September 6, 2010 (Mont-Sainte-Anne, QC) – Lauren Rosser gave Canada its first medal of the 2010 MTB Worlds setting the fastest time in the Junior Women’s Downhill and putting pressure on her rivals to unseat her. The 16-year-old waited nervously for almost the entire field to finish but it was well worth the wait as she won the gold and the rainbow jersey. “As I watched everyone come down I was nervous wondering if they were going faster… in the end it was awesome.”

Fanny Lombard (France) won the silver and Julie Berteaux (France) the bronze as Rosser earned the title with a commanding lead of almost 14 seconds over Lombard, making history as Canada’s first first Junior medal at the MTB Worlds. She’s also the second rider to win Worlds downhill gold for Canada as Cindy Devine did in the Elite women’s DH race back in 1990.

“It’s a great course,” said Rosser following her win. “I’m from BC so I’m used to riding in mud and wet conditions and hoped I wouldn’t crash.” Rosser, from Squamish, BC, placed 11th in the junior women’s xc event earlier in the week and plans to continue both disciplines in the future. She’s stoked to start school on Monday as the Junior Worlds DH champ, “I had a lot of fun out there – winning was awesome.”

Full Junior women’s results here.
Interview with Lauren Rosser here.

Junior DH Men

For the junior men Troy Brosnan from Australia took home the gold. The new champ is a Monster Energy Specialized teammate, and Australian Cyclone teammate, of 2010 Elite men’s DH winner Sam Hill. Brosnan has been on fire this season, also winning the World Cup junior overall points title last week in Windham, New York. The USA’s Neko Mulally, a very close second at only 0.06 seconds back, takes home the silver and Lewis Buchanan from Great Britain the bronze.

The 17-year-old Brosnan has a bright shining future ahead of him. “I can’t believe it. I’m just sitting here with Sam, there was a double rainbow behind us before and I guess it was Mother nature just saying well done! I can’t believe it.”

Tyler Allison, one of BC’s top juniors, placed 16th as the best Canadian finisher followed by Nick Geddes in 19th, Chayse Marshall in 20th, Canadian junior champ Remi Gauvin was 27th, Riley Suhan placed 33rd, Nick Grimm was 38th and Kyle Sangers from Ontario did not finish. Competing at the Worlds is great experience for all of these developing riders who may become the next Steve Smith one day.

Full Junior men’s results here.