At the Cross-Country World Championships, things get down to business right from the first lap on the course with its many meters of elevation gain. Brazilian Henrique Avancini and Czech Ondrej Cink set the pace. As in the women's race, the Swiss are also strongly represented at the front in the men's race. Above all Mathias Flückiger and Nino Schurter, who soon open up a small lead of ten seconds, while the first pacemakers lose ground. But the race is still young.

However, the Flückiger/Schurter duo harmonize well together and visibly extend their lead. At the halfway point of the race, the two are around 40 seconds ahead of Cink. The Czech is alone between the front and the next chasing group with Vlad Dascalu (ROM) and Victor Koretzky (FRA). Behind them, Filippo Colombo is holding his own in the top 10.

Two laps before the end, Mathias Flückiger ends his collaboration with Nino Schurter and attacks for the first time. However, Schurter cannot be shaken off. Flückiger tries again - again without success. The increase in speed also increases the lead over Koretzky to one minute, Cink has lost touch with the Frenchman. And it gets even worse for the Czech: after a gear change problem, he also falls behind Maximilian Brandl (GER) and Vlad Dascalu.

The last lap brings no more surprises at the front, but a hard-fought Swiss duel for gold. And in this duel, Flückiger goes into the decisive descent in first place, but the penultimate corner is decisive. Schurter passes Flückiger on the inside and takes his ninth world championship title. "Crazy, unbelievable, I wasn't sure for a long time whether I could still do it, but now I'm super happy," says Nino Schurter, his voice quivering. "Math and I rode a great race together. I thought Mathias was stronger and was actually happy with second place. But when he couldn't catch me until the end, I tried to take my chance somewhere and it worked."

Flückiger completely exhausted, wins the silver medal again and has to digest the defeat first. "The disappointment is there, of course, but it's a second place. I would have liked to win, but Nino caught me in an unexpected place. In the end, it's a great result for Switzerland and I can be happy about the silver medal at some point," says Flückiger, adding: "My chance to become world champion will come again."

The young riders Dascalu and Brandl hold their own in the field of seasoned pros in fourth and fifth place. And Swiss rider Filippo Colombo also made it to ninth place thanks to a strong finish. Marcel Guerrini surprises with a strong race. He starts from the back of the grid and finishes in 13th place, just ahead of Lars Forster.

Roth takes bronze - Chile celebrates first world champion

In the men's U23 race, Chile's Martin Vidaurre Kossmann clearly wins ahead of Italy's Juri Zanotti. Joel Roth wins the bronze medal and Luca Schätti comes fourth.

In the starting lap, Swiss rider Joel Roth makes his ambitions clear and rides in the leading group. But on the second lap, the Swiss rider returns in sixth place. A crash ties the Swiss back. In the meantime, the Chilean Martin Vidaurre Kossmann makes his move. Roth recovers and is in second and third position with the Italian Juri Zanotti.

The third Swiss rider, Dario Lillo, rode to 14th place, a respectable result given that it was his first World Championship race in the U23 category. The year before, Lillo was still in the U19 category. "At the beginning it was difficult to estimate what was possible, also because the course doesn't suit me particularly well." However, Lillo is aware of his good form and managed to gradually ride forward from the back of the grid, as he explains: "I tried to take advantage of the gaps, went where I could, but tried not to overdo it in the first half of the race. From the second half of the race onwards, I invested and was able to make up places again. I therefore achieved my goal of finishing in the top 15."

Results