If the Austrian MTBO athletes are having an extra round of celebration here on the last day of the European Championships, it is completely understandable. On Thursday, the Austrian team managed to crown a big week with a gold medal in the final mixed relay.
The team with Jana Hnilica, Andreas Waldmann and Hannes Hnilica won an exciting relay with a lead of just seven seconds over Lithuania, while Italy grabbed the bronze just one second behind.
It was another hot day in the open Portuguese terrain at Almeida and the home team (Marisa Costa) together with Italy (Iris Aurora Pecorari) started strongly on the first leg and created a gap to the pursuers. On the second leg, Vojtek Ludvik brought Czechia to the front of the relay, with Italy (Fabiano Bettega) right on his wheel and then a gap of over a minute to third place.
But on the last leg, the relay almost exploded. Hannes Hnilica, who has raced superbly in Portugal and won three gold medals, had another great race and raced Austria from third position to victory.
Team Austria celebrates after the final leg. Photo: EMTBOC
Ignas Ambrazas was actually even faster on the last leg and raced Lithuania from sixth to second place and narrowly defeated Riccardo Rossetto and Italy in a sprint.
France, Czechia and Finland made up the rest of the top 6 on the final day of the championships.
Full results and tracking in the EMBTOC LIVE CENTER
For the junior and youth athletes, Thursday featured relays:
EJMTBOC
Men
1 Italy 1:39:49 – 2 Sweden +1:57 – 3 Finland +5.00
Women
1 Czechia 1:46:18 – 2 Sweden +4.33 – 3 France +7.39
EYMTBOC
Men
1 France 1:35:31 – 2 Czechia +1:52 – 3 Lithuania +3.21
Women
1 Czechia 1:31:31 – 2 Estonia +22.02 – 3 Turkey +37.50