Oisin O’Callaghan has ended his season back on the podium at the UCI World Cup in the US. He took 3rd in the junior downhill to conclude what was a trickier racing campaign for him than last year.
Twelve months ago he won the junior world title and won two rounds of the World Cup, all within weeks. He then won the RTE Young Sportsperson of the Year Award.
Since then he has had a concussion and some injury problems and though he has raced well, crashes have undermined his efforts. At the Worlds two weeks ago in Val di Sole, Italy, he was on track to retain his world title until he crashed, only to remount and finish 5th.
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He had been fastest through the splits and the crash definitely cost him a medal, probably the gold. But now he has left the 2021 season behind with a strong result, despite crashing during his effort on Wednesday in the US.
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Yesterday he placed 3rd in the final in Snowshoe in West
Virginia. The YT Mob rider from Limerick claimed the final place on the podium
behind British rider Jordan Williams (Madison Saracen Factory Team) and junior
world champion Jackson Gladstone, the Canadian riding for Miranda Factory Team.
“I was feeling pretty good this week and went after it in
race one, being 1st at the 3rd split but then I had a huge crash which left me
stiff and sore,” said O’Callaghan.
“The next day I could only do two practice runs, but
today I ended up doing a smooth and solid run, making sure I didn’t crash and
finished 3rd. I’m happy with this, the first podium of the season and a nice
way to end my last race as a junior.”
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