There will be no Junior Cyclocross World Champion in 2021. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, this category will be eliminated from the next World Championships.

The World Championships will be held later this month in Ostend, Belgium, but only in the U23 and elite categories.

"The competent Belgian authorities have confirmed that the 2021 UCI Cyclocross World Championships for men and women elite and under 23 will take place as scheduled in Ostend on January 30 and 31. [However, due to a pandemic (Covid-19) related to the new coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), the men's junior and women's junior races will be cancelled.

Junior racing has already been severely limited since the pandemic began, and the cancellation of the World Championships is a further blow to the young 'cross riders who have already been unable to run some of the World Cup rounds in Belgium this season.

U23 athletes are also struggling for opportunities to compete, although races remain on the schedule.

"We wanted to finish the whole program, but the decision was made over our heads. Today we got the official word from the UCI," event organizer Rick DeBoaseert told Sporza (open in new tab).

"We don't know exactly why the juniors were not allowed to race. We don't have the right to decide, it was the government's decision, and as for the U23s, we stressed that it was an important step to the pros and that they could start."

The World Championships will be held in Ostend on January 30-31, with U23 men and elite women racing on Saturday and U23 women and elite men on Sunday. Fans are not allowed to watch the races.

Last year's junior men's world champion Tibau Nys is eligible to compete, but Shirin Van Unrooy, the first ever junior women's world champion last February, is still recovering from a disc brake injury she sustained earlier in the season.