2022 Pinkbike Awards: Athlete of the Year Nominees
Athlete of the Year Nominees
Racing in 2022 brought no shortage of drama and excitement with nail-biting finishes and huge sends across all forms of racing competition. The sport seems to be more exciting than ever as the list of possible winners grows larger at every completion. We are facing some uncertainty going into 2023, but we are sure once everyone is back between the tape it will hopefully be another great year.
Our Athlete of the Year contenders this year come from a variety of disciplines and include our first nominee to hold four current World Champ titles. From cross-country to downhill and enduro, here are our nominees for Athlete of the Year:
Why they are nominated
Jesse Melamed has been at the top of the Enduro World Series for years, and has become a constant threat for the podium and the overall standings. For 2022 everything came together for Jesse with results no lower than 3rd at the opening six rounds of the series. The results from the first six rounds included three first-place finishes, ensuring that he would best Richie Rude by over 500 points by the end of the season.
Why they are nominated
Camille Balanche seemed unstoppable in 2022, not dropping outside the top three up to round six with three wins and five fastest qualifiers. The overall seemed all but certain going into the seventh round at Mont-Sainte-Anne, but a crash in practice that led to a broken collarbone put a damper on the dream of wrapping things up at that race. After the crash, it was speculated that she could possibly be back before the end of the season but it seemed all but impossible.
Camille fought back hard from the injury and was back for the World Champs in Les Gets taking fourth place after having surgery and managed to take fifth place at the final race in Val di Sole, securing the 2022 World Cup overall title with a 60-point lead over Myriam Nicole.
Why they are nominated
After a tough 2021 season with injuries to his kidney, liver, and lung Amaury Pierron was back on form this year with four wins across the season and with his usual on-the-edge riding style. While a puncture stopped an early overall victory in Mont-Sainte-Anne Amaury had amassed such a long point gap that he only had to secure a single point in the final round to secure the overall title. This turned out to be very lucky, as despite coming 53rd in Val di Sole Amaury still won the overall by 245 points. Not content with just winning the overall Amaury Pierron came the closest to toppling the World Champs specialist Loic Bruni at the Les Gets World Championships.
Why they are nominated
Pauline Ferrand-Prévot ran a risky strategy coming into 2022. Instead of peaking in time for the World Cup season she instead put everything on the line to secure World Champs glory on home soil. It looked like she may have not had the speed this year but the doubters were proven wrong - her decision to skip the two World Cup rounds in North America meant she was fresh-faced for a showdown in Les Gets.
Pauline's strategy couldn't have paid off better, not only taking the XC World Champs title but also winning the XCC Short Track rainbow jersey for 2022. Not satisfied with just this she went on to win the final XCC and XC World Cups of the year in Val di Sole. But the season wasn't over for the double World Champion just yet, as not satisfied with two rainbow jerseys in 2022 Pauline went on to secure the XC Marathon and Gravel titles.
Why they are nominated
For the second year in a row Jackson Goldstone features on our Athlete of the Year list. Following up on his extremely successful 2021 season was always going to be tough and even more experienced racers have struggled to follow up years that didn't reach the heights of Jackson's first year at World Cups. Not only did Jackson face the pressure to follow up a World Cup overall title and the rainbow jersey, but he was a fresh signing on an updated Santa Cruz Syndicate team.
None of this seemed to faze Jackson as he went out and won five World Cups across the season and just missed out on World Champs to closest rival Jordan Williams. Not content with just competing with fellow Junior racers Jackson took on the challenge of Hardline and not only made it through to finals unscathed but won the event by almost seven seconds against a stacked field including Gee Atherton and Bernard Kerr.
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"... [Won] XC World Champs title but also winning the XCC Short Track rainbow jersey for 2022. She went on to win the final XCC and XC World Cups of the year in Val di Sole. But the season wasn't over for the double World Champion just yet, as not satisfied with two rainbow jerseys in 2022 Pauline went on to secure the XC Marathon [World] and Gravel [World] titles."
That's wild.
It’s as if that was the first race gee Atherton had done since his massive crash, and that Bernard had a huge one on first hit of the 90fters the day before, probably could have used some better examples of the “stacked field” than two injuried guys
Jackson Goldstone is on the other side all out speed and talent. So worthy of winning!