• Sport

World champs silver for Surén breaks new ground

• 10 Hours Ago

Roger Surén secured an incredible silver medal for Namibia at the junior men’s cross-country mountain biking race at the UCI World Championship at Crans-Montana in Valais, Switzerland, on Friday afternoon.

Surén, who turns 18 years old today, became the first African male medallist at a UCI junior men cross-country mountain bike championship, putting him in the rare conversation among the likes of South Africa’s Alan Hatherly (elite men) and Candice Lill (former junior women bronze medallist).

After an already promising 19th position in his debut world championship in 2024 in his first year at under-18, the significant improvement to second should inspire him and other young riders to never stop believing, the Windhoek Gymnasium rider said afterwards.

Namibia’s two-time Olympian Dan Craven expressed high praise shortly after the news broke. “In my humble opinion this is the biggest result ever in Namibian cycling. My mind is blown. Well done Roger. One step away from a rainbow (UCI champion jersey).”

Alex Miller – 2021 and 2024 Olympian, 2022 Commonwealth Games bronze medallist and former African mountain biking title holder – was also quick to congratulate his young compatriot.

“I second Dan Craven. Only the handful of people who have actually been at an event like a World Championship will truly understand what it really means! Congrats Roger (salute emoji).”

Ninety-one riders started the race, with Surén earning a front-row starting position as the second-highest ranked rider behind France’s world number one ranked Lucas Teste.

After a gruelling and fast-paced race of seven laps (total 23.8 km) – with the Namibian often holding the lead among the first three – Surén finished 11 seconds behind Teste, and 20 seconds ahead of bronze medallist Lewin Iten of Switzerland.

South Africa’s Samuel Cleary – the reigning continental junior champion of 2025, who took the African title Surén had won in Morocco in 2024 – was never in contention and finished in 60th place, behind his countryman Neil van der Vyver (49th).

After a dogfight for most of the seven laps that lasted an hour and 15 minutes between the three race leaders, Surén crossed the line in second position.



‘No miracle’

National cycling coach Hans du Toit commented: “It was a great day for Namibian cycling. This was no miracle, but dedication and hard work from a great group of people working together to make Namibian cycling the great sport it is.

“There were a total of 34 nations on the start line, with all the big cycling nations represented by three or four riders.

“This is a first medal for Namibia at the world champs. We have consistently performed and got better over the last few years with a 27th, 20th, 19th and now second place.

“This is only possible if we have the finances from people supporting us. We especially have to thank Hollard Namibia, Rock & Rut, the Namibian Cycling Federation, Davin Sports Trust and Off-Road Centre who made it possible for us to compete at this year’s world champs.

“Here in Switzerland, Trek Future Racing supported us with mechanical needs and made things easier for us.

“Roger was feeling great in the last lap and it became clear that he was putting the other two riders under pressure, with only the French rider able to follow.

“Roger started pulling away (after an attack on the second-last lap) and was leading the race by 6 to 8 seconds, but he made two small mistakes that allowed the French rider to close up on him again, and then to get away from Roger, but the race stayed close and it finished in the world ranking order for riders 1, 2 and 3.

“Roger was pretty well in control throughout and if he did not have a slight slip on a downhill which allowed the Frenchman to get away with no real distance left to catch up, he could have been in position for a sprint finish.”

Du Toit is optimistic that this proven world-class talent will soon see more doors open to his career.

“This will hopefully help Roger in establishing a contract to race with a professional team in Europe next year. This is the only way a rider can get to the top in the cycling world.

“We also want to thank all the support from South Africa’s huge cycling community. We never felt alone and the riders really appreciate the support.”

• In the earlier UCI junior women’s race on Friday, Delsia Janse van Vuuren had a tough day finishing in 48th position out of 53 starters, after getting stuck behind a crash in the first lap.

She was unable to recover the lost time and was withdrawn after being caught from behind by the front-runners with two laps remaining. South Africa\'s Nadia van Wyk, the continent’s only other representative, was three positions ahead of the Namibian.