In the final of the Elite Women, the Slovakian reigning champion already stood out in the first lap, during which she completed the sections perfectly, while her rivals had problems in negotiating the Lillehammer obstacles. At the last-but-one section, Tatiana Janickova was able to celebrate her second consecutive title. With only four points gained, she now has an 11-point advantage over the runner-up, the young German rider Nina Reichenbach. It was the multiple World Champion Gemma Abant who completed the women’s podium. The Australian Janine Jungfels, one of the favourites, already lost hope on the first lap, and finished five points adrift of the podium.
At the end of the Women’s race, the Nations title was awarded to Germany. It’s the first victory for Germany since 2005. With 850 points, the German team got in front of France (830) and Spain (820), who had dominated the rankings since 2006! Great-Britain (574) finished in fourth place, in front of Switzerland and Japan.
In the afternoon, there were two finals in the 20-inch category. In the Junior Men 20, it was the German rider Dominik Oswald who came out winner after a race of very high intensity and quality. After two errors in his first section, he got the bit between his teeth and rode to victory, thereby gaining his first world title. He was followed by the Spanish rider Oriol Roca, who fell at the most difficult obstacle of the race. This was enough to deprive him of the title! On the third step of the podium was the Frenchman Alex Rudeau, thus repeating last year’s performance, and coming in three points ahead of the German, Sebastian Krell.
In the Men Elite 20, the battle for the rainbow jersey involved – as expected – the two Spanish riders Benito Ros and Abel Musiteles. This was a real hand-to-hand scrap which, section after section, thrilled the crowd. Until three sections from the end, the two men were on an equal footing, and it was impossible to predict the result. Benito Ros finished his section 4 without error, and as he was preparing to begin the next section, Abel Mustieles committed a fatal error by falling. This effectively enabled Benito Ros to take the title of World Champion. This impressive duel will remain a highlight in the history of this discipline. In third place was the German Raphael Pils, who after having won two World Champion titles stepped up onto the Elite podium. A great performance for this rider, who is leading the upward push of the rising generation in this discipline.