MTBO rising stars: Italian triple European junior champion wins U23 gold; second gold for Swiss rider

In the Long distance races, Iris Aurora Pecorari, Italy and Noah Rieder, Switzerland, won World Championship gold medals as the best U23 riders in the CX80 World Cup field. Rieder is also U23 Sprint champion. Pecorari, only 20 this year, won all three gold medals in the Junior European Championships in Poland in May.

The races, held at Smiltene in northern Latvia, were won by two of the favourites: Lithuanian Gabriele Andrasiuniene and the Finn André Haga, currently second and first in the 2024 CX80 World Cup standings. At the finish, Andrasiuniene was just 4 seconds ahead of the top woman rider this season, Danish athlete Nikoline Splittorff, after almost 2 hours of racing.

There was never a large gap between the two leading women, with Splittorff the faster early on. A 1-minute mistake by Splittorff then led to Andrasiuniene being in front by 20 seconds at the second radio control, but Splittorff was for a long period again ahead until another, slightly larger mistake shortly before the end. Andrasiuniene was fastest by 10 seconds at the finish pre-warning control, and held on to win by 4 seconds on the line. Third today was another Dane, Cæcilie Christoffersen who was sixth early on and gradually gained places to finish 1.42 down on the winner. In the middle section of the race, the Czech rider Rozalie Kucharova held third place, but she lost almost 4 minutes before the pre-warning and finished ninth – but U23 silver medalist.

The men’s race featured a strong performance by the Austrian Andreas Waldmann, who was fastest by almost 2 minutes at one stage and led for a large portion of the distance overall. However he made a significant late mistake and got to the pre-warning 1.31 down on Haga, who lost half a minute to control 6 but otherwise rode very steadily throughout. Haga’s compatriot Jussi Laurila finished third; he had a slow start – 19^th at the first radio – and steadily improved. Two other riders who were in contention for a top-three placing at different stages of the race were Jonas Maiselis, Lithuania, third in the early stages, and Vojtech Ludvik, Czechia, third in a long middle section. Both lost around 3½ minutes in errors and finished fifth and sixth respectively.

Tilda Palm, Sweden was the one rider other than Noah Rieder to win a second U23 medal. Following a silver in the Sprint she was bronze medalist today, eleventh in the race.

The final race in this round is a Mixed Relay, for teams of three with at least one woman. Racing will for sure be exciting to watch; tune into IOF TV, it is free! The mass start is at 10.00 local time, with each leg timed at around 45 minutes.

Leading results, Long distance race

Women

1. Gabriele Andrasiuniene LTU 1:53:42
2. Nikoline Splittorff DEN 1:53:46
3. Cæcilie Christoffersen DEN 1:55:24
4. Ruska Saarela FIN 1:55:57
5. Iris Aurora Pecorari ITA 1:56:42
6. Gabriella Gustafsson SWE 1:56:49

U23 World Championships: Gold, Iris Aurora Pecorari ITA (5^th in the race); Silver, Rozalie Kucharova CZE (9^th); Bronze, Tilda Palm SWE (11^th)

Men

1. André Haga FIN 1:50:28
2. Andreas Waldmann AUT 1:52:03
3. Jussi Laurila FIN 1:56:15
4. Miika Nurmi FIN 1:56:36
5. Jonas Maiselis LTU 1:56:41
6. Vojtech Ludvik CZE 1:57:01

U23 World Championships: Gold, Noah Rieder SUI (12^th); Silver, Armel Berthaud FRA (16^th); Bronze, Sander Pritsik EST (21=)