Anton Cooper (born 11 August 1994) is a New Zealand cross-country cyclist who races for the Trek Factory Racing XC Team. He is the 2015 World Under 23 Cross-country

Mountain bike A mountain bike (MTB) or mountain bicycle is a bicycle designed for off-road cycling (''mountain biking''). Mountain bikes share some similarities with other bicycles, but incorporate features designed to enhance durability and performance in r ...

champion and the 2012 World Junior Cross-country Mountain bike champion. One of the two contenders for the country's

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

quota spot, he developed

chronic fatigue Fatigue is a state of tiredness (which is not sleepiness), exhaustion or loss of energy. It is a symptom of any of various diseases; it is not a disease in itself. Fatigue (in the medical sense) is sometimes associated with medical conditions ...

earlier in 2016 and the nomination went to Sam Gaze instead. Cooper represented New Zealand at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, finishing sixth in the Men's Cross-country Mountain Bike final.

Early life and education

Cooper is from Woodend, a town in the

Waimakariri District Waimakariri District is a local government district, located in the Canterbury Region of New Zealand's South Island. It is named after the Waimakariri River, which forms the district's southern boundary, separating it from Christchurch City a ...

north of

Christchurch Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of over hal ...

. His parents are Paul and Laila Cooper, and he has several sisters. He received his education at

Christchurch Boys' High School Christchurch Boys' High School, often referred to as CBHS, is a single sex state secondary school in Christchurch, New Zealand. It is situated on a site between the suburbs of Riccarton, New Zealand, Riccarton and Fendalton, to the west of ce ...

and he graduated in 2012. He has since moved to the Christchurch hill suburb

Westmorland Westmorland (, formerly also spelt ''Westmoreland''R. Wilkinson The British Isles, Sheet The British IslesVision of Britain/ref>) is an area of North West England which was Historic counties of England, historically a county. People of the area ...

, not far from the

Christchurch Adventure Park Christchurch Adventure Park is an adventure park in the Port Hills of Christchurch, New Zealand. Built by the Canadian company Select Evolution, it had its opening function on 16 December 2016. The 1500 holders of special passes could ride from ...

Cycling career

Cooper started racing aged 11, encouraged by his father. Apart from cross country riding, he enjoys

cross country running Cross country running is a sport in which teams and individuals run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain such as dirt or grass. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and soil, earth, pass through woodlands and ope ...

and tennis. Among other riders, he admires

Julien Absalon Julien Arnaud Absalon (born 16 August 1980) is a French former cross-country mountain biker, who competed as a professional from 2001 to 2018. He is considered to be one of the most successful cross-country cyclists of all time. Throughout his c ...

and

Nino Schurter Nino Schurter (born 13 May 1986) is a Swiss cross-country cyclist who races for the Scott–Sram MTB Racing Team. Schurter won the world championship in men's cross-country in 2009, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021 and 2022 and t ...

, and among other athletes, he looks up to former

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

player

Richie McCaw Richard Hugh McCaw (born 31 December 1980) is a retired New Zealand professional rugby union player. He captain (sports), captained the New Zealand national rugby union team, New Zealand national team, the All Blacks, in 110 out of his 148 t ...

, cricketer

Brendon McCullum Brendon Barrie McCullum (born 27 September 1981) is a former New Zealand cricketer, and the current head coach of the England men's cricket team in all formats. Representing New Zealand, he captained the team in all formats. McCullum was renow ...

, and rowers

Hamish Bond Hamish Bryon Bond (born 13 February 1986) is a retired New Zealand rower and former road cyclist. He is a three-time Olympic gold medallist at the 2012 London Olympic Games, the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games, and at the 2020 Tokyo Olym ...

and Eric Murray. Before receiving professional sponsorship, he was discovered as a strong talent by Christchurch adventure racers Steve Moffatt and Steve Gurney, who organised financial support from various business people. As a 16-year-old, he surprised by winning the 2011 Karapoti Classic in

Upper Hutt Upper Hutt () is a city in the Wellington Region of New Zealand and one of the four cities that constitute the Wellington#Wellington metropolitan area, Wellington metropolitan area. History Upper Hutt is in an area originally known as Orongo ...

. When the February

2011 Christchurch earthquake A major earthquake occurred in Christchurch on Tuesday 22 February 2011 at 12:51 p.m. New Zealand Daylight Time, local time (23:51 Coordinated Universal Time, UTC, 21 February). The () earthquake struck the Canterbury Region ...

hit, his competition bike got stuck in a bike shop and he had to compete at the nationals on an old training bike. Significant wins in his career as an amateur include winning silver at the World mountain bike championships in

Champéry Champéry (; ) is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Monthey (district), Monthey in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Valais in Switzerland. History Champéry is first mentioned in 1286 as ''Champery''. The Ho ...

