Queenstown rider Scarlett Hagen made the shock announcement she was retiring from competitive downhill mountain biking yesterday.
Hagen, the world junior champion in 2004, will race in downhill competition for the final time at the Brake Burner event on her home track, Coronet Peak, this weekend.
"I can't really race at 100% any more, so I've basically decided to give up," Hagen told the Otago Daily Times yesterday.
"I've had a totally awesome nine years. I've loved it, and I still like riding bikes. But I don't want to race at the top level any more.
"It's just time for a change. I need to find motivation for something else."
Hagen said she had been thinking about quitting for a short time and made the final decision a few days ago.
In close to a decade in the risky sport, she has had two compound fractures, 12 other broken bones, three dislocations and "five or six" concussions.
By far her worst injuries were to her elbows: she shattered her left elbow in Scotland in 2004 and broke the right in Spain two years later.
"I had those big crashes and they'll [elbows] never be 100%."
Hagen said her body could still handle some of the rigours of downhill competition but she felt she had achieved as much as she wanted in the sport.
She wants to maintain some sort of involvement in mountain biking, perhaps as a coach in the future.
She is studying physical education at the University of Otago and working part-time as a personal trainer.
Hagen said mountain biking had dominated her life since she was a child. She had travelled to 16 countries, made friends around the world and had some wonderful experiences.
The highlight of her career was winning the world junior downhill title in France in 2004, following a second place at her first attempt in France the previous year.
She was second again in Italy in 2005.
Hagen was the Oceania senior champion last year and retires from the sport with a world ranking of nine.
She is excited about having her final race in the Brake Burner, as she is racing alongside Henry van Asch and Mark Angus, two of her original sponsors.
Hagen said she would always to be grateful to her family, her supporters, the Queenstown community and her coach, Nathan Greenwood.
