The women’s World MTBO middle distance championships today produced some very close racing. Multiple World Champion Michaela Gigon taking gold just 15 seconds ahead of Poland’s Anna Kaminska and a further 45 seconds back to Rikke Kornvig from Denmark in third.
All the usual suspects were at the top of the table except for poor Emily Benham from the UK who was forced to abandon after a catastrophic mechanical on the second control. Special mention should go to Anna Fuzy in 5th place another fantastic result for the up and coming Hungarian.
Britain’s Helen Clayton was 39th and Lucy Harris 46th after good solid rides.
The Men’s race produced a more emphatic winner with Finland’s Saarela Samuli taking the title ahead of the Russian veteran Ruslan Gristan. A fantastic ride for Austria’s Tobias Breitshadel and a late mistake by Anton Foliforov stopped a Russian whitewash taking Bronze but with three riders in the top 6 the Russians have now to be the favourites for the relay.
A good ride by the UK’s Ifor Powell gave him 56th Place, mid table.
The action continues tomorrow with the Relay competition, promising exciting racing for the Men’s and Women’s top nations. I expect the Men’s race to be very close between the Finn, Swiss, Czech and Russian teams. The normally dominant Danes seem to be struggling at this World Champions but I’m sure will rise to the challenge and add to the mix. The Women’s race will be close too with again the Swiss, Finn and Czech teams very string this year.
