The European Cross-Country Championships in Novi Sad are taking place in hot temperatures. No reason for the Swiss to let that put them off. The six-strong team wins the silver medal in the team relay. However, the start phase was not ideal. Vital Albin crashed and lost touch with the Italians, who had already made their ambitions of victory clear on the first lap. However, the following Swiss riders Nils Aebersold, Alessandra Keller, Jacqueline Schneebeli, Lea Huber and Alexandre Balmer are not discouraged and keep third-placed Team Germany at bay.

Medal set for young athletes

The youngsters also shine in the individual races, winning gold, silver and bronze. In the juniors, Roman Holzer put in a great performance and was only beaten by Ukraine's Oleksandr Hudyma. "I knew that I had to pace myself in this kind of heat. I'm very happy, everything worked out," Holzer said. Another Swiss rider, Nils Aebersold, achieved a good result in fourth place.

"After the start, I dropped back a bit, but was able to fight my way back to the front. After that it got faster every lap and I wasn't able to catch up to the very front," says Lea Huber, who has already snatched the bronze medal in her first junior year and is visibly satisfied.
Joel Roth is responsible for the complete set of Swiss medals in the junior categories. Starting the race as defending champion, Roth crossed the finish line as the winner once again. "I really liked the course and it contained a lot of modern elements. What's more, the heat didn't bother me too much - I'm happy about that," said the old and new U23 European champion, who will join the elite next year. Roth won ahead of Italy's Juri Zanotti and David List from Germany. But the other members of the Swiss team also shone with good results: Alexandre Balmer finishes fourth, Dario Lillo sixth and Fabio Püntener eighth.

In the U23 women's race, 19-year-old Austrian Mona Mitterwallner wins the European title ahead of Puck Pieterse (NED) and Ronja Eibl (GER). Switzerland's Jacqueline Schneebeli, Tina Züger and Ronja Blöchlinger finished in eighth to tenth place.

Forster and Colombo shine in the elite

After a difficult season so far, Lars Forster manages to break free in the elite men's race. On the fast, cyclo-cross-like course in Novi Sad, the 28-year-old secured the European title by three seconds, this time ahead of Sebastian Fini Carstensen (DEN). It is his second European title after winning the title in 2018. "After the poor start to the season and not being nominated for Tokyo, this victory feels really good," said a delighted Forster.

Just another second behind the Dane, Filippo Colombo came out on top ahead of Latvian Martins Blums by a wafer-thin margin to win the bronze medal. Reto Indergand finished a good ninth, while Vital Albin and Andri Frischknecht came 14th and 15th respectively.In the women's event, Pauline Ferrand-Prevot becomes European champion ahead of the Dutch Anne's -Terspstra and Tauber. Linda Indergand finishes a good fifth, Alessandra Keller makes it into the top 10 - she comes ninth.

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