World MTBO Championships: Mass Start golds to Denmark and Finland

Camilla Søgaard, Denmark and Jussi Laurila, Finland were the gold medallists in the Mass Start format in tough Austrian terrain today. The men’s race featured a mass sprint at the end, with the first five separated by just 6 seconds.

It was only some time after the race had finished that Søgaard was awarded the gold medal position. She was more than half a minute behind Olga Shipolova Vinogradova, Russia at the finish, but the Russian was later disqualified along with another leading rider, Finland’s Antonia Haga, for riding in the terrain – shown up on the GPS track. The silver medal went to the best of the strong Czech team, Martina Tichovska, and bronze medallist was local star Sonja Zinkl.

Jussi Laurila kept just ahead of the chasing pack in the men’s race, finishing 3 seconds ahead of Davide Machado, Portugal and home rider Kevin Haselsberger, who took silver and bronze respectively.

In the junior competitions there was a surprise in the men’s race where European multi-medallist Thomas Steinthal, Denmark could only manage fifth place after an uncertain and slow start. The gold here went to Jan Hasek, Czech Republic by a big margin – 2.41. The women’s race was closer but the win by Uliana Sukholovskaya, Russia was still significant – 0.53.

The Middle Distance race takes place tomorrow.

Leading results, Mass Start

Women

  1. Camilla Søgaard DEN 1:17:42
  2. Martina Tichovska CZE 1:19:03
  3. Sonja Zinkl AUT 1:21:12
  4. Maja Rothweiler SUI 1:21:29
  5. Veronika Kubinova CZE 1:22:28
  6. Nadia Larsson SWE 1:23:50

Men

  1. Jussi Laurila FIN 1:20:46
  2. Davide Machado POR 1:20:49
  3. Kevin Haselsberger AUT 1:20:50
  4. Anton Foliforov RUS 1:20:51
  5. Simon Braendli SUI 1:20:52
  6. Grigory Medvedev RUS 1:21:06