After the highs of last year, when two World Cup wins and a Worlds gold medal came in quick succession, Oisin O'Callaghan has been dealt another blow this season with a puncture ending his race at the weekend.
The Limerick teenager, last year's downhill junior world champion, went into the race at the weekend in Lenzerheide, Switzerland, looking to get the show back on the road after a disappointing Worlds.
However, while O'Callaghan qualified fourth fastest in Lenzerheide and went into the final as one of the hot favourites, a rear wheel puncture ended his effort.
He rolled over the finish line 24th of the 25-rider field in the final. The race was won by Canada's Jackson Gladstone, the same rider who won the Worlds in Val di Sole, Italy, two weeks ago.
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O'Callaghan qualified fastest at the Worlds and was fastest through the first three time checks in the final, only to crash further down the course. He got back onto his bike and pushed hard down the remainder of the course.
However, the crash meant he lost time and he slipped from 1st to 5th, losing the junior world champion's crown he took last year. That disappointment meant he was gunning for a result last weekend in Switzerland but he now faces a two-week wait before he can try again.
O'Callaghan is next in action with his trade team, The YT Mob, at the next round of the Mercedes Benz UCI World Cup in Snowshoe in the US the weekend after next.
As well as O’Callaghan in action in the junior men’s race in Switzerland last weekend, Ireland also had two riders in the elite men’s final. Henry Kerr (Propain Factory Racing) was best placed of the Irish in the final.
Kerr took 24th place some 8.028 seconds down on winner Loris Vergier (Trek Factory Racing DH), who went down the course in 2:46.921 in the final. Ireland’s Jakob Dickson (Giant Factory Off-Road Team) was 51st at 14.792.
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