Czech rider Krystof Bogar likes his home terrain! He added the Middle Distance title to that in Sprint with a win by 14 seconds today. Emily Benham Kvåle GBR, no stranger to gold medals in the past, won the women’s race emphatically by 2.40 over the Dane Nikoline Splittorff.
The same venue was used as for the Long, at Mostek. Silver medals in both Sprint and Long gave Emily Benham Kvåle the confidence to go all out for a win today, and she achieved that in style, the fastest throughout and stretching her lead by more than 2 minutes in the 5.1 km to 8.1 km section of the 15 km course. She has had many victories at international level in this discipline before pausing to have a family, and now she is clearly back to top form. She and Nikoline Splittorf swopped positions compared to yesterday, but it was home rider Martina Tichovska who took a popular third place today, 3.34 down on the winning time.
Emily Benham Kvåle into the finish Photo: Miriam & David Rosen
This is 34-year-old Kvåle’s tenth World MTBO Championships gold medal, her second at Middle Distance, in a glittering career stemming right back to 2009. She has said that her final WMTBOC race will be the Mass Start on Friday.
Krystof Bogar was also the fastest throughout, leading by 0.53 after only 3.3 km of the 17.5 km course. This lead was gradually reduced by the Swiss Long Distance silver medallist Simon Hellmüller, who was 1 minute down at the first radio point but thereafter rode strongly. With his third place today, Vojtech Ludvik CZE now has three medals – 1 gold, 1 silver, 1 bronze. He had a slow start and pulled up to finish 1.12 down.
Exciting terrain for the Middle Distance! Photos: presskit-middle-cz
Sofie Stranska CZE won her second gold medal in the Junior Women’s class by 45 seconds, and it was a Junior double for Czechia with Adam Cernik winning the men’s race by 15 seconds. In this class, Flurin Schnyder SUI has won a medal in every race so far – now 2 silver and 1 bronze.
Sofie Stranska CZE on her way to her second gold medal
Thursday is a rest day, and the championships continue on Friday at 10.00 CEST with the Mass Start race, which like all the other races is being streamed free of charge on IOF LIVE.
Leading results, CX 80 WMTBO Middle Distance
Women, 15.0 km
- Emily Benham Kvåle GBR 51:41
- Nikoline Splittorff DEN 54:21
- Martina Tichovska CZE 55:15
- Kaarina Nurminen FIN 55.55
- Veronika Kubinova CZE 59:03
6= Ruska Saarela FIN & Antonia Haga FIN 59:42
Men, 17.5 km
- Krystof Bogar CZE 51:38
- Simon Hellmüller SUI 51:52
- Vojtech Ludvik CZE 52:50
- André Haga FIN 53:44
- Teemu Kaksonen FIN 53:59
- Vojtech Stransky CZE 54:35
Junior Women (W20), 12.7 km
- Sofie Stranska CZE 53:13
- Tilda Palm SWE 53:58
3 = Pihla哈基宁鳍和虹膜极光Pecoravi ITA 54:03
Junior Men (M20), 15.1 km
- Adam Cernik CZE 49:38
- Flurin Schnyder SUI 49:53
- Armel Berthaud FRA 50:14