USA Cycling has announced the first round of nominations for the Cyclocross World Championships in St Wendel, Germany on the 29th and 30th of this month. The women’s team, and the under-23 and junior men’s teams have been announced, with selections based on performances over the season so far.
The women’s team will be led by US champion Katie Compton (Planet Bike) who, after winning all four of the World Cup races that she has started this season, should start the race as one of the overwhelming favourites. Also qualifying automatically is Sue Butler, who finished 14th in the Plzen World Cup back in October.
The rest of the women’s team will consist of Meredith Miller (Tibco), Amy Dombroski (Luna Pro Team) and Kaitlin Antonneau (Peanut Butter & Co-TWENTY12).
Danny Summerhill (Garmin-Transitions) and Zach McDonald both earned automatic qualifications into the under-23 men’s team by virtue of their first and second place finishes at the national under-23 championships in December; they also finished 29th and 28th respectively in last season’s World Championships.
The three discretionary nominees for the under-23 men’s race are Jerome Townsend (Mock Orange), Cody Kaiser (California Giant Strawberries) and Luke Keough (BikeReg.com).
US junior champion Jeff Bahnson (Van Dessel) is the only automatic qualifier for the Worlds junior race; he will be joined by discretionary nominees Andrew Dillman (Prochain) and Bjorn Fox (Clif Bar).
Nominations for the elite men’s team will be announced by USA Cycling next Friday, January 14th.
Elite Women
Katie Compton (Colorado Springs, Colo./Planet Bike-Stevens Bikes)
Susan Butler (Portland, Ore.)
Meredith Miller (Fort Collins, Colo./Team TIBCO-To the Top)
Amy Dombroski (Boulder, Colo.)
Kaitlin Antonneau (Racine, Wis./Peanut Butter & Co TWENTY 12)
U23 Men
Daniel Summerhill (Centennial, Colo./Garmin-Transitions-Team Holowesko Partners)
Zach McDonald (Bainbridge Island, Wash.)
Jerome Townsend (Princeton, Mass./Mock Orange Bikes)
Cody Kaiser (El Dorado Hills, Calif./California Giant Strawberries-Specialized)
Luke Keough (Sandwich, Mass./BikeReg.com-Cannondale)
Junior Men
Jeff Bahnson (Newark, Del./Van Dessel Factory Team)
Andrew Dillman (Fairdale, Ky./Prochain Cycling)
Bjorn Fox (Incline Village, Nev./Clif Bar Development Cross Team)