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Mathias Flückiger takes silver in the long distance race at the Leogang World Championship. Nino Schurter disappointed.
Instead of Nino Schurter, Mathias Flückiger was responsible for the Swiss exclamation mark in the men’s cross country race. The Bernese man secured another silver at the World Cup after shining in second place in Canada last year.
Flückiger made his way after a cautious start on the difficult course in Leogang, Austria, due to the cold and humidity, and was soon part of a group of four that set out to pursue leader Jordan Sarrou. Together with Frenchman Titouan Carod, he pulled away in the fifth of 6 laps. In the end, he was able to get rid of his partner and distance him for 10 seconds.
Schurter has to surrender
Schurter clearly missed the desired ninth world title. Already after the first lap, the Graubünden rider was 12th behind the leaders by more than a minute. Although he improved as a result, the 9th place, 2:33 minutes behind, failed to satisfy the 34-year-old, who was used to success.
Schurter, who started the race in a wet setup, may have paid for his tactics as well. The rain started late and less strong than expected, the dreaded mud battle did not materialize.
Did not start
Nino Schurter.
Keystone
Sarroso blow
The gold, surprisingly, went to Sarrou. The Frenchman has not had extraordinary successes in his career so far with only 3 World Cup podiums.
In Leogang, the 27-year-old was assured of the route and conditions. He walked away from the rest of the field early on, showed no further weaknesses and crossed the finish line first, 45 seconds ahead of Flückiger.
Colombo defeats Schurter
Behind Flückiger, who is on a World Cup podium for the third time after 2012 and 2019, Filippo Colombo was the second best Swiss. The second 2019 World Cup winner in the U-23 category was able to continuously improve and defended his seventh place in the final phase against Schurter.
