The UCI Mountain Bike World Championships are the world championship events for mountain bike racing in the disciplines of cross country, downhill, and four-cross. They are organized by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), the governing body of world cycling.
The first three finishers in each discipline at the World Championships are awarded gold, silver, and bronze medals. The winner of each discipline is also entitled to wear the rainbow jersey in events of the same discipline until the following year's World Championships. Unlike other UCI-sanctioned mountain-bike races, the competitors in the World Championships represent national rather than commercial teams. The World Championships are usually held towards the end of the season.
History The first UCI Mountain Bike World Championships took place in Durango, Colorado, USA in 1990 and featured only cross-country and downhill events. A separate UCI Trials World Championships had been held since 1986. From 2000 to 2016, the mountain bike and trials disciplines were combined and run as the UCI Mountain Bike & Trials World Championships. Beginning in 2017, the UCI world championships in trials will be run as part of the newly created UCI Urban Cycling World Championships.
The cross-country team relay was added in 1999. The dual slalom was added in 2000 but replaced by four-cross in 2002. Mountain bike marathon was included on the schedule at the 2003 championships in Lugano, but run separately as the UCI Mountain Bike Marathon World Championships from 2004 onwards. The cross-country eliminator was introduced in 2012 but will be part of the UCI Urban Cycling World Championships from 2017 onwards. In 2014 and 2015 the four-cross events were held separately from the other disciplines as the UCI Four-Cross World Championships, but were again included alongside the other mountain-biking disciplines in 2016. The four-cross events were removed again after the 2021 edition.
Venues
Year Country City 1990 Durango 1991 Barga 1992 Bromont 1993 Métabief 1994 Vail 1995 Kirchzarten 1996 Cairns 1997 Château-d'Œx 1998 Mont-Sainte-Anne 1999 Åre 2000 Sierra Nevada 2001 Vail 2002 Kaprun 2003 Lugano 2004 Les Gets 2005 Livigno 2006 Rotorua 2007 Fort William 2008 Val di Sole 2009 Canberra
Year Country City 2010 Mont-Sainte-Anne 2011 Champery 2012 Leogang-Saalfelden 2013 Pietermaritzburg 2014 Lillehammer 2015 Vallnord 2016 Nové Město Val di Sole 2017 Val di Sole Cairns 2018 Lenzerheide 2019 Mont-Sainte-Anne 2020 Leogang2020 MTB World Championships Results 2021 Val di Sole 2022 Les Gets 2023 Glasgow 2024 Vallnord 2025 Valais 2026 Val di Sole
World Eliminator Championships Year Country City 2019 Waremme 2020 Leuven 2021 Graz 2022 Barcelona2022 World Championships Eliminator Results 2023 Palangka Raya 2024 Aalen 2025 Sakarya 2026 Barcelona
World Championships 4-Cross Year Country City 2015 Val di Sole 2016 Val di Sole 2017 Val di Sole 2019 Val di Sole 2019 World Championships 4-Cross Results 2021 Val di Sole
Events
Event
UCI MTB World Champions Men's cross-country Women's cross-country Men's cross-country eliminator Women's cross-country eliminator Men's downhill Women's downhill Men's trials, 20 inch Men's trials, 26 inch Women's trials
See also UCI Mountain Bike Marathon World Championships UCI Trials World Championships UCI Urban Cycling World Championships UCI Mountain Bike World Eliminator Championships UCI Mountain Bike World 4-Cross Championships
References
External links
UCI mountain bike page UCI Mountain Bike World Championships page