The highlight of this year’s season took place in the sandy forests just east of the Polish capital Warsaw. The weather was extremely warm and dry, not only during the World Championships, but also in the weeks leading up to them. This meant that the sandy ground became even deeper and slower to ride on than it already was. This was also the biggest difference compared to the preparatory competitions we held in June in directly adjacent terrain.
After a thoroughly unsuccessful journey (thanks to an Interrail app that didn’t work as intended and a ghost train from ÖBB), I had little time to recover from an intense week of work and the stressful journey. However, I was ready for the first competition, the sprint on Tuesday. I was well prepared at the starting line and, thanks to intensive map study accompanied by YouTube videos of the bike trails in the sprint area, I knew many of the turns and important points by heart. This helped me a lot on the southern half of the course. I was able to ride a clean race and only made one minor mistake of about 20 seconds. I was able to catch up with the two athletes who had started ahead of me and complete a fast final section with them. I crossed the finish line with a clear new personal best, which held until my teammate Noah crossed the finish line. In the final standings, I finished in 9th place, which was enough for a top 10 result.
The middle distance followed the next day. In this race, which was probably the most technically demanding race of many participants’ careers, it was important not to lose focus, even for a few seconds. I managed this relatively well in the first 50 minutes of the race. With around 10 controls to go, at a race time when a middle distance race could be finished, I was back in the top 10. Towards the end, my mental energy was somewhat depleted. Several minor mistakes and unclean routes cost me more than 2 minutes and I fell back to 15th place, which I shared with Flurin.
The mass start rounded off the first block of races at the World Championships. The third day of racing in a row was a day to forget for me. My accumulated sleep deprivation came to a head in the middle of the race, during which I completely lost track of things for around 10 controls. I made one mistake after another and completely lost my train of thought. One of these mistakes was overlooking control point 24, which I therefore completely skipped. I was very disappointed about this completely unsuccessful race and was glad that there was a rest day following, during which I had some time to recover and process this race.
The last individual race of this World Championship was the long distance. In terrain similar to that of the mass start, the competitors had to battle it out in the hot sand for around two hours. At the start, I chose routes that were a little too aggressive, with too much cross-country running. As the race progressed, I continued to choose suboptimal routes, which cost me a total of around six minutes. On top of that, I made a small mistake at control 10 that cost me around a minute. I can’t quite explain the remaining seven minutes of time lost. I actually felt good physically. Of course, flat terrain isn’t my forte, but I feel like I’m losing too much time, even on flat terrain.
The relay race marked the end of the World Championship week again this year. Due to my last two individual races, I had a little less confidence than before the competition. It was very reassuring to know that my teammates had complete faith in me and that I would be taking over the final leg. Flurin ran a controlled race on the start leg and came back in 8th place. Noah did the same, and I took over from him shortly behind the Lithuanian team. I was able to deliver my best performance on the last day and ran an almost perfect race. The shorter forks in the second half certainly helped me to consistently overtake other teams. At the arena passage, I was in a group fighting for third place. I was aware of the situation, but I was still able to stay focused and choose a faster cross-country route on the way to the penultimate control. I was able to create a small gap to France, Lithuania and the second Czech team, but I lost it again due to one safety stop too many. In the sprint between four teams, I was able to leave Czech Republic 2 and Lithuania behind me, but Armel from France was unfortunately a tad more experienced and faster at the end and snatched the bronze medal from us.
It was a great week in Poland. I look back on it with mixed feelings. I can be proud of my sprint, and my performance in the middle distance was okay too. I’m not at all satisfied with the mass start and the long distance. However, the relay and the banquet were an extremely positive end to my 2025 international season. In a week’s time, I will start my four-month community service in Davos. Apart from a few races in Switzerland and neighbouring Italy, my season is now over. I am looking forward to a slightly longer break from international competitions and to my new home in Davos.