Erice Van Leuven, Poppy Lane and Sacha Earnest made it a 1-2-3 for New Zealand in the women’s junior competition at the 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships in the Scottish Highlands.

The competition at the beautiful Aonach Mor track was held in dry conditions, 13C, with a steady 22km/h wind at the top.

Poppy Lane set a blistering time of 5:20.821, nearly six seconds faster than her qualifying run, for the rest of the field to chase.

Fellow Kiwi Sasha Earnest - who won the junior round of the Italian 2023 UCI Mountain bike World Cup was the only one to come close at the halfway point of the finals - slotting in to second place at +0417.

Into the last five riders, USA’s Riley Miller started fast, but faded in the woods to sit in third, before fastest qualifier Kiwi Erice Van Leuven - winner of the Lenzerheide, Switzerland round of the UCI World Cup - put together a scorching 5:17.024 run to break Lane’s time by five seconds. It ended up being a time nobody else could beat.

“It was insane!” said Van Leuven. “Best time of my life for sure, I’m so stoked!”

In the men’s junior, fastest qualifier Ryan Pinkerton (USA) was a non-starter, but second-fastest qualifier Henri Kiefer put it all together to claim the hot spot with a run in 4:30.727.