Andri Frischknecht, son of Thomas, won the junior race at the Downieville Classic. (Image credit: Scott-Swisspower MTB-Racing)
It wasn't cross country mountain bike legend Thomas Frischknecht (Scott Swisspower) that topped the podium in Downieville this weekend, but his 15-year-old son, Andri Frischknecht. After two days of California racing, Andri won the overall unofficial "All Mountain" world championship title for the junior men.
The Downieville Classic included a point-to-point cross country race on Saturday followed by a 45-plus minute long Super D on Sunday. Times were added together for both events, and each rider had to race the same bike on Sunday that he used on Saturday, with only changes to air pressure and lubing of chains allowed.
The younger Frischknecht won the cross country in 2:17:25, ahead of Matt Dion and Casey Sanchez. Sanchez and Dion went one-two in the Super D, followed by Will Patterson, but Frischknecht's fourth was still good enough to give him the overall.
Mountain bike legend and father Thomas finished seventh overall in the elite men's race, which was won by Adam Craig (Giant). Katerina Nash (Luna) won the women's race. The elder Frischknecht raced his final UCI World Championships last summer in Val di Sole, Italy.
The race drew an all-star field with the likes of Brian Lopes, Miles Rockwell, Greg Herbold and Tom Ritchey.
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