, Switzerland in 2011, and winning gold in the 2012 World mountain bike championships in

Saalfelden Saalfelden am Steinernen Meer is a town in the district of Zell am See in the Austrian state of Salzburg. With approximately 16,000 inhabitants, Saalfelden is the district's largest town and the third of the federal state after Salzburg and Hallein ...

, Austria. Cooper is the first New Zealander who won a world championship in cross country cycling, and it was his last race before he turned professional. He then won gold at the

2014 Commonwealth Games The 2014 Commonwealth Games (), officially known as the XX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Glasgow 2014 (; ), were an international multi-sport event celebrated in the tradition of the Commonwealth Games as governed by the Commonwea ...

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

, Scotland, a race in which Sam Gaze from

Rotorua Rotorua () is a city in the Bay of Plenty region of New Zealand's North Island. It is sited on the southern shores of Lake Rotorua, from which it takes its name. It is the seat of the Rotorua Lakes District, a territorial authorities of New Zea ...

, New Zealand, won silver, making it the first gold–silver win for New Zealand at the

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games is a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations, which consists mostly, but not exclusively, of territories of the former British Empire. The event was first held in 1930 ...

. Cooper then became Under 23 Cross-country world champion at the 2015 World mountain bike championships in

Andorra Andorra, officially the Principality of Andorra, is a Sovereignty, sovereign landlocked country on the Iberian Peninsula, in the eastern Pyrenees in Southwestern Europe, Andorra–France border, bordered by France to the north and Spain to A ...

. In December 2011, Cooper signed a sponsorship contract with the

Trek Bicycle Corporation Trek Bicycle Corporation is a bicycle, cycling product and electric motorcycle manufacturer and distributor under brand names Trek, Electra Bicycle Company, Bontrager, and Diamant Bikes. The company has previously manufactured bikes under the ...

for 12 months. Trek decided to focus on downhill racing and Cooper signed a contract with the

Cannondale Bicycle Corporation Cannondale Bicycle Corporation is an American division of Dutch conglomerate Pon Holdings that supplies bicycles. Its headquarters are in Wilton, Connecticut, with engineering offices in Freiburg im Breisgau, Freiburg, Germany. Frames are manuf ...

in December 2012 for 24 months. Rules set by the

Union Cycliste Internationale The Union Cycliste Internationale (; UCI; ) is the world governing body for sports cycling and oversees international competitive cycling events. The UCI is based in Aigle, Switzerland. The UCI issues racing licenses to riders and enforces di ...

(UCI), the world governing body for sports cycling, stipulate that mountain bikers must be at least 19 years old in the year Olympic Games are held to be allowed to compete. Cooper was outside of that requirement by eight months for the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

BikeNZ Cycling New Zealand (), originally known as BikeNZ, is the national sport governing body, governing body for cycling organization, cycling organisations in New Zealand, and represents the interests of BMX NZ, Cycling New Zealand Road & Track, Mo ...

, New Zealand's national governing body of cycle racing, sought a dispensation for Cooper but this was declined. New Zealand was given one quota place for a male mountain biker for the

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

, Brazil, with the general expectation that either Gaze or Cooper will be chosen. Cooper's 2016 World Cup races were upset by him developing chronic fatigue, with him first recognising symptoms in February 2016. In June 2016, the Rio selection was thus awarded to Gaze, and it caused Cooper some "really dark weeks". Cooper suspended his 2016 campaign and returned home to New Zealand from his Northern Hemisphere summer base in Germany. In August, he underwent surgery on

adenoid In anatomy, the pharyngeal tonsil, also known as the nasopharyngeal tonsil or adenoid, is the superior-most of the tonsils. It is a mass of lymphoid tissue located behind the nasal cavity, in the roof and the posterior wall of the nasopharyn ...

s that are giving him problems. Ahead of the 2017 national championships, he lost access to his bike once more as he had been evacuated from his Westmorland home due to the 2017 Port Hills fires, but Police let him through the cordon to retrieve all he needed to travel to the competition.

Major results

;2011 : UCI Junior XCO World Cup ::1st Nové Město ::1st

Val di Sole The Sole Valley (, or , ) is a valley in Trentino, northern Italy. Sole Valley applies to the Vermiglio Valley, the east-west aligned valley of the river Noce and its sidevalleys, among which the Peio Valley that heads to the Ortler. The rest ...

