MTB Shorts
The Alphabet of XC - JKL
Share on Facebook Share on TwitterBY: Anna Buick
Published: 23rd October, 2013
JKL
---J IS FOR OLYMPIC CHAMPIONS
Julien and Jaroslav. Two of the big hitters of our time.
To read the highlights of Julien Absalon's palmares requires roughly one and half advertisement breaks, 80 blinks and one cup of tea. It really is quite the document! He has been French XC Champion since 2003, was consecutive World Champion from 2004-2007, has won the overall World Cup series five times and has more World Cup wins than I have years. He can also demolish a pizza and control his interminably energetic son in a small Czech restaurant! Chapeau.
Jaroslav Kulhavy doesn't have quite the same credentials but he has not yet had the years to accrue such a resume. When Absalon last won a World title, Kulhavy was still an U23. However, the Czech rider still has an impressive list of titles to his name. In 2011 he won the World Championships and overall World Cup series, in 2010 he was European Champion and second at the Worlds. He has won Cape Epic and the hearts of most Czechs.
The shining results in each of their careers are, however, the Olympic titles. For Julien it first came in 2004 in Athens and then again in Beijing, 2008. The Frenchman didn't have it his way in London though and it was Kulhavy who, out-sprinting Nino Schurter, took the 2012 gold medal.
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K IS FOR KENTA
Kenta, as I am sure many of you will know, is quite a character! Another super talent to emerge from the Scottish Highlands, he now spends most of the time travelling around the planet proving himself amongst the World's best U23 and XC Eliminator riders. The cross country eliminator discipline has Kenta's name written all over it - explosive, technical and full of adrenaline. Despite a penchant for parties and an inner wild child, Kenta's passion and determination to succeed in the sport has seen him on the top step of a XCE World Cup podium. Kenta has been a multiple National Champion but nothing compared to sprinting his way to victory in Nove Mesto Na Morave. The Eliminator has given Kenta his need for speed and an outlet for air-time and the occasional whip. Without it I think the pull towards gravity disciplines would lead his XC career downhill.
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L is for Liam
Liam Killeen was not just a top UK rider, but a name to be reckoned with on the World stage.
He was third at the 2002 Commonwealth Games and fifth in Athens at the 2004 Olympics. A rider for the big races, he won gold for England at the 2006 Commonwealth Games, and, after a season off in 2007 due to chronic fatigue syndrome, was a firm contender for an Olympic medal in Beijing. A trip over the handlebars on the first lap saw him subsequently chase from the back of the field up to a very credible seventh place, a shower of 'what ifs' raining over his race.
Liam was British National Champion from 2008 - 2012 and a safe bet for the win in any domestic race during those years. During his career Liam also stood on the World Cup podium and won races across the World.
Liam was set to race the 2013 National Championships in Glasgow and his return to racing after his awful crash at the 2012 Olympics was eagerly awaited. It was not to be though, Killeen didn't start. His career henceforth is a bit of a mystery to most - perhaps some coaching with the Talent Team and Olympic Development Programme, maybe a bit more racing, although that seems increasingly unlikely.
As an apparently shy and fiercely focussed person, Liam is sometimes a rider whose name is overlooked. However, with his palmares, he is someone who British mountainbiking should not forget.
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Anna Buick
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