# 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 career, Absalon won gold medals at the 2004 and 2008 Summer Olympics, five World Championships (2004–2007, 2014), seven UCI World Cup overall titles (2003, 2006–2009, 2014, 2016) and 33 World Cup rounds, which was an all-time record before being broken by Nino Schurter in 2023. He also won all fourteen French cross-country championships between 2003 and 2016, and five European Championships (2006, 2013–2016).

## Career highlights

Source: 2003: Absalon won his first UCI Mountain Bike World Cup.
2004: Gold at World Champions and the Athens Olympic Games.
2005: Absalon again won the World Championships.
2006: Winner at the World Championships, European Championships, French Championships and the overall World Cup.
2007: World Champion and World Cup Champion
2008: Won 2nd Gold Medal at the Beijing Olympic Games, World Cup Champion
2009: Number 1 World Ranking for all but 5 days of the year. Winner of UCI MTB World Cup for the 5th time, silver at the World Championships
2010: 2nd Overall at World Championships
2011: 3rd at the World Championships and World Cup
2012: At the 2012 Summer Olympics cross-country race, he suffered a tyre puncture in the opening lap. After changing tyre and noticing that he was trailing the leader by 55 seconds, he decided to abandon the race, seeing that his chances of winning a medal had disappeared.
2013: Won European Championships
2014: Wins 5th World Championship title, French and European Championships. His season was cut short when, that November, he suffered a broken collarbone during a cyclocross race.
2015: Absalon wins the European Championships, French Championships, and finished second overall in the World Championships. Completed the season ranked world number 1.
2016: Finishes the Rio Olympic Games in 8th place.

## Major results
### 1998

    1st Cross-country, UCI World Junior Championships
    1st Cross-country, UEC European Junior Championships
    1st Cross-country, National Junior Championships

### 1999

    2nd Cross-country, UEC European Under-23 Championships
    2nd Cross-country, National Under-23 Championships
    5th Cross-country, UCI World Under-23 Championships

### 2000

    2nd Team relay, UCI World Championships
    4th Cross-country, UCI World Under-23 Championships

### 2001

    1st Cross-country, UCI World Under-23 Championships
    UCI XCO World Cup
       1st Durango
    1st Cross-country, UEC European Under-23 Championships
    1st Team relay, UEC European Championships
    1st Cross-country, National Under-23 Championships

### 2002

    1st Cross-country, UCI World Under-23 Championships
    1st Cross-country, UEC European Under-23 Championships
    1st Cross-country, National Under-23 Championships
    2nd Team relay, UCI World Championships

### 2003

    1st Cross-country, National Championships
    1st Overall UCI XCO World Cup
       1st Mont-Sainte-Anne
       3rd Kaprun
       3rd Sankt Wendel
       3rd Fort William
       3rd Grouse Mountain
    2nd Cross-country, UEC European Championships

### 2004

    1st Cross-country, Olympic Games
    1st Cross-country, UCI World Championships
    1st Cross-country, National Championships
    UCI XCO World Cup
       1st Schladming
       3rd Houffalize
       3rd Madrid
    5th Cross-country, UEC European Championships

### 2005

    1st Cross-country, UCI World Championships
    1st Cross-country, National Championships
    2nd Cross-country, UEC European Championships
    3rd Overall UCI XCO World Cup
       1st Spa-Francorchamps
       1st Madrid
       3rd Willingen

### 2006

    1st Cross-country, UCI World Championships
    1st Cross-country, National Championships
    1st Overall UCI XCO World Cup
       1st Spa-Francorchamps
       1st Fort William
       1st Madrid
       2nd Curaçao
       3rd Mont-Sainte-Anne

### 2007

    1st Cross-country, UCI World Championships
    1st Cross-country, National Championships
    1st Overall UCI XCO World Cup
       1st Saint-Félicien
       1st Offenburg
       1st Mont-Sainte-Anne
       1st Champéry
       2nd Houffalize
    2nd Cross-country, UEC European Championships

### 2008

    1st Cross-country, Olympic Games
    1st Cross-country, National Championships
    1st Overall UCI XCO World Cup
       1st Madrid
       1st Mont-Sainte-Anne
       1st Houffalize
       1st Offenburg
       1st Bromont

### 2009

    1st Cross-country, National Championships
    1st Overall UCI XCO World Cup
       1st Madrid
       1st Mont-Sainte-Anne
       1st Houffalize
       1st Offenburg
       2nd Champéry
       2nd Pietermaritzburg
    2nd Cross-country, UCI World Championships

### 2010

    1st Cross-country, National Championships
    2nd Overall UCI XCO World Cup
       1st Offenburg
       2nd Val di Sole
       2nd Dalby Forest
    5th Cross-country, UCI World Championships

### 2011

    1st Cross-country, National Championships
    2nd Cross-country, UEC European Championships
    3rd Cross-country, UCI World Championships
    3rd Overall UCI XCO World Cup
       1st Offenburg
       2nd Pietermaritzburg
       2nd Dalby Forest
       3rd Nové Město

### 2012

    1st Cross-country, National Championships
    UCI XCO World Cup
       1st Houffalize
       1st La Bresse
    4th Cross-country, UCI World Championships
    4th Cross-country, UEC European Championships

### 2013

    1st Cross-country, UEC European Championships
    1st Cross-country, National Championships
    3rd Overall UCI XCO World Cup
       1st Mont-Sainte-Anne
       2nd Nové Město
       2nd Val di Sole

### 2014

    1st Cross-country, UCI World Championships
    1st Cross-country, UEC European Championships
    1st Cross-country, National Championships
    1st Overall UCI XCO World Cup
       1st Pietermaritzburg
       1st Cairns
       1st Albstadt
       2nd Mont-Sainte-Anne
       2nd Méribel
       2nd Windham

### 2015

    1st Cross-country, UEC European Championships
    1st Cross-country, National Championships
    2nd Cross-country, UCI World Championships
    2nd Overall UCI XCO World Cup
       1st Albstadt
       2nd Val di Sole
       2nd Windham
       2nd Mont-Sainte-Anne
       3rd Nové Město

### 2016

    1st Cross-country, UEC European Championships
    1st Cross-country, National Championships
    1st Overall UCI XCO World Cup
       1st La Bresse
       1st Vallnord
       1st Mont-Sainte-Anne
       2nd Albstadt
       2nd Lenzerheide
       3rd Cairns
    3rd Cross-country, UCI World Championships

### 2017

    2nd Cross-country, UEC European Championships
    UCI XCO World Cup
       3rd Nové Město
       3rd Vallnord

### 2018

    1st Cross-country, National E-MTB Championships

### 2019

    2nd Cross-country, National E-MTB Championships
    3rd Cross-country, UCI World E-MTB Championships