UCI Four-cross World Championships : Oetjen & Slavik fastest qualifiers

Aug 21, 2015, 13:30 PM
The 2015 UCI Four-cross World Championships opened in Val di Sole, Italy, on Thursday evening with the qualifying rounds for women and men.  Switzerland's Lucia Oetjen took the top spot for the women, and Hannes Slavik of Austria was the fastest man.

Despite rain making the course muddy and slippery, 15 women took the start for the qualifying time trial, with each rider completing a timed run down the technical course under the overhead spotlights.  Oetjen recorded a time of 52.192 seconds, just 83-thousandths ahead of former World Champion Anneke Beerten, of the Netherlands. Romana Labounkova, of the Czech Republic, also came very close, just 0.129 seconds behind Oetjen.

In the men's qualifying runs, Slavik was clearly the fastest of the 39 riders, with a time of 46.299 seconds, 0.857 seconds ahead of second-placed Aiko Göhler, of Germany.  Blake Nelso of Australia was third at 0.916 seconds, one of four riders within a tenth of a second of the time of Göhler.

The 2015 World Championship titles for the women and men will be awarded on Friday evening, when the riders take to the course in heats raced four at a time as they battle to make the final four.