Jared Graves (Yeti Fox Shox Factory Race Team).(Image credit: Tour of Japan)
Four cross world champion Caroline Buchanan(Image credit: Chameleon Photography / www.chameleonphotography.com.au)
Australia's world four cross champions Jared Graves (Toowoomba) and Caroline Buchanan (Canberra) will begin their campaign to retain their coveted rainbow jerseys when racing gets underway at the 2010 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships in Canada this week.
The formidable pair spearhead a 32-racer strong Australian team, who will join more than 800 athletes from over 50 countries in Mont-Sainte-Anne, Quebec, Canada, to vie for the world title from September 1-5.
Graves, 27, enters the 2010 championships in impressive form after taking out his second World Cup series title in the United States last weekend.
Buchanan is even more determined to win back-to-back world mountain bike titles after a disastrous BMX world championships campaign last month, during which the 20-year-old crashed out in the semi finals when a stroke of bad luck saw her brake lever get caught on her pants and put her out of the final.
The duo were the star performers on home soil in Canberra last year, when Australia played host to the 2009 world championships. Australia recorded its most successful campaign in history, securing five medals - Graves and Buchanan earning the coveted rainbow jersey, Shaun O'Connor winning silver in the junior men's downhill and a bronze for Michael Hannah (men's downhill) and Holly Baarspul (junior women's downhill).
Two-time downhill world champion Samuel Hill (2006-2007) from Western Australia will also line up on the start line in Mont-Sainte-Anne, as will 17-year-old downhill young gun Troy Brosnan from South Australia, one of the most promising junior talents on the world circuit.
Australian cross country champion Rowena Fry and national series victor Lachlan Norris will lead Australia's cross country charge.
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Australian team for 2010 Mountain Bike World Championships
Elite women four cross aroline Buchanan Sarsha Huntington
Elite men four cross Richard Levinson David Habicht Jared Graves Randall Huntington
Elite women cross country Rowena Fry Heather Logie Kate Potter Katherine O’Shea
Elite men cross country Andrew Blair Lachlan Norris
Under 23 women cross country Gracie Elvin Therese Rhodes
Under 23 men cross country Cal Britten (VIC)
Junior men cross country Kyle Ward (NSW) Mitchell Codner (NSW) Trenton Day (NSW) Cameron Ivory (NSW)
Elite men downhill Shaun O'Connor Bryn Atkinson Mitchell Delfs Samuel Hill Chris Kovarik
Junior men downhill Troy Brosnan Phillip Piazza Daniel Lavis
