Peaks Coaching Group athlete Sam
Schultz (PCG master coach Kristen Dieffenbach) participated in the London
Olympics and finished 15th in the mountain bike competition! Congratulations,
Sam!!
More from Singletrack.com:
LONDON (VN) — Americans Todd Wells
and Sam Schultz posted the best results ever by U.S. men in Olympic mountain
bike competition, finishing 10th and 15th in Sunday’s cross country at Hadleigh
Farm.
Wells, a three-time Olympian, had
previously finished 19th in the 2004 Athens Games, matching David “Tinker”
Juarez’s finish at the inaugural Olympic mountain bike race during the 1996
Atlanta Games.
Wells and Schultz, an Olympic rookie,
started slowly in the 34.08km race, finding themselves in the middle of the 50-rider
field after the first long lap.
“I didn’t have a very good start,”
Wells said. “I started to move up in the middle of the race. I thought I was
going to be able to get up to the front group. We were in the second chase
group, I think for a while. I had bridged up to that, felt strong, started to
go across and then I just ran out of juice.”
Wells had moved into 14th after the
second lap, and in the sixth and final go-round found himself in a battle for
10th with Stephane Tempier of France, a fight the American won.
Schultz’s position in the race
likewise improved as the race continued. The reigning national champion fought
his way forward from 20th to 15th at the finish line.
“It was awesome,” Schultz said. “It
was a super, cool race on such a huge stage with tons of people. It was
definitely a different level. Tons of good cheers out there. Everyone was super
fired up, you could definitely tell. It was a different vibe on the start line
than a normal World Cup, which is always super tense. This was definitely up a
level, which is really cool.”
