Gold medals were won by Krystof Bogar CZE and Kaarina Nurminen FIN in the Sprint held in the streets and forest parks of Jičín, Czechia today, both riders having the fastest times throughout the race and Bogar retaining the title won in 2022. Czechia and Finland took one more medal each, the others going to Estonia and Great Britain.
The women’s race finished with five nations represented amongst the top six finishers. Emily Benham Kvåle, Great Britain raced consistently throughout and took the silver medal, 28 seconds down on the winner, and bronze medallist was last year’s champion, Henna Saarinen from Finland, today 34 seconds down. Saarinen was slightly off the pace in the early stages, but picked up well as the race progressed. One second outside the medals was local star Martina Tichovska who also had a race largely without error.
Women medallists: Emily Benham Kvåle, Kaarina Nurminen, Henna Saarinen
Photo: presskit-sprint-cz
Czechia finished with gold and silver in the men’s race, Vojtech Ludvik picking up the latter, 33 seconds slower than Bogar. Ludvik made a significant error early on and did well to move steadily up the field to second place. Lauri Malsroos repeated his form from last year’s event in Falun, Sweden, again taking bronze; he was 10 seconds slower than Ludvik. The remaining podium places were taken by riders from Czechia, Italy and France.
Veronika Kubinova CZE on a tricky part of the course Photo: David Hofman
Finnish riders won gold in both women’s and men’s Junior classes (M20 and W20). Pihla Hakkinen won the women’s race by 39 seconds, with Sweden taking silver and bronze. The men’s race was close: just one second separated gold medallist Simo Klemettinen and his nearest challenger, the Swiss rider Flurin Schnyder.
Next up is the Long Distance race on Tuesday, starting at 9.00 CEST. Start lists, live results and GPS tracking can be found on IOF LIVE, and there is free-to-watch streaming on IOF TV and full information on www.wmtboc2023.cz.
Leading results, CX 80 WMTBOC Sprint
Women, 6.89 km
- Kaarina Nurminen FIN 22:59
- Emily Benham Kvåle GBR 23:27
- Henna Saarinen FIN 24:33
- Martina Tichovska CZE 24:34
- Gabriele Andrasiuniene LTU 24:47
- Nikoline Splittorff DEN 24:56
Men, 7.66 km
- Krystof Bogar CZE 22:55
- Vojtech Ludvik CZE 23:28
- Lauri Malsroos EST 23:38
- Jan Hasek CZE 23:51
- Fabiano Bettega ITA 23:59
- Jeremi Pourré FRA 24:17
Junior Women, 5.76 km
- Pihla Hakkinen FIN 22:01
- Signe Feil SWE 22:40
- Minna Palm SWE 22:41
Junior Men, 6.67 km
- Simo Klemettinen FIN 21:29
- Flurin Schnyder SUI 21:30
- Eevert Kenttamies FIN 21:51