MTB World Championship: XCC & XCO

The second week of the Mountain Bike World Championships across all disciplines in Switzerland belonged to the cross-country stars – and it began very promisingly from an Austrian perspective, but also a little bitterly: Katharina Sadnik was just five seconds short of a Short Track medal in the end.

Already on Tuesday, the sprint version of the XC in Zermatt opened the series of fast circuit races, and once again, the domestic hopes rested primarily on the shoulders of strong women. In the elite category, Laura Stigger, after a good start, was involved in a crash with Swiss rider Sina Frei in the leading group, knocking her out of medal contention. Clearly in pain from her ribs, she finished in 17th place, 1:19 minutes behind the winner Alessandra Keller from Switzerland. The other medals went to Jenny Rissveds from Sweden and Jennifer Jackson from Canada. Tamara Wiedmann ended her race early, as did nearly half of the starting field.

In the U23 category, thanks to Katharina Sadnik, there was a long-standing chance for a podium finish. Early in the U23 women's race, Canadian Isabella Holmgren rode away from everyone. Behind her, two pairs formed, consisting of the eventual medalists Carla Hahn (GER) and Tyler Jacobs (RSA), as well as the Carinthian and Canadian Ella McPhee. However, the Austrian was never able to completely close the small gap to the duo racing for the medal positions and ultimately finished fifth.
Her teammate Kathrin Embacher finished the Short Track in 30th place, as did Vorarlberg's Julius Scherrer in the U23 men's race.

The Olympic Cross Country in Crans-Montana was kicked off on Friday by the youth categories, and here Austria's juniors narrowly missed the podium.
Time and again, they had already shown their potential this season, led by Anatol Friedl with two European Championship titles. However, a medal at the World Championship was not to be: Upper Austrian Valentin Hofer missed the podium as fourth and Styrian Maks Barret Maunz as fifth by only around 30 seconds. Friedl had to withdraw early after a crash, while Antonia Grangl finished ninth among the junior women.

After 1:14:49 hours, the Frenchman Lucas Teste crossed the finish line first, ahead of the Namibian Roger Suren (+ 0:11) and the Swiss Lewin Iten (+ 0:31). Behind them followed Hofer with a deficit of 58 seconds and Barret Maunz, who had been set back by a crash, one minute exactly behind.
The Styrian lacked the energy after his comeback attempt – the mishap occurred already in lap 1 – when the later medal-winning trio managed to break away in lap 4. "Becoming fifth in the world is pretty awesome," Maunz said with a broad grin on his face nonetheless.
"It was a perfect day. I would have signed off on this race beforehand," said Hofer, who finished in fourth place, after the race, adding: "Of course, finishing fourth at the World Championships is tough, but the top three riders were just a bit stronger, and I can be satisfied. I had good legs right to the end."

In the junior women's race, the decision came early, as the two top favorites, Slovenian Marusa Tereza Serkezi and Swiss Anja Grossmann, broke away after the starting lap. Behind them, the field fragmented, and the Styrian Grangl held onto ninth place for a long time before being joined in the last two laps by the Spaniard Lorena Patino Villanueva and the Canadian Maude Ruelland. However, in the final sector of the last lap, Grangl pulled away from her competitors again and ultimately finished in ninth place.

On Saturday, the U23 men and subsequently the women were up next. Julius Scherrer finished 23rd in the morning race. "I actually kept up well from the start but had to ease off a bit in the middle of the race," recalled the Vorarlberg native, who was even in the top ten at the beginning. The race decision was made early on when top favorite Finn Treudler from Switzerland managed to break away with three competitors already in the opening lap. In the end, he confidently claimed the title ahead of Cole Punchard (CAN) and Gustav Pedersen (DEN).

The red-white-red hopes for a top result in the women's category unfortunately did not materialize. About four minutes after the new world champion Jenny Rissveds (SWE), Laura Stigger, who had crashed in the XCC, reached the finish line as 16th and the best of the entire home XCO team after a good start followed by a slump. Tamara Wiedmann finished the race in 32nd place. For Mona Mitterwallner, drained from the season in general and the seven-hour marathon in particular, it was a 41st place finish.
Behind Rissveds, New Zealander Samara Maxwell and Swiss rider Alessandra Keller secured silver and bronze.

On the final day, Maximilian Foidl achieved the best daily result in the cross-country race of the elite men with a 22nd place finish. South African Alan Hatherly successfully defended his title ahead of Simone Avondetto (ITA) and Victor Koretzky (FRA). Mario Bair finished in 32nd place, while Katrin Embacher secured 24th place in the U23 women's category.
"It was solid but didn’t go quite as hoped," summarized Foidl two months after being forced to pause due to a collarbone fracture. Nonetheless, the 29-year-old Styrian-by-choice achieved his best World Championship result in his elite years in Switzerland.
Mario Bair made his debut among the "big ones" after recovering from a shoulder injury and only returning two weeks ago at the World Cup in Les Gets. With his six-minute gap to the lead, the Tyrolean noted he "would have taken it even if I were in top form," the 24-year-old concluded with satisfaction.

In the U23 women's category, the gold medal went to Canadian Isabella Holmgren, silver to Vida Lopez de San Roman (USA), and bronze to Italian Valentina Corvi.
The best Austrian was Katrin Embacher in 24th place, who struggled with side stitches throughout the entire race. Katharina Sadnik had even worse luck, as she had to end the race prematurely due to a crash that caused hip pain.

Thus, at the first-ever MTB World Championships of all disciplines held at the same place and time, Austria secured three gold medals and one bronze medal thanks to Anna Spielmann (E-MTB), Vali Höll and Rosa Zierl (DH Elite and Juniors respectively), as well as Mona Mitterwallner (Marathon). In the medal table, Austria ranks fourth behind France, Canada, and the USA.
All results are available here.