The second World Cup round after the European Championships in Poland took place around a month later in Smiltene, Latvia. The Swiss team travelled there just under a week in advance. We wanted to prepare for the Latvian terrain, which was unfamiliar to most of us, at competitions in Daugavpils. Unfortunately, I fell ill shortly before travelling. Fortunately, I was able to travel normally, but my form was badly affected at the preparatory competitions. Nevertheless, I tried to familiarise myself with the terrain as much as possible without overstraining myself physically. I managed this relatively well and was able to travel to Smiltene with a good feeling for the upcoming competitions.
Sprint
The first discipline of this World Cup round was the sprint. I managed a good race in an exciting area that included both an urban section and a park. At the start, I had a bit of trouble identifying the most challenging sections and preparing accordingly. I therefore hesitated a little too often at the first 3-4 controls. After that, however, I was able to turn up the heat and prove my good form and intensive preparation. In the end, I finished in 10th place, my best result in the sprint discipline at World Cup level!
Long distance
The next day, the long distance was on the programme. The aim was to complete a good 47 kilometres as quickly as possible on fairly flat terrain. The terrain turned out to be less sandy than expected. In many cases, it had a somewhat Nordic feel and featured lots of fun single trails in a beautiful pine forest. I quickly got into the race and was able to maintain a good pace. A little after the halfway point of the race, various small lapses in concentration crept in, causing me to lose around a minute a few times. Shortly before the challenging final section, Miika Nurmi from Finland, who started three minutes later, caught up with me. Together we were able to push very well on the long straight sections. In the final section, however, Miika got severe cramps and had to get off his bike a little roughly. After making sure he was okay, I was able to continue my race on my own. I was held up a little by a non-existent but mapped path. Nevertheless, I was able to finish my race around half a minute ahead of Miika. I finished in 11th place, Miika was 4th and the gaps to 3rd place were relatively close. I was less than three minutes off the podium. A podium would have been possible with an optimial race in terms of the map technique! This realisation is very encouraging for me, as I strongly prefer hilly terrain, but can now also achieve good results on flat terrain.
Mixed Relay
The final event of this World Cup round was the mixed relay. I was allowed to ride the final leg of the first Swiss team. Ursina showed a strong performance on the start leg and came back in eighth place (sixth woman). Noah was able to make up two places and handed over to me in sixth place. Not only did I have to overtake other nations, I also had to make up a few seconds on the second Swiss team. Due to the very different speed of the forks, you never knew exactly where you were in the race. At the first five controls, I was able to catch up with a group led by Silas from Team Switzerland 2. After that, we parted ways due to forks in the road, where I was lucky enough to get the shorter options. On the approach to the final loop, I knew that I was around 30 seconds behind second place, but that the previously dominant Andre Haga from Finland 1 was getting closer and closer from behind. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to catch up with the Italians in second place or leave the Finns behind me. As a result, our team had to settle for 4th place, just 30 seconds behind the podium. After the unsuccessful relay at the European Championships, this was still a good result with which we are satisfied.
