FORT WILLIAM, Scotland – Adam Craig of Corinth and Bend, Ore., geared up for Saturday’s elite men’s cross country race at the 2007 International Cycling Union World Mountain Biking Championships by helping Team USA win the bronze medal in the opening event of the weeklong competition, the team relay.

Teams of one men’s elite rider, one women’s elite rider, one under-23 rider and one junior rider took part in the team relay, with Craig anchoring the U.S. contingent to its best-ever finish in the event.

Switzerland won the event for the second straight year, with Poland 49 seconds behind in second place and the United States third, 1:09 behind the Swiss.

The U.S. team opted for a different strategy than the other teams, sending out its slowest riders first. Top U.S. women’s rider Georgia Gould rode the first leg and junior rider Ethan Gilmour went out second, leaving the Team USA 14th out of 15 national teams halfway through the event.

U23 rider Sam Schultz ripped off the third-fastest lap of the day to get Team USA back into contention before Craig posted the fastest 7.9 kilometer lap of the day – 22 minutes, 1 second – to earn the team its spot on the medal stand.

The 26-year-old Craig is ranked 13th overall on the UCI World Cup elite men’s cross country rankings, solidly ahead of the next-best Americans, Todd Wells (24th) and Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski (25th).

Craig has raced well each of the last two years in the feature race of the world championships, putting himself in position for top-10 finishes in the men’s cross country race in both 2005 and 2006 only to be derailed by mechanical issues. He placed 17th at the worlds last year and 21st in 2005.

Craig prepped for this year’s world championships by winning the men’s Single Speed World Championship on Sunday at nearby Aviemore, Scotland.

The less intense competition – which includes a tattoo among the winner’s prizes – was dominated by Craig’s Giant Bicycles team.

Craig won the men’s division, with teammate Carl Decker finishing second. Another Giant Bicycles rider, Kelli Emmett, won the women’s single speed championship.