The rest of the field responded to his challenge, with the second placed rider three minutes back, after they were more than six minutes behind the brilliant young Kiwi at Mont Sainte Anne in Canada last weekend.
"It is crazy hot here today, one of the hotter races I've done. The humidity is high. I am doing nothing just standing around now and sweating all the time," Cooper said.
The Trek World Racing rider said he was held up for much of the race today as he caught up on the under- 23 riders, after the junior men had a stand-alone race last weekend.
"I had to pass 30 or 40 under-23s to finish where I did. It is a different race if you don't have to pass under-23s, but to finish 10th or 11th in under-23 by the end is pretty good with the two minute gap. Overall I am pretty happy.
At the top of the downhill once you were there you were stuck behind them and the downhill is typically where I make up some time. You don't want to take unnecessary risks. I used it as active recovery and set myself to attack them on the next uphill."
Cooper returns to school at Christchurch Boys' High next week before returning to Europe in August to prepare for September's world championships.
"The world championships are my big goal. I will head over to Europe four weeks before the worlds and will get some good training and racing in before the worlds. This trip I have definitely accomplished my goals. To win by the margins I have and to get the times compared with elite and under 23s, I am definitely ticking all the boxes at this stage."
Fellow New Zealand riders Nigel McDowell (Rotorua) and Tom Filmer (Nelson) both had strong performances to both finish in the top 11.
McDowell recovered from a poor start to power his way through impressively from near the back of the 30-strong field to grab ninth place while Filmer did extremely well to finish 11th after racing on a different frame after his bike was damaged in flight.
Johnston, 17, produced a remarkable finish on the last half of the final lap to nearly snatch second placing from last week's World Cup winner Frederique Trudel (CAN).
The Oceania junior champion started conservatively in the extreme conditions to be fifth after the first lap and she was still fourth midway through the third and final lap before unleashing an outstanding burst to come within a wheel of the second placed Trudel at the finish.
"I went for it on the last lap. We had pretty much a sprint finish and it was pretty close but just missed out there," Johnston said.
In fact the young Kiwi was 30 seconds faster than any other rider over the final half lap to cap off an excellent introduction to under-19 world cup racing as a first-year junior.
Results:
Junior men: Anton Cooper (NZL, Trek World Racing) 1:08.12. 1; Keegan Swenson (USA) 1:11.30, 2; Nicolas Sessler (BRA) 1:13.18, 3. Also New Zealanders: Nigel McDowell 1:15.02, 9; Tim Filmer 1:15.49, 11.
Under-23 men: Michiel van der Heijden (NLD) 1:23.37, 1; Markus Schulte-Luenzum (GER) 1:24.25, 2; Reto Indergand (SUI) 1:24.43, 3. Also New Zealanders: Tom Bradshaw 1:33.36, 32; Brad Hudson 1:36.22, 38; Mathew Waghorn 1:37.16, 39.
Junior women: Kate Courtney (USA) 1:06.48, 1; Frederique Trudel (CAN) 1:08.13, 2; Amber Johnston (NZL) 1:08.14, 3. Also: Samantha Hope (NZL) 1:12.21, 7.
Under-23 women: Jolanda Neff (SUI) 1:23.03, 1; Rebecca Henderson (AUS) 1:24.27, 2; Candice Neethling (RSA) 1:25.52, 3. Also: Samara Sheppard (NZL) 1:32.00, 6.
