Treudler shows a perfect race

Early on in the U23 men's cross-country race, Finn Treudler (SUI), Gustav Pedersen (DEN) and Adrien Boichis (FRA) set themselves apart from the field. But the trio did not last long. Top favorite Boichis, who competes in the elite World Cup, slowly falls back and Pedersen also loses some ground. Instead, Cole Punchard (also a World Cup elite rider) caught up with Treudler and put him under pressure in the third of eight laps.

Treudler was not impressed by this and countered with an increase in pace on the fourth lap. By the end of the lap, the Swiss rider was already 19 seconds ahead. From then on, Treudler gradually extended his lead to just over a minute on the final lap. Powerful uphill, calm and controlled downhill, the 22-year-old brings his lead to the finish and is celebrated by the home crowd as the new U23 World Champion.

"There is probably nothing better than being able to ride in front of a home crowd and still win this race, it's simply overwhelming," says Finn Treudler after wiping the first tears of joy from his eyes. "My plan was to attack after the third lap and then ride my rhythm. I went super hard uphill and was able to tackle the descents safely and without taking any unnecessary risks," Treudler explains his race tactics and concludes: "I now have a complete set of medals from these world championships, which is incredible, and the fans also helped a lot. The atmosphere was incredible and sometimes so loud, I've never experienced anything like it, it will remain a special memory for me."

Cole wins the silver medal, a comfortable 2:14 minutes behind Denmark's Pedersen. A further 20 seconds back, Paul Schehl (GER) was delighted with fourth place, ahead of the next strong Dane, Mikkel Lose. Khalid Sidahmed is another Swiss athlete to make it into the top ten, thanks to a strong second half of the race.

Results

Decision in the fifth lap

In the women's race, Jenny Rissveds immediately pulled away. By the middle of the first lap, the Swede was already almost 20 seconds ahead of her pursuers Puck Pieterse (NED), Martina Berta (ITA), Alessandra Keller (SUI) and Samara Maxwell (NZL). But the latter two are not so quick to admit defeat. While Pieterse and Berta fell back, Keller and Maxwell managed to catch up with Rissveds again.

Keller had to fight for the lead again when she crashed while leading on lap two. The battle for the gold medal between the three riders was still open until lap five of seven. But then Rissveds puts a gap between herself and her two rivals, neither of whom is able to close it. Alessandra Keller then loses touch with the New Zealander and increasingly loses ground to the approaching Evie Richards (GBR).

Rissveds rides the final sections in the forest section in Crans-Montana seemingly unimpressed and ultimately wins the world title, 18 seconds ahead of Samara Maxwell. Keller fires out the last of her energy and is celebrated for bronze by the home fans. Richards makes a mistake while trying to catch Keller and ends up in fourth place, twelve seconds behind Keller.

"That was brutally hard, I'm super happy that it was enough for third place! It definitely wasn't the smoothest race. When I crashed, I also lost my gels, got some back, but lost the next one out of my mouth. The constant hand gels during the race really sapped my strength, but I fought to the maximum. When I got cramps on the last lap, the super fans verbally motivated me to the finish. In the end, I even had some time to enjoy the finish. Two medals at these World Championships is better than I had ever hoped for," said Keller, overjoyed.

Ramona Forchini was the second-best Swiss athlete, finishing in eighth place. The 31-year-old finished the first lap in 19th place and then quickly made up places. She heads into the final lap in tenth place, where she gains another two places thanks to a strong finish. Nina Graf rode a similar race. From 21st position, the German battled her way up to ninth place and finished the race in ninth place, just ahead of Nicole Koller.

Sina Frei and Jolanda Neff finished 13th and 15th, Laura Stigger rode to 16th place as the best Austrian.

Results