The 2024 European Championships took place in the north-eastern part of Poland, more precisely in Ostròda. The titles in the sprint, long distance, middle distance and mixed relay disciplines were contested in the forest of Stare Jablonki. The terrain is characterised by sandy soil, varied vegetation and little incline, but also by a fine relief which sometimes is difficult to read.
Part of the Swiss team travelled to Berlin by train. This allowed us to cover around 2/3 of the journey in a relaxed manner and do something for the environment. From Berlin, the journey continued in hire cars. We arrived in Ostròda 4 days before the first race. We prepared for the competitions with several training sessions in terrain similar to the competition area and a model event.
The first race was the sprint. The competition was surprisingly physical for all of us. Even the off-track riding option, which was rather unusual for us (we were allowed to leave the path in Poland), didn’t cause any major difficulties in terms of orientation, it was a very physical race. I didn’t feel great physically yet, and the terrain was too flat and the race too short for me to be able to play to my strengths. Despite a very clean run with only one small mistake of around 20 seconds, I only managed 21st place. I’m still happy with my race because my main goal was to have a technically clean race and get a good feeling for the upcoming races.
The next day it was time for the long distance. This distance suits me best, but here in Poland all the races lack some climbing. Nevertheless, I was highly motivated at the start. The race was more like a long middle distance. There were many sections that required constant navigation and there were only a few reasonably challenging route choices. I chose the route to the 6th control too directly. The bypass would have been much faster, as I realised afterwards. At the end of the section, I made another mistake, which caused my time loss on this section to increase from around two to three minutes. The Finn Teemu Kaksonen, who started three minutes after me, had already overtaken me by this time. However, I was able to do a good race afterwards and caught up with him again after control 27. We rode the rest of the race together and were able to set a good pace. In the end it was enough for 15th place, with a better route to control 6 a top 10 would certainly have been realistic.
The middle distance followed the next day. In similar terrain to the sprint, it was important to pedal flat out from the start and not miss any junctions. Once again, it was an easy race. Coupled with the few metres in altitude, there wasn’t much possible for me here either. I made a small mistake of about 30 seconds at control 14. Apart from that, I had a good race and felt good physically. The result was another 15th place, without the small mistake at control 14 I would have been 2-3 places higher, but I would have needed a perfect performance for a top 10.
The fourth competition in a row, the mixed relay, concluded this European Championship. Last year, we finished both mixed relays of the World Cup in 3rd place. Expectations were correspondingly high, even though we knew that the terrain suited us all less than the ones last year. I rode in the first Swiss team on the last leg. Ursina was already able to show a confident performance on the start leg and handed over in 6th place. Due to the very uneven forks, however, it was never quite clear who was really making mistakes and who simply had the longer forking. Silas took over on the 2nd leg. Unfortunately, he didn’t manage a good race, as the previous races and the lack of a rest day were beginning to take their toll. He was never really able to focus well and physically he was also unable to deliver his usual performance. As a result, he lost a few places and handed over to me with a relatively large deficit. I was then able to deliver a faultless race. I deliberately didn’t take any big risks and didn’t take many cutting routes. Physically, I was able to fulfil my potential, but even in this race I couldn’t quite keep up with the fastest. I set the third-best time on the final leg and was able to overtake a few other nations. In the end, unfortunately, we only managed the 7th place and we missed out on a diploma. We’re a little disappointed, but we’re already looking forward to our next opportunity in about a month’s time.
