The MTBO World Cup 2016 ended with a
double Czech victory. In a very technical Sprint race, Krystof Bogar
and Martina Tichovska performed amazingly, getting the season’s
last gold medals. With these results, both athletes could move up a
couple of spots in the World Cup overall standings, finishing in an
honourable third place.
A perfect day for the perfect ending of
the MTBO season in another wonderful area. For the third day in a
row, the best in the world biked on terrain that was as beautiful as
it was challenging, searching for the perfect race and the best
possible result. Lampėdžiai, a western suburban area of Kaunas, was
the venue of the last World Cup stage of the MTBO season for a Sprint
keenly contested by 65 Men and 46 Women Elite competitors.
After his two victories in the
preceding stages, the Estonian Lauri Malsroos tried hard to get
another gold, but he didn’t achieve his goal after an astonishing
race from the Czech Krystof Bogar, a real devil in the forest today.
After a long break, Bogar returned to competition this season and one
could see from the beginning that he was here again to challenge the
best. It took a whole season to get the desired result, but he didn’t
miss in his last real chance. A terrific win in 25:55 and a 1:05
advantage over Malsroos was the final result. “It was a very
technical race. I was able to avoid big mistakes, trying to bike as
fast as I could in this difficult and very technical terrain and it
went well,” were Bogar’s first words. Talking about the
Lithuanian round, Bogar rates it highly: “Nice races, nice terrain,
even though my performances were far from perfection on the other
days because I always got lost. But not today,” he said. This was
the perfect end to the season and is also a motivation for the 2017
season, as we can see from Bogar’s last words: “To repeat today’s
good performance when returning to Lithuania and going for the gold
will definitely be my goal for the next year.”
In the Women Elite, yesterday’s
winner Marika Hara, Finland had a big crash close to the finish, and
so lost the fight for the gold at a moment when she was in the lead.
Martina Tichovska, Czech Republic, had a quite impressive race and
could reach gold with the time of 28:22. Emily Benham and Ingrid
Stengard got the next positions, less than one minute after the
winner. Tichovska’s victory was unexpected, according to her words:
“No, I didn’t expect to win today. During the race I could see
that things were going well when I caught the two girls in front of
me, and I’m very happy with the final result.” Being the last
race of the season, this victory had a special meaning for Tichovska:
“I’m very happy for winning the last race, after a not-really-bad
season but a season that didn’t satisfy me.” Evaluating the World
Cup round in Lithuania, the Czech athlete talks enthusiastically
about “the very beautiful terrain” and starts looking forward to
the next World MTB Orienteering Championships, if … she gets the
necessary motivation: “I’m not sure about being here next year.
Life is complicated. But if so, the goal will be a medal. The
Scandinavian girls and Emily [Benham] are all very strong, and I
don’t think in gold medal terms” were her last words.
Complete results and further
information at http://www.mtbo.lt/.
Joaquim Margarido
