European Championships Romania: Swiss win one title plus five medals in short track and relay
Short Track
Slovenian Maruša Tereza Šerkezi takes gold in the junior women's short track, the first race of the European Mountain Bike Championships. Behind her, Lara Liehner secured the first medal for Switzerland with silver. Hungary's Regina Bruchner came third. Liehner's colleagues Sirin Städler and Noémie Gret rounded off the Swiss performance with sixth and seventh place respectively.
The junior short track race is then entirely in Swiss hands: Sven Sommer wins the sprint from a three-man lead and takes the European title ahead of teammate Micha Alder, who narrowly beats Norway's Aksel Laforce.
In the U23 race, Dario Lillo thought he had a good chance. In the end, however, Peter Joseph Blackmore (GBR) came out on top, while the Swiss rider had to catch up from behind due to a jammed pebble, but still took silver. Third place went to the Ukrainian Oleksandr Hudyma. Maxime L'Homme (SUI) rides to seventh ahead of Germany's Benjamin Krüger.
The Germans put in an impressive performance in the U23 women's short track. Kira Böhm, the leader in the U23 World Cup, clearly beat Ella MacLean-Howell, while her teammate Carla Hahn won the bronze medal. Switzerland's Elina Benoit and Anina Hutter finished fourth and sixth, with Andrea Kravanja (7th) and Antonia Weeger (10th) two more Germans riding into the top 10.
In the women's race, France's Pauline Ferrand-Prevot once again showed her great class, taking the European title eleven seconds ahead of Puck Pieterse from the Netherlands. Behind her, Nicole Koller can make use of her strong form and wins the bronze medal and the fifth medal for Switzerland.
Simon Andreassen has digested the Brazil World Cups well. The Dane won gold in the short track ahead of Germany's Julian Schelb and Italy's Luca Braidot. Although without precious metal, Lars Forster and Luca Schätti put in excellent performances, finishing fifth and seventh respectively.
Team Relay
The second day of the European Championships in Cheile Gradistei, Romania, will see the Team Relay. It is the sextet from Italy with Simon Avondetto, Matteo Siffredi, Chiara Teocchi, Giada Martinoli, Valentina Corvi and Mattia Stenico who take the European title in the relay race. The Swiss team of Muriel Furrer, Anina Hutter, Ramona Forchini, Nicolas Halter, Finn Treudler and Thomas Litscher were unable to compete for the title, as Litscher suffered a puncture and lost a lot of time. The bronze medal, which they won behind Team France with Titoun Carod, means all the more to the Swiss.
Note: This content has been automatically translated from German. Please report any incorrect translations.