"I was very nervous in the morning because I really wanted to win the race. But after setting the best time in qualifying, I knew that I just had to get through cleanly," says Kathrin Stirnemann. In the final, however, the start did not go as planned. The new, unfamiliar start signal confused the 28-year-old, and so it was Sweden's Ella Holmegard who led the final run. "After that, I had to somehow get past the Swede, which wasn't very easy on this narrow course. But I felt that I was faster than Ella and rode all out. In the end, I was able to enjoy the finish because my lead was big enough," Stirnemann sums up and adds: "It's mega cool! I'm just super happy that everything worked out so well today!"

First sprint title for France

Defending champion Daniel Federspiel from Austria is not getting into his stride. Even though his form was good, his mental state put a spanner in the works. As a result, the 2014 and 2016 Eliminator World Champion was eliminated in the semi-finals.

Titouan Perrin Ganier, on the other hand, is in 100 percent form and rides a perfect final from A to Z, thanks to which he brings an Eliminator World Championship title to France for the first time. Simon Gegenheimer from Germany goes into the race as one of the big favorites as overall Eliminator World Cup winner and is rewarded with the silver award, just ahead of Ganier's compatriot Lorenzo Serres.

28 participants

The start list gives it away: many participants did not travel to China to compete for the coveted medals. Eight participants listed for qualification and 20 participants show that the Eliminator sprint discipline has lost a lot of its appeal. China as the venue makes little difference, as many Eliminator World Cups in Europe often did not have more riders at the start.

However, the strongest riders are taking part in Chengdu, and that at least gives the title fights a bit of quality, even if the quantity is worryingly low. The chances of the discipline regaining momentum in this form in the future therefore remain rather modest in view of the number of participants.

Results XCE World Championships Chengdu / China
Men
1.	Titouan Perrin Ganier	France
2.	Simon Gegenheimer	Germany
3.	Lorenzo Serres	France
4.	Alberto Mingoranze Fernandez	Spain
5.	Hugo Briatta	France
6.	Johan Widen	Sweden
7.	Heiko Hog	Germany
8.	Simon Rogier	France
9.	Anton Olstam	Sweden
10.	Dominik Prudek	Czech Republic
11.	Vitus Wagenbauer	Germany
12.	Norio Sawaki	Japan
13.	Kenny Belaey	Belgium
14.	Simon Gutmann	Germany
15.	Lukasz Szymczuk	Poland
DSQ	Daniel Federspiel	Austria
Women
1.	Kathrin Stirnemann	Switzerland
2.	Ella Holmegard	Sweden
3.	Perrine Clauzel	France
4.	Marta Turobos	Poland
5.	Coline Clauzure	France
6.	Clara Brehm	Germany
7.	Fien Lammertyn	Belgium