Erin Huck hasn’t even been the second best American at any of the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup events so far this year but Huck stepped up on Friday to win a national title, pulling away from the field and finishing over a minute in front of any of the other riders. Huck finished in 1:40:34 with Georgia Gould grabbing the silver in 1:41:46. Chloe Woodruff won the bronze medal but was almost four minutes behind Huck.

On the men’s side Howard Grotts, the top American in two of the three UCI World Cup races this year, was nearly two minutes clear of the field in his gold medal run. He finished in 1:41:53. Keegan Swenson won a photo finish against Russell Finsterwald to grab silver with both finishing in 1:43:44. Stephen Ettinger, who has been in the top 30 twice in the world cup this year, finished back in fifth.

National titles were also awarded in the dual slalom event with Jill Kintner taking gold over Adrian Sanders and Joanna Petterson on the women’s side while Mitch Ropelato won a close race on the men’s side. Ropelato held off Kyle Strait by 0.56 seconds to claim the title with Joseph Foresta just 0.52 seconds further back.

Saturday will be the finals of the downhill as well as a short track cross country event. Sunday will wrap things up with the enduro races. In the men’s downhill Aaron Gwin is the heavy favorite as the current leader on the world tour while Luca Shaw might be a contender as well.

Previous USA Cycling Mountain Bike National Championships Coverage:
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