Tegan Cruz reached the podium seven times in 2022, and he doesn't appear to have missed a beat in the early going of the present campaign.
The teenage Pembertonian rode to third on Feb. 26 at the inaugural stop of this year's Portugal DH Cup series. His time of two minutes, 44.667 seconds made him by far the fastest North American in a U19 field full of Europeans and Brits. Oscar Griffiths (2:42.005) and Dom Platt (2:42.454) finished first and second respectively for Great Britain.
Cruz narrowly missed out on another podium result at the Tennessee National a month later, ending up fifth at (2:40.62) as the lone Canadian in a sea of 17 and 18-year-old Americans at Windrock Bike Park. Gavin Tomlinson emerged the victor (2:36.16), followed immediately by Nathan Kitchen (2:36.94) and Caden Garcia (2:39.28).
Cruz's older brother, Lucas, also saw action in Tennessee. He placed 10th.
Both siblings no doubt have high expectations for themselves in 2023. Last season, Tegan prevailed at the Canadian Junior DH Championships and threw down a runner-up effort at Crankworx Whistler. Lucas raced to second at the senior DH nationals and fourth at Crankworx on home soil.
