’s Junior Downhill Qualifying on Wednesday. Morris managed a solid 31st ensuring a place in Thursday’s final, while Ben Fitzsimon narrowly missed out on a spot in the final with a 61st place finish in the qualifier due to a mechanical.

 

Thursday saw Callum Morris on track again in the finals. A time of 2:49.760 was enough for a 32nd place finish, with just two seconds separating riders from 15th to 35th.

 

Thursday was also the first competitive runs for the Elite Men’s Downhill category, with riders hitting the track for qualifiers. With seven competitors in this event, hopes were high for some big performances on the tough Pal Arinsal track.

 

Irish riders absolutely did not disappoint. World Cup winners Ronan Dunne and Oisin O’Callaghan qualified in 9th and 11th respectively. 2024 Snow Bike silver medallist Henry Kerr qualified in 37th, ahead of team-mate Jacob Dickson in 45th. Ross Ennis and Niall Clerkin were Ireland’s last two qualifiers in 73rd and 80th respectively, while Chris Cumming missed out on the finals coming in 85th.

 

The Irish contingent headed into the Elite Downhill finals on Saturday hoping to carry that good form from the qualifiers. A very impressive run from Ronan Dunne saw him finish in 6th, just one second behind winner, France’s Loris Vergier. The next quickest Irish rider was Henry Kerr in 41st, with Jacob Dickson just 0:00.01 behind in 42nd. Ross Ennis was next quickest in 67th. A crash early in his run saw Oisin O’Callaghan’s hunt for an Elite rainbow jersey to add to his 2020 Junior title stalled for another year, as he finished the day 77th. A strong week for Niall Clerkin was rounded off with a 79th place in the finals.

 

Greta Lawless got her World Championship debut underway on Friday. She competed in the Women’s Junior Cross-Country Olympic event. Riders completed 4 laps of the 4km course, and tackled 160m of climbing on each lap. Lawless met the challenge head on and came cross the line in 36th, just 8:53 behind Slovakian winner Viktoria Chladnova.

 

Current Irish National Cross Country Champion Chris Dawson was pencilled in to compete in both the Short Track and Olympic events in Andorra.

 

The Short Track event was up first on Friday evening. Despite starting in 47th, a determined performance from Dawson saw him blast through a chunk of the field in the opening laps, and by the end of the ten-lap race found himself crossing the line in 33rd position, less than two minutes behind the winner in a star studded field.

 

Dawson was again on track on Sunday in the Cross-Country Olympic event and despite starting towards the rear of the field again, another impressive performance saw the Irish rider pick up 13 places and finish 54th overall.

 

Caoimhe May was the final Irish rider to get going at this year’s World Championships, having to wait until the final day to take part in the U23 Cross Country Olympic. May put in a solid performance and held her own in a strong field to finish 43rd.

 

A full list of results for all events is available here.