Oisin O'Callaghan puts in huge performance at World Champs | Sticky Bottle

*Oisin O'Callaghan on his way to the fastest time in qualifying in the junior men's downhill event at the UCI Mountain Bike World Championships in Italy (Photo:* *Jack Tennyson-The YT Mob)*

Reigning junior downhill world champion, Ireland's Oisin O'Callaghan, has put in a big performance as he tries to retain the rainbow bands in Italy this weekend.

In qualifying at the UCI Mountain Bike World Championships he was fastest of the 54-rider field in the junior downhill men's race yesterday, a fantastic ride that bodes very well for the final of Sunday.

O'Callaghan went down the course in Val di Sole in a time of 3:40.207. That was 1.328 seconds faster than Jackson Gladstone of Canada, with Davide Cappello on Italy third fastest in qualifying, some 3.955 seconds down on the 17-year-old Irish rider.

Great Britain's Dennis Luffman was 4th, at 4.730, and Austrian rider Noah Hofmann was fifth fastest, at 5.188. The final takes place tomorrow, Sunday, when O'Callaghan will hope to retain the world crown he took 10 months ago.

Limerick teenager O'Callaghan last October claimed the world title in Austria, becoming the first world junior cycling champion Ireland has had since Mark Scanlon won the junior road race title in Valkenburg back in 1998.

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O'Callaghan also won two rounds of the UCI Downhill World Cup, both in Slovenia last October, and won the RTE Young Sportsperson of the Year Award for 2020 to cap a whirlwind few months.

While he has been grabbing all the headlines since he went on that dominant run late last year, Ireland has four other riders, all in the downhill discipline, at the Worlds in Italy at present.

Henry Kerr was
best of the Irish, taking 15th of the 97 riders in the race, finishing 7.931
seconds down on fastest qualifier Loris Vergier of France, the former junior
world champion.

Ireland’s Jakob Dickson was 22nd in qualifying, at 9.508 seconds while Christopher Cumming, a junior last year, was 64th at 22.357 seconds. Ronan Dunne was a non-finisher for Ireland after a puncture put him out not long after he clocked the 11th fastest time at the first checkpoint.

Kerr, Dickson and Cumming all go on to compete in the men’s
downhill final on Sunday in Italy.