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Malene Degn is a Danish female bicycle racer born on December 2, 1996.
After allowing you to know all about the KMC Orbea mountain bike team, it's time to take a closer look at its main riders. So, on this occasion, we offer you a focus on the Danish Malene Degn.
Who is Malene Degn?
Malene Degn is a cross-country specialist in the mountain bike discipline and also in cyclo-cross. She is a member of the international KMC Orbea team.
The Danish rider began Mountain Bike at the age of 9. At first, she only considered cycling as a hobby to spend time with her father, whose favorite sport it was. But, very quickly, she took to the game and began to take part in competitions in her home country, Denmark.
But it wasn't until she was 17 years old that she competed in her first international cross country competitions.
In 2013, in her first season as a junior, she won a round of the Junior Cross Country World Cup in Hajfell, Norway, and became Junior European Cross Country Champion in Bern, Switzerland. The same year, she was also crowned Danish Junior MTB Cross Country Champion.
The following year, she concluded in second place at the World Junior Cross Country Championships in Lillehammer (Norway).
In 2015, she began racing in the Espoirs category, intended for female runners under 23.
If she proves to be consistent in terms of her performances, including a few podiums, she will nevertheless have to wait until her last year in the category to finally win a World Cup round: it will be in 2018 in Stellenbosch, South Africa. This result also puts her in second place overall in this 2018 World Cup U23 Cross Country season.
In the meantime, she has also achieved great podium finishes at the Danish Cross Country Championships (silver medal in 2016 and 2017) as well as at the European Championships in mixed relay (silver medal in 2017 and bronze medal in 2018) and the World Championships in mixed relay (2nd in 2017 and 3rd in 2018).
In 2017 and 2018, she also became Danish Cyclo-Cross Champion, after failing to place second in 2016.
She has been in a relationship for three years with French mountain biker Loïc Bruni, a DH specialist: he is a four-time downhill mountain bike world champion.
Malene Degn's career path
In 2019, she officially becomes professional cyclist and joins the KMC-Ekoï-Orbea MTB Team. For her first season in the Elite Women's category, in the World Cup, her best ranking was a fifth place in the Nove Mesto (Czech Republic) round, but her results were improving as the season went on.
She is now a professional rider
At the end of the season, she won her National Cross-Country Championship, allowing her to start races during the 2019/2020 season with the distinctive jersey of Danish Champion.
In 2020, during a season completely truncated by Covid, she won the Catalonia Cross-Country Cup ahead of Pauline Ferrand-Prévot after failing to finish second in the Danish Cross-Country Championship.
Now, in addition to returning to the World Cup podiums in the Elite Women category, Malene Degn dreams of performing at the Olympic Games in the cross-country category...and why not as early as the 2021 edition in Tokyo if she gets her qualification. She was actually able to take the start of the test race that took place on the future course of the event in late 2020.
Her mountain bike record
World Championships:
- 3rd in the mixed relay (2018, Lenzerheide);
- 2nd in the mixed relay (2017, Cairns);
- 2nd in junior cross country (2014, Lillehammer).
Cross Country World Cup (UCI World Cup):
- 36th overall (2019).
U23 Cross Country World Cup (UCI World Cup U23):
- 2nd overall, 1st in the Stellenbosch round (2018);
- 6th overall (2017);
- 9th overall (2016).
Junior Cross Country World Cup (UCI World Cup U19):
- 1st in the Hafjell round (2013);
European Championships:
- 4th in the mixed relay (2020, Switzerland);
- 3rd in the mixed relay (2018, Graz-Stattegg);
- 2nd in the mixed relay (2018, Graz-Stattegg) ;
- European junior cross country champion (2013, Bern).
Danish Championships:
- Danish cross country champion (2019);
- 2nd at the Danish Cross Country Championships (2020, 2017, 2016);
- Danish Junior cross country champion (2013).
Her record in cyclo-cross
Danish Cyclo-Cross Championships::
- Danish Cyclo-Cross Champion (2018, 2017);
- 2nd in the Danish Cyclo-Cross Championship (2016).
Now you know everything you need to know about Malene Degn. How about doing the same with Victor Koretzky, Thomas Litscher and Oliver Aviles?
