September 6/10 11:39 am - Lauren Rosser Interview

Posted by Editoress on 09/6/10
 

Interview with Gold medal winner Lauren Rosser

Our coverage of the 2010 World Championships  brought to you with the support of Shimano

16 year old Lauren Rosser became Canada's first Downhill world champion since Cindy Devine in 1990, with her win in the Junior women's race on Sunday. Canadian Cyclist intern Sarah Moore managed to grab Lauren for a few minutes after her run, and at the press conference before she had to go to Quebec City and head home to Squamish, BC to start school.

CC: World Champion - How does that feel?
LR: It feels awesome, and I so excited.

CC: How did it go?
LR: There is a couple of places where I was going 'oh please, I don't want to crash, I really don't want to get muddy' ... I was saying I DON'T want to crash and I didn't. I didn't want to crash.

CC: So how are you feeling now that you didn't crash?
LR: I'm pumped, I am stocked.

CC: You were the second rider down so you had to wait for everybody else to come down
LR: I was just like, I was so nervous

CC: Who were you fearing the most?
LR: France, they were my competitors in the seeding run and I wasn't sure if they were going hard or not so I was like ... I was a little nervous.

CC: How to this run compare to your seeding run?
LR: I thought I did better in this one, but my time was better in the seeding run, probably because it was dry and I didn't know what I was doing. But this was wet that was more like Squamish riding and I liked it.

CC: How was the crowd on the hill?
LR: The only thing you hear when you go by is Go Canada, that makes you so much more pumped, so you go like, 'Yeah, I have to either go big or go home'.


Press Conference

Press: World Champion, how does that feel?

LR: It feels amazing, it's the best feeling ever right now, I never had this before, to finish the year on this, it's great.

Press: You took part in the cross-country race on Thursday, where you finished 11th and now the downhill how did you manage to post those two results?

LR: First I was mostly focussed on the cross-country, 'cause that was the first event, then right after the cross-country I went in downhill mode, and I knew everyone else was getting more runs and had a couple of days to train on it, so I said 'Ok, I will have to put in more efforts to pull this off', and I did.

Press: You had some equipment changes made?

LR: For a couple days I had a single crown RockShox on with 7" [of travel] and I had a Fox 40s with me but I didn't have a headset for it, for my bike, so that's troubling [that] I had to do the seeding run like that.

[Note: National team mechanic Scott Kelly said that Fox managed to fly in a headset, and then the mechanics put it together overnight in time for racing]

Press: Sixteen years old and comes Monday you are going back to high school, it most be pretty sweet to go back home and say I'm the World Champ?

LR: It is awesome

Press: Now that you become the first Canadian junior women in history to win a gold medal, how does that change things?

LR: It hasn't really sunk in, but it feels great and I think that things may change but only good things.

Press: Where you surprised with your results?

LR: It was definitively a surprise to me, because I didn't know how it was going to be, so the timing run help me. I knew what I needed to work on and the end results ... I was wowed by it, I came first, it is just amazing it was just surprise.

Press: Take us through standing on the podium with the national anthem playing and your parents are cheering, what came through your mind? What were the emotions at that point?

LR: I didn't know what to think, I was out there and the adrenaline start rushing, and you're just like, 'Wow, I am World Champion'. It's an amazing feeling, so it was great to have my parents there ... they were happy, so it's good.

Press: Lauren you are from Squamish, so you are used to running on slick trails. Was that a big advantage for you, compared to the dry seeding run?

LR: Yes, I was looking forward to the rain, I was just like, at night I want it to rain, I want it to rain, and it rained, and I was having so much fun in the corners, and on all the rocks and stuff. I was just loving it, it was fun.

Press: You said earlier that you had a chance to discover new lines on this course during your run, how was that?

LR: I was looking at where I wanted to go, but the bike didn't want to do that, so I was just like, 'Ok, don't fight it' and it worked out for me. The bike decided to take the fastest route, I didn't want to take them some times but it worked out for me. It got me on new lines that I didn't know were there.

Press: When you are doing a downhill run with the full face helmet on, are you aware of how many people are cheering for you?

LR: I had a bit of a tunnel vision but they overpowered it. They were cheering, and with the horns and everybody gets pumps and yell Canada as soon as you go by. And when you hear that your adrenaline starts going so much more, and you just want to go faster ... Yeah, that was great.