melaniehess

@khsfactoryracing: Nope! Just someone who thinks the person who performs at the highest level and has EARNED their spot on the team should go. Thats all.

Email I received from Marc Gullickson when I inquired about how they came to their decision: "Hello Melanie, Thank you for your email. I have read through it thoroughly and would like to bring to your attention the reasons for our selection. The decision on the 7th and final position for the team this year was not an easy one to make and there were several factors that the committee weighed in their selection process. Our USA Cycling Selection Committee ultimately made the unanimous decision to choose Nik Nestoroff for the final position on our team based on his future medal capability. We determined that Nik’s result trajectory over his short racing career provides a higher probability that he will at some point in the future be a medal capable rider at the DH World Championships. Since Max and Nik’s results this season were by and large comparable to each other, we looked to our Principles of Athlete Selection document which the USAC Selection Committee is tasked with adhering to when making the selections. This part of the selection document prioritizes future medal capability over immediate results when there is a reasonable argument that a riders result trajectory is improving at a faster rate. Without a doubt Max has had a good season and we wish him continued luck in the future."

@bizutch: Agreed. Sounds like advertising dollars and bullshit politics wins again. Bummer for kids to see that a privateer gets robbed of earning this spot. Shows that if you don't make it on a team by the time they are 18 then they won't make it in the downhill world. Which is literally killing the sport. Great job USA Cycling.

Max Morgan completely robbed of a Elite Men's Downhill spot on the worlds team. Had better results both at the national level and on the World Cup circuit than NIk Nesteroff all the while being a privateer. Truly disappointing decision made by USA Cycling.