RESULTS - MSA World Cup DH Junior Qualifying - Mountain Bike News Story

Unlike in the Elites, the overall World Cup titles are still up for grabs in both the Junior men's and women's categories. It's especially tight in the Junior women's, where the top three riders were separated by a mere 20 points before this race (with 60 points going to the winner of the final, anything can still happen).

As the Junior women hit the track, Sweden's Ella Svegby was not in the mix for the overall, but she will be eager to make up for a disappointing World Champs campaign to end the year on a high note. She's off to a good start, scoring the fastest time in qualifying today, ahead of series leader Erice van Leuven. Heather Wilson sits closest to Erice in the overall, but it looks like she has her work cut out for her if she wants to challenge for the top spot after a mediocre qualifying result (unless she was playing it safe...we'll find out tomorrow). Eliana Hulsebosch injured herself racing the iXS Cup, so she was unable to line up for MSA.

Erice Van Leauven — Erice van Leuven in practice - photo by Jack Rice

In the Junior men's category, France's Max Alran holds a comfortable, 54-point lead over Luke Wayman with Asa Vermette out due to a T6 vertebrae compression fracture sustained in Loudenvielle a few weeks ago. Luke could still catch Max, but that would require Luke to win with Max finishing lower than 20th. Max dominated qualifying today, putting over 6 seconds into the 2nd place finisher and 11 seconds into Luke, so we'll say it's looking good for the Frenchman at this point. Tune in tomorrow to catch the finals action!