It was a tough day for the men, but the American women showed up again Saturday at the UCI Mountain Bike World Championships at Mont-Sainte-Anne in Quebec, Canada.
The final day of cross-country mountain bike competition began with the under-23 women. Utah’s Haley Batten, 21, led the U.S. charge in sixth place, though she was 3 minutes, 22 seconds behind the winning time of Switzerland’s Sina Frei, as the 22-year-old won in 1:16:34. She was 31 seconds in front of Austrian Laura Stigger and 36 seconds in front of France’s Loana Lecomte.
Savilia Blunk, a 20-year-old from California who competes for Fort Lewis College in Durango, placed 14th. A year ago at the world championships in Switzerland, Batten was 12th and Blunk was 13th. A year ago, Blunk was 7:20 behind the winning time, and this year she was 6:32 behind.
Also for the U.S., Kelsey Urban placed 19th and was 8:59 back, and Gwendalyn Gibson was 25th, 11:48 behind. Out of 44 starters, 43 finished.
In the elite women’s race, 23-year-old American Kate Courtney was unable to defend her world title, as she placed fifth 2:42 behind champion Pauline Ferrand Prevot, who won in 1:28:51. The 27-year-old from France was 43 seconds in front of Jolanda Neff of Switzerland and 1:17 in front of Australia’s Rebecca McConnell. Lea Davison of the U.S. was 11th, Chloe Woodruff was 15th, Hannah Finchamp placed 26th, Erin Huck was 35th and Alexis Skarda was 60th out of 61 finishers. Courtney still locked up a spot at next year’s Olympics in Tokyo with her result, and the women scored enough UCI points to take over first in the women’s Olympic points rankings as a nation.
Durango’s Stephan Davoust, an FLC cycling alum, competed in his first world championships in the elite men’s field. He placed 69th and was down one lap from winner Nino Schurter, as the Swiss rider claimed his eighth world title in 1:27:05. He was 30 seconds in front of Swiss teammate Mathias Flueckiger. France’s Stephane Tempier was third, 38 seconds back.
North Carolina’s Luke Vrounwenvelder led the U.S. elite men’s team in 49th. He was 8:50 back and finished one spot behind 2014 world champion and 2012 Olympic gold medalist Jaroslav Kulhavy of the Czech Republic.
Also for the U.S., national champion Keegan Swenson of Utah was 57th, 10:47 behind Schurter and the last rider to finish on the lead lap. Colorado Springs’ Russell Finsterwald was 73rd, and Alex Wild of California was 84th out of 84 finishers, while 93 men started the race.
After the U.S. team relay began the week with a silver medal, the Americans were shutout of the medal count the rest of the week.
There is one UCI World Cup event to go on this year’s schedule, and it will be held next weekend at Snowshoe Mountain in West Virginia.
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
