Dirt

Downhill star Sam Blenkinsop won the World Cup event in Schladming in 2008, and secured a second-place finish at the same venue the following year, but his best World Cup season so far was actually in 2010. That year, riding for Team Lapierre International, he finished fourth overall thanks to a series of consistent results including a third placed finish in the final round at Windham.

In 2011, after securing a bronze medal at the World Championships at Champery, he went on to finish sixteenth overall in the World Cup, and the following year, he finished back in twentieth position.

Born in Wanganui, New Zealand on 28th October 1988, Sam is now based in Christchurch. He has been racing with his trademark flamboyant style since 2000, and turned professional in 2006, winning a silver medal at the Junior World Championships in the same year.

After a couple of disappointing years, Sam bounced back to top form in 2013, finishing in the top 12 in five of the six rounds of the World Cup, and going into the final round with an opportunity of finishing third overall. He eventually finished the season in sixth. Also in 2013, he won the New Zealand MTB Cup, and took the runner-up spot in the Garbanzo downhill at Crankworx Whistler, a race he had won two years previously.