: 1st Karapoti Classic : 2nd Silver medal uci

Cross-country, UCI World Junior Championships ;2012 : 1st Jersey rainbow

Cross-country, UCI World Junior Championships : UCI Junior XCO World Cup ::1st

Pietermaritzburg Pietermaritzburg (; ) is the capital and second-largest city in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa after Durban. It was named in 1838 and is currently governed by the Msunduzi Local Municipality. The town was named in Zulu after King ...

::1st

Mont-Sainte-Anne Mont-Sainte-Anne is a ski resort in eastern Canada, located in the town of Beaupré, Quebec, about northeast of Quebec City. The mountain is part of the Laurentian mountain chain and has a summit elevation of above sea level with a vertical ...

::1st Windham ;2013 : 1st MaillotNuevaZelanda

Cross-country, National Championships : 1st OceaniaChampionJersey

Cross-country, Oceania Under-23 Championships : UCI Junior XCO World Cup ::1st

::2nd

Hafjell Hafjell is a village and a ski resort in Norway, in the Øyer municipality in the county of Oppland. Hafjell hosted the alpine skiing events (giant slalom and slalom) at the 1994 Winter Olympics; the speed events were held at Kvitfjell, a regu ...

;2014 : 1st Gold medal blank

Cross-country,

;2015 : 1st MaillotNuevaZelanda

Cross-country, National Championships : 1st Jersey rainbow

Cross-country, UCI World Under-23 Championships ;2016 : 1st OceaniaChampionJersey

Cross-country, Oceania Championships : 2nd Cross-country, National Championships ;2017 : 1st OceaniaChampionJersey

Cross-country, Oceania Championships : National Championships ::1st MaillotNuevaZelanda

Cross-country ::1st MaillotNuevaZelanda

Eliminator : Swiss Bike Cup ::1st

Gränichen Gränichen is a municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Aarau (district), Aarau of the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Aargau in Switzerland. Geography The river Wynetal, Wyna flows north at first and heads northwest t ...

: UCI XCO World Cup ::3rd

Albstadt Albstadt () is the largest city in the district of Zollernalbkreis in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is located on the Swabian Jura mountains, about halfway between Stuttgart and Lake Constance. Geography Albstadt is spread across a variety of ...

;2018 : 1st OceaniaChampionJersey

Cross-country, Oceania Championships : 1st MaillotNuevaZelanda

Cross-country, National Championships : 2nd Silver medal blank

Cross-country,

: UCI XCO World Cup ::2nd Nové Město ;2019 : 1st OceaniaChampionJersey

Cross-country, Oceania Championships : 1st MaillotNuevaZelanda

Cross-country, National Championships : Copa Catalana Internacional ::1st

Banyoles Banyoles () is a city of 20,168 inhabitants (2021) located in the province of Girona in northeastern Catalonia, Spain. The town is the capital of the Catalan ''comarca'' " Pla de l'Estany". Although an established industrial centre many of th ...

: Swiss Bike Cup ::2nd

Andermatt Andermatt () is a mountain village and municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the canton of Uri in Switzerland. At an elevation of above sea level, Andermatt is located at the center of the Saint-Gotthard Massif and the historical center ...

;2020 : 1st OceaniaChampionJersey

Cross-country, Oceania Championships : 1st MaillotNuevaZelanda

Cross-country, National Championships : 1st Rund um den Roadlberg : Swiss Bike Cup ::2nd

Gstaad Gstaad ( , ) is a town in the German language, German-speaking section of the Canton of Bern in southwestern Switzerland. It is part of the municipality of Saanen and is known as a major ski resort and a popular destination amongst high society ...

;2021 : 1st MaillotNuevaZelanda

Cross-country, National Championships : Swiss Bike Cup ::1st

: UCI XCO World Cup ::3rd

Leogang Leogang is a municipality in the district of Zell am See (district), Zell am See (Pinzgau region), in the state of Salzburg (state), Salzburg in Austria. It is a famous winter sports and summer mountain hiking resort. Population Sights :Mining ...

;2022 : 1st OceaniaChampionJersey

Cross-country, Oceania Championships : 1st MaillotNuevaZelanda

Cross-country, National Championships : Swiss Bike Cup ::3rd

Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...

;2023 : Swiss Bike Cup ::1st

References

External links

* http://antoncooper.co.nz/ * https://web.archive.org/web/20110427144503/http://xc.trekworldracing.com/riders/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Cooper, Anton 1994 births Living people New Zealand mountain bikers Cross-country mountain bikers People from Woodend, New Zealand People educated at Christchurch Boys' High School Commonwealth Games gold medallists for New Zealand Cyclists at the 2014 Commonwealth Games Cyclists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic cyclists for New Zealand Cyclists from Christchurch Medallists at the 2014 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games gold medallists in cycling