Following last week's announcement naming the automatic selections to the U.S. squad for the 2005 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships in Livigno, Italy later this month, USA Cycling finalised its team by announcing discretionary nominations today. The 21 additional start positions bring the total number of competitors representing the United States at the annual championship event to 43.
Of the previously announced automatic qualifiers, Alison Dunlap (Colorado Springs, Colo.) declined her nomination to the team. The two-time Olympian and 2001 World Champion has announced her retirement from world-class competition after the 2005 season in which she is focusing solely on domestic-based events including the NORBA National Mountain Bike Series.
Discretionary picks to the men's cross country squad include 2004 U.S. Olympic Team member Todd Wells (Durango, Colo.), Jeremiah Bishop (Harrisonburg, Va.), Michael Broderick (Chilmark, Mass.), Barry Wicks (Corvallis, Ore.) and current U.S. Elite National Road Race Champion Carl Decker (Bend, Ore.).
The sole addition to the women's cross-country team is Heather Irmiger (Boulder, Colo.). Irmiger has put up impressive results in cross country events on the NORBA series this year with second and third place finishes respectively at round three in Deer Valley, Utah and round four in Sandpoint, Idaho.
Other additions include Nick Ranno (Boulder, Colo.), and Sam Jurekovic (Durango, Colo.) in the U23 cross country category and Michael Cummings (Snellville, Ga.), Kyle Hammaker (Marysville, Pa.), Mitchell Peterson (Sandy, Utah) and Tristen Uhl (Smithville, Texas) in the junior men's cross-country discipline.
The elite men's downhill squad added four as Chris Van Dine (Salt Lake, City, Utah), Gerritt Beytagh (Fletcher, N.C.), Curtis Keene (Fremont, Calif.) and David Klaassenvanoorschot (Riverside, Calif.) earned nominations.
Melissa Buhl (Chandler, Ariz.), who was an automatic selection to compete in the 4-cross, was added to the elite women's downhill roster.
Bronze medalist in the junior men's downhill at last year's world championships in Les Gets, France, Kyle Strait (Redlands, Calif.), was an automatic selection to the elite 4-cross squad, but also earned a discretionary pick to again ride in the junior men's downhill race. Strait joins Brendon Newton (Arvada, Colo.), and Kyle Adams (Hesperia, Calif.) as discretionary selections for the junior men's downhill.
Veteran rider Mike King (San Diego, Calif.) earned a slot in the men's 4-cross.
Complete U.S. Team for UCI Mountain Bike World Championships:
*Denotes Automatic Selections
