Cooper to chase Olympic dream in Europe

Two-time Commonwealth Games medallist Anton Cooper is setting his sights on the Tokyo Olympic Games after claiming his 7^th national mountainbike title.

Racing in his hometown of Christchurch the 26-year-old was in solid form, winning the championship in 1 hour 29 minutes 1 second, three minutes clear of fellow North Canterbury rider Ben Oliver.

“It was pretty special to be able to do this at home and It's an honour to earn the right to wear the silver fern on the world stage once again,” said Cooper.

Cooper will now return to Europe to contest two UCI World Cups which are the last qualification races for the Tokyo Olympics.

“The World Cups are the races that I need to be at, they’re the ones that’ll count towards Olympic Points and world rankings points so they’re my real focus.”

“Nationals has been great prep so now it’s a matter of doing the right things, securing an Olympic spot and then turning my attention fully to Tokyo and getting a good result there.”

Cooper won gold at the Glasgow 2014 and silver at Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games.