Gaia Tormena and Simon Gegenheimer became world champions in downtown Graz!

At the UCI Mountain Bike Eliminator World Championships in Graz, the favorites triumphed: the currently unbeatable Italian Gaia Tormena won gold in the women. In the men's race, the German Simon Gegenheimer won the long-awaited gold medal in the last corner just before the finish line after three runner-up titles.

Result women
Result gentlemen

Brilliantly beautiful weather, a spectacular route and a great atmosphere among the hundreds of spectators in the city center: The UCI Mountain Bike Eliminator World Championship kept what the last two World Cup races in Graz in 2018 and 2019 had promised. With one big difference that the athletes felt right from the start: It was about the coveted rainbow jerseys - that is, the world championship title. Two names were considered big favorites among the drivers: Gaia Tormena and Simon Gegenheimer. And both fully lived up to this role - the Italian and the German actually won the coveted gold in Graz.

Tormena is currently unbeatable in the Eliminator competition. She won all three World Cup races this year, won gold at the European Championships and today also gold at the World Championships. She was safe in all of her heats and played her great class with ease. “It's the second world title for me, but now I know what it means. In 2019 the title came as a surprise to me - now I've worked hard for it. My motto is always: Go over your limit, then you will be successful. ”If you consider that the Italian is only 19 years old, then she will probably shine from the winners' podium very often in the next few years… The French woman landed in second place Noemie Garnier, the Ukrainian Iryna Popova won the bronze medal.

Gegenheimer had to fight harder to land at the front. In the second round he was just behind the strong Styrian in his heat Theo Hauser Second, in the quarterfinals he had to face the Tyrolean Daniel Federspiel give up. "Feder" was really hot for the final that day - unfortunately only a technical problem with the pedal prevented this ... In the second round of the semi-final, Federspiel had bad luck, couldn't put any more power on the pedal and had to let all opponents go. In the end, it was 8th place for the visibly disappointed Tyrolean, who was still able to show his great class in the Eliminator.

So the way was clear for Simon Gegenheimer: But for a long time it looked as if he would only win silver again after three runner-up titles. Dutchman Jeroen Van Eck was incredibly strong in the grand finale and led right from the start - but Gegenheimer always stuck to his rear wheel. So it was a final that couldn't be beat in terms of drama: In the last corner, a hundred meters from the finish, the German chose the inside line and gave Van Eck no chance in the sprint. Only a few centimeters separated the two at the finish line - so the 32-year-old was able to celebrate gold for the first time: “I invested a lot for this title. I actually wanted to take the lead as soon as possible in the final, but Jeroen was so difficult to overtake. I waited for my chance, I only got it in the last corner. I don't know where I got the strength for this sprint from. Many times I was close to the gold medal and was runner-up three times. Today a dream has come true. ”Behind Gegenheimer and Van Eck became the Swede Anton Olstam Third.

The young Styrian made a strong exclamation point Theo Hauser: As mentioned before, he won his heat in the round of 10, in the quarter-finals he crossed the line in third place just a few hundredths of a second behind Federspiel and Gegenheimer and was eliminated. In the end, he was able to look forward to XNUMXth place in a world championship.

The young drivers were also able to get a taste of the racing atmosphere as part of the Kids Race & Youth Race. For a few minutes on the World Championship track, she was looking for medals in three categories. The results can be found here:

Results U9 & U11
Results U13
Results U15 & U17