Worlds: Largest ever Observed Trials team to compete for Australia

Australia will send it’s largest ever Observed Trials team to compete at the 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships.

With four riders chosen to wear the green-and-gold, Australia will also be eligible to compete in the Team Trails event, another first for the discipline in this country.

Observed Trials is a unique mountain bike discipline where riders navigate obstacles over a series of five separate sections. Athletes have two minutes to ride through six gates in each section, with 10 points accumulated for each successful gate.

Riders lose points for putting any feet or part of the bike on the ground. The rider with the highest score wins the event.

Four separate championships will be decided in Glasgow: Elite Women, Elite Men 20-inch, Elite Men 26-inch, and Team Trials.

While the event is typically dominated by European nations, the Australian team includes 2015 World Champion Janine Jungfels, who will be appearing in her 11th World Championship.

After an extended layoff, the world number 26 is steadily building her way back towards elite competition, finishing 10th at the most recent Trials World Cup event last month in France.

“I'm looking forward to competing at this year's World Championship after having had a four-year break from competing, due to the pandemic and injuries,” the Queenslander said.

“I'm happy just to take part in such a historic event, that's brought together so many cycling disciplines this year. With such a competitive young field of riders, I'm probably not able to compete for the world title anymore, but my goal is to ride at my actual level – which doesn't always happen in competitions – and hopefully that's enough to make finals.”

Nathan Mummery at the 2023 AusCycling Trials National Championship (Photo: AusCycling)

Australia will have three entrants in the Elite Men 26” category, headlined by six-time National Champion Nathan Mummery.

Currently ranked 48th in the world, Mummery finished 19th at the 2022 UCI Cycling World Championships, and has also focused his training specifically for Glasgow, stopping off for a week in Spain to train with other members of the Australian Trials team prior to the event.

“I can’t wait to be a part of such a huge cycling event!” Mummery said. “This year will be the first time ever Australia will have a team for the Teams Trial event, which leads into the individual events.”

“My personal preparation has been much better than last year. I now have my own trials setup to train on in my backyard which has helped. It’s always difficult to prepare when working full time as a shift worker as a paramedic. Bring on Scotland!”

Completing Australia’s Observed Trials team is Sebastian Zepeda Flores and world no. 67 Matthew Harding, both competing at their first-ever World Championship.

Jack Carthy (GBR) will be the hot favourite in the Elite Men 26” title. The current world no. 1 has five world championship titles already to his name, including the last two in this event.

The defending champion in the 20” Men category is Spain’s Eloi Palau, while the top two riders in the world in this category are also from Spain: Alejandro Montalvo Milla and Borja Conejos Vazquez.

In the Elite Women, defending champion and World no. 2 Nina Reichenbach of Germany will be out to claim her sixth title, while world no. 1 Vera Baron Rodriguez (Spain) took the previous rainbow jersey in 2021.

In the Team Trials event, the points scored by each rider count towards their national team’s overall score. The winner is the national team with the highest score. Spain is the defending Teams Trials champion.

ARA Australian Cycling Team for 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships

Women Elite

Janine Jungfels (RATS CC, QLD)

Men Elite 26”

Matthew Harding (Surf Coast Mountain Bike Club, VIC)
Nathan Mummery (Stack City MTB, QLD)
Sebastian Zepeda Flores (Canberra Off-Road Cyclists, ACT)

Main Image: UCI