MTB Orienteers from 25 nations have converged on Jičín in Czechia for the CX 80 2023 World Mountain Bike Orienteering Championships, comprising five competitions over the coming week. Both the world’s elite and the best Juniors will be competing for medals in Sprint, Long, Middle, Mass Start and Relay. This is the 20th edition of WMTBOC and it’s 8 years since it was last held in Czechia.
The home nation is traditionally strong in MTBO, and Czech rider Krystof Bogar is the defending World Champion in both Sprint and Middle. He is now second in the current World Cup standings to another Czech, Vojtech Stransky, who was silver medallist in Sprint last year. Overall there is plenty of strength in depth in the Czech team; both Martina Tichovska and Jan Hasek won bronze medals in last year’s championships, and the men’s and the women’s relay teams both finished third – results they will be determined to improve on this year!
The two Danes Camilla Søgaard and Nikoline Splittorff have dominated the women’s class so far this season. Last year, Søgaard won 4 medals in the World Championships at Falun, Sweden including gold in Mass Start, and Splittorff won at Middle distance and took silver in Sprint. But there are many other talented and experienced riders in the races this week who will be challenging them for the medals. Finland in particular will have a strong team; the Finns won both relays last year.
Championships start with the Sprint
The first event is on Sunday 20th August, the Sprint. This takes place in Jičín in mainly urban terrain but including a town forest and park; the town is mainly flat but with one significant hill. The Long and Middle races on Tuesday and Wednesday are both centred on Mostek, where there will be a bit more climbing on the courses, through terrain with a dense network of forest roads and paths with varying rideability, plus some open areas and villages. The Mass Start race on Friday at Jabjenice is expected to be very fast, in mixed forest with some shallow valleys. The final race, the Relay on Saturday in “hilly suburban spruce forest” around the town Nova Paká, uses a sports stadium as the arena.
20 nations are represented in the Junior WMTBOC, which has a similar programme to the senior event.
Keep up-to-date with all the action!
The races throughout the week can be followed on IOF TV – where there is a free stream this week.
Find start lists, results and GPS-tracking at IOF LIVE.
Reports and leading results will be posted on this website and in IOF social media after each race.
For full details of the event, go to https://www.wmtboc2023.cz/-data/wmtbo2023cz-bulletin4.pdf.
Race Programme
Sunday 20th August – Sprint
Tuesday 22nd August – Long Distance
Wednesday 23rd August – Middle Distance
Friday 25th August – Mass Start
Saturday 26th August – Relay (men’s and women’s teams of 3)