Nino Schurter takes world championship title as expected

To put it somewhat exaggeratedly, one would have to say, yes, who else if not Schurter will win the gold medal, because former competitors like Absalon or Kulhavy are out and current talents simply can't keep up with Schurter yet. Even Brazilian mountain bike talent Henrique Avancini can get close to Schurter, but not past him, at least not at the moment.

This was also the outcome of the MTB World Championships in the Cross Country Olympic (XCO) discipline in Mont Saint-Anne, Canada. From the beginning, the Brazilian Avancini drove to the top and wanted to put virtually a start-finish victory, but at some point in the middle of the race he ran out of breath and he could not do anything against the constant attacks of Schurter. For fans of the Brazilian and current world number 2 it was almost a little disappointing that he was already about 15 seconds behind after four of seven laps or about an hour. I think he had approached the race a little too aggressively and rashly, and that took its revenge as the race progressed. The four Frenchmen Marotte, Sarrou, Koretzky and Tempier also wanted to be at the front, or the South Tyrolean Gerhard Kerschbaumer, one of the top 5 mountain bikers in the world, was not here to look down the tube. But compatriot Matthias Flückiger alone seemed to be able to be a danger, as he saw himself as the secret favorite on his favorite course, but the defect in lap 4 threw him back, so that the silver medal was almost a small miracle thanks to his catch-up.

In the end, not entirely surprisingly, Nino Schurter took the gold medal for the 8th time at the MTB World Championships in Mont Saint-Anne, closely followed by his compatriot Matthias Flückiger and Frenchman Stéphane Tempier, who proved to be a tough chaser.