Buchanan and Wichman are the new crowned Four-Cross World Champions!
The UCI Four Cross World Championships are over and from today, the freshly crowned world champions come from the Netherlands and Australia.
In the men's competition Joost Wichman was unstoppable and in the women's competition Caroline Buchanan pushed hardto become the Four-Cross queen.
In front of 5,000 cheering spectators, Bikepark Leogang was lit up with supreme Four-Cross action. The qualification runs on Friday were held in rainy conditions, but the sun came out for the finals on Saturday afternoon and the race was held in ideal conditions. It seemed like the Czech riders were going to demonstrate their dominance in Four-Cross once more. Already in the qualification runs, Michael Mechura and Tomas Slavik came in fastest. Course designer and Four-Cross veteran Guido Tschugg from Germany finished third. Sitting comfortably at the top spots, they passed with ease the rest of their final heats and made it to the finals. Only Tschugg had to prove his experience in the quarter final, when he spectacularly overtook US rider Blake Carney out of a berm and made it to the semi final. Michal Marosi was the third Czech to enter the round with the last eight riders. For Four-Cross "oldie" Joost Wichman it all seemed to be over in the quarterfinal, when he showed an incredible overtaking maneuver, going from fourth to second position and qualifying for the semi finals.
In the small final, Tschugg leaded Michal Marosi and Slovak rider Marek Pesko. Tschugg was the fastest in this third heat, finishing in 5th, since Barry Nobles didn't start and Marosi crashed on track. Pesko came in second and was ranked 6th. The big final was composed of Mechura, Slavik, French Quentin Derbier and Joost Wichman. It looked like the Czechs were battling for the World Championship title in their own private duel. But the two countrymen took each other out in a crash during the race. Derbier could have stolen the title, if not for Joost "the Boost" Wichman's unbelievable air born overtaking maneuver. Risking everything in his last World Championship race, he could beat Derbier who had been passed by Mechura and consequently leaves Saalfelden Leogang with a Bronze medal. In fourth, one spot shy of the podium finished the season favourite, Tomas Slavik.
1. WICHMAN Joost NETHERLANDS
2. MECHURA Michael CZECH REPUBLIC
3. DERBIER Quentin FRANCE
4. SLAVIK Tomas CZECH REPUBLIC
5. TSCHUGG Guido GERMANY
In the women's competition, starting in a four heat quarter final, the title aspirants Anneke Beerten (NED), current BMX World Champion Caroline Buchanan (AUS) and Katy Curd (GBR) made it easily to the finals as expected. Only Czech rider Romana Labounkova, also considered as a favorite for the title, was defeated by French Céline Gros in the semi final. Labounkova had to go for the small final with German Steffi Marth (GER), Lucia Oetjen (SUI) and Helene Valerie Fruhwirth from Austria. The former BMX rider from Czech Republic showed her class and confidently finished first to achieve 5th overall, followed by Marth, Fruhwirth and Oetjen. The big final between Caroline Buchanan, Céline Gros, Anneke Beerten and Katy Curd was cleary dominated by Australian Buchanan. Buchanan sprinted for Gold and left Curd in second and Gros in third. Anneke Beerten heavily cheered on by the spectators, had to push her totally deformed bike over the finish line, a big gesture from the Dutch rider.
1 BUCHANAN Caroline AUS19901024 AUSTRALIA
2 CURD Katy GBR19890427 GREAT BRITAIN
3 GROS Céline FRA19830128 FRANCE
4 BEERTEN Anneke NED19820707 NETHERLANDS
5 LABOUNKOVA Romana CZE19890427 CZECH REPUBLIC
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