On Tuesday, USA Cycling officially announced the Elite riders who will be representing Team USA at the 2019 World Championships in Bogense, Denmark on February 2 and 3.
Even though Elite Cyclocross Nationals were held in December, the selection criteria include a provision based on UCI rankings as of January 15, thus the announcement today versus earlier like the Junior and U23 selections.
The selection criteria fall into three categories: Automatic, Final and Discretionary. Athletes meeting Automatic criteria are provided support by USA Cycling. This year, Katie Compton qualified based on her second-place finish at the 2018 World Championships, and Kaitie Keough qualified with her win at the 2018 Jingle Cross World Cup.
Kaitie Keough’s win at the Jingle Cross World Cup automatically qualified her for Team USA. 2018 Jingle Cross World Cup. © J. Corcoran / Cyclocross Magazine
The Final selection criteria include several provisions that ultimately come down to male athletes ranked in the top 75 in the UCI rankings and women athletes in the top 50. These athletes are self-funded, unless USA Cycling opts to provide funding for them.
We asked USA Cycling about the difference in qualifying criteria for the women men. “The difference in numbers in our qualification document is due to the difference in depth in fields and rankings as well as the relative level that US Women and US Men are performing at,” Marketing and Communications Manager Kelly Fox said.
USA Cycling also reserves the right to make Discretionary selections when spots are not filled by Automatic selections. More information about Discretionary selections is available from USA Cycling.
For this year’s Worlds, the Women’s team was allowed six members while the Men’s was allowed seven thanks to Curtis White’s win at the 2018 Pan-American Championships. As we saw with the U23 Women’s team, USA Cycling can choose to not fill all the spots.
Curtis White’s Pan-Ams win provided the U.S. with an additional spot for Worlds. 2018 Pan-American Cyclocross Championships, Midland, Ontario. © Z. Schuster / Cyclocross Magazine
This year’s Elite Team USA selections are below.
“Team USA will field a strong squad for both the Women’s and Men’s Elite races,” said USA Cycling Cyclocross Manager Jesse Anthony in a press release. “On the women’s side, we have a range of experience levels from Samantha Runnels’ inaugural World Championship race, to American Cyclocross queen, Katie Compton. The potential for a podium in Bogense is very high, and the Women’s race will be hotly contested.”
“On the men’s side, we’ve seen consistent progression from riders like Curtis White and Kerry Werner throughout the season. I expect some exceptional performances from this very motivated group.”
Elite Women
- Elle Anderson (Milwaukee – Alpha Motorhomes)
- Katie Compton (KFC Racing p/b Trek Knight)
- Rebecca Fahringer (Kona Maxxis Shimano)
- Kaitie Keough (Cannondale p/b CyclocrossWorld)
- Ellen Noble (Trek Factory Racing CX)
- Sammi Runnels (Squid Squad)
Elite Men
- Anthony Clark (Squid Squad)
- Stephen Hyde (Cannondale p/b CyclocrossWorld)
- Cody Kaiser (LangeTwins / Specialized)
- Kerry Werner (Kona Maxxis Shimano)
- Curtis White (Cannondale p/b CyclocrossWorld)
Other men were eligible for selection based on their spots in the top 75 of the UCI rankings. Jack Kisseberth (Garneau – Easton p/b Transitions LifeCare) declined his spot, and Jamey Driscoll (Pivot Cycles/Maxxis p/b Stan’s/DNA Cycling) and Tobin Ortenblad (Santa Cruz / Donkey Label Racing) are unable to race due to injury.
Featured image: Bart Hazen
