A year before the United States hosts the UCI Cyclocross World Championships in Fayetteville, Arkansas, the country's federation will send a quarter of its usual contingent to this year's World Championships in Oostende, Belgium. [4 elite women, 1 U23 women, and 1 elite men will represent the U.S. on January 30 and 31.

Due to the coronavirus outbreak, all UCI races on the North American continent have been cancelled. [Elite women's national champion Clara Honsinger (silver medal at the Namur and Dendermonde World Cups), 15-time national champion Katie Compton, Rebecca Farlinger, and Katie Keogh will compete in the elite women's race. Last year's junior bronze medalist Madigan Munroe will compete in the U23 girls, and Curtis White will be the only American in the elite boys.

"The six athletes who qualified for this year's World Championships have performed very strongly despite facing significant challenges to compete in Europe this year," said Jesse Anthony, USA Cycling's cyclocross manager. [It is truly inspiring to see the resilience and determination shown by these six athletes, and the American cyclocross community can be very proud of them all. I look forward to seeing how they perform in Ostend and a podium finish is a realistic goal for this team."

Cycling News asked Anthony and Athletics Director Jeff Pierce why the team is so small despite having several more American riders competing abroad.

"The European situation presented a lot of challenges because the COVID testing requirements vary from country to country," Pierce said. Fewer than 10 riders traveled to Europe to race during the cross season, and those who would have filed petitions in their home countries chose to focus on other disciplines and races taking place this summer.

"Circumstances played a big part in the selection process, and while few riders petitioned, there were also clear differences between [those who were selected] and those who were not.

Pearce added that the selection was done under the higher standards of the recently introduced World Championships in cyclocross.

"This year we raised the standards for the cyclocross world championships, bringing them in line with other disciplines such as mountain biking, road, and track.

The U.S. won its first world championship medal in cyclocross in 1999 when Tim Johnson took bronze in the U23 men's race and Matthew Kelly won the junior men's title. The most successful year was 2007, when three silver medals were won: by Katie Compton and Jonathan Page in the elite race and by Danny Summerhill in the junior men.

Since then, Compton has climbed the Elite World Championship podium four more times, Ellen Noble finished second in the U23 women (2017), and Munroe took bronze (2020).

Pierce hopes that by raising the selection criteria and sending quality, medal-worthy teams to the World Championships, medals will be won more quickly.

Anthony said that USA Cycling's resources could be used more efficiently by focusing on a development pipeline, such as the one supported by the nonprofit MudFund, rather than sending more athletes to the World Championships.

"We're making the most of a challenging year," he said. It's a miracle we were able to send six athletes to the World Championships." "

In just over 12 months, the United States will host its second Cyclocross World Championships in Arkansas. And Pierce hopes that the development pipeline will be back in full swing by this fall.

"I believe that by this fall we will have a more 'normal' world, events will be held, and the path to selection will be more normal."

U23 Women (January 31): Madigan Munroe (Trek Factory Racing)

Elite Women (January 30): Katie Compton (KFC Racing/Trek/Night Composite), Rebecca Farlinger (Kona/Maxis/Shimano), Clara Honsinger, Katie Keogh (Cannondale Cyclocross World)

Elite Men (January 31): Curtis White (Cannondale Cyclocross World)