Jolanda Neff rides an attentive and smart race over the eight by 930 meters. She stays in the leading group, follows all the attacks, but never goes on the offensive.
Alessandra Keller can often be seen at the front of the field. After two months out through injury, she only decided on her start at short notice, but is immediately on top of her game on her comeback.

Neff waits until the final round. Ramona Forchini surprisingly opens the lap with an attack, Alessandra Keller passes her on the following climb, but Kate Courtney and Jolanda Neff follow. Neff has the most reserves and relegates last year's winner Alessandra Keller to second place in the finish, while Ramona Forchini finishes fourth behind Kate Courtney to complete the excellent Swiss result.
"It's my first short track win, which is super cool and I'm really happy," explains Neff. "I feel tip top."

When asked about her tactics, Jolanda Neff laughs. "I try to do that every time, but the horses have always run away with me. Today I had the patience and waited, which paid off."

Alessandra Keller also has a smile on her face, as her start had been in doubt for a long time. "I am very happy. I was able to control the whole race, what I'm still missing is race hardness. But it can go on like this," says the U23 world champion.

Ramona Forchini explains her attack at the start of the final lap: "I thought I'd attack before the others caught up and I lost the front row again. I had nothing to lose. I was then overtaken, but fourth place is totally okay," says Forchini.

Men: Schurter oversleeps the start

In the men's race, Nino Schurter can only be seen in tenth position in round one of nine. "I slept through the start, which wasn't ideal," admits the world champion. "That's dangerous on a track like this."
So on the defensive, he first has to work his way back to the front.

Brazilian Henrique Avancini attacks on the final lap, Schurter can't quite stay on his rear wheel and Avancini doesn't let up. He repeats his victory from Andorra in 2018.
"I didn't want to lose too much energy, but of course I also tried to ride at the front. It was difficult to overtake here," said Schurter, who crossed the finish line in second place just ahead of Frenchman Maxime Marotte.

Mathias Flückiger is at the front a lot at the start. "It's easier to ride here when you're at the front," explains Flückiger. "Then the race became more tactical and unfortunately I wasn't in a good position when it came to the decision. But it's okay."
He finished eighth and secured the front row of the grid for Sunday.