Anton Cooper

Anton Cooper (born 11 August 1994) He is the 2015 World Under 23 Cross-country Mountain bike champion and the 2012 World Junior Cross-country Mountain bike champion. One of the two contenders for the country's 2016 Summer Olympics quota spot, he developed chronic fatigue 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 north of Christchurch. His parents are Paul and Laila Cooper, and he has several sisters. He received his education at Christchurch Boys' High School and he graduated in 2012.

Cycling career

Cooper started racing aged 11, encouraged by his father.

As a 16-year-old, he surprised by winning the 2011 Karapoti Classic in Upper Hutt. When the February 2011 Christchurch earthquake hit, his competition bike got stuck in a bike shop and he had to compete at the nationals on an old training bike. 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.

In December 2011, Cooper signed a sponsorship contract with the Trek Bicycle Corporation for 12 months. Trek decided to focus on downhill racing and Cooper signed a contract with the Cannondale Bicycle Corporation in December 2012 for 24 months.

Rules set by the Union Cycliste Internationale (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 in London. BikeNZ, New Zealand's national governing body of cycle racing, sought a dispensation for Cooper but this was declined. 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 adenoids 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 1st Karapoti Classic

2012

UCI Junior XCO World Cup 1st Pietermaritzburg 1st Mont-Sainte-Anne 1st Windham 2013

UCI Junior XCO World Cup 1st Mont-Sainte-Anne 2nd Hafjell 2014

2015

2016

2nd Cross-country, National Championships 2017

National Championships

Swiss Bike Cup 1st Gränichen UCI XCO World Cup 3rd Albstadt 2018

UCI XCO World Cup 2nd Nové Město 2019

Copa Catalana Internacional 1st Banyoles Swiss Bike Cup 2nd Andermatt 2020

1st Rund um den Roadlberg Swiss Bike Cup 2nd Gstaad 2021

Swiss Bike Cup 1st Gränichen UCI XCO World Cup 3rd Leogang 2022

Swiss Bike Cup 3rd Basel 2023 Swiss Bike Cup 1st Basel