Long ahead of the Helvetians, the Blues cracked in the penultimate stint, and Jordan Sarrou failed to come back to Nino Schurter on the last lap.
First race, and first medal for the tricolor cross-country mountain bike, but still no gold for the French delegation at these 2023 Worlds. For the start of the off-road events on Wednesday August 8, at Glentress Forest, the French team took silver in the mixed team relay.
The six Frenchmen lined up, with Loana Lecomte and Jordan Sarrou as headliners, finished behind the Swiss of legend Nino Schurter, who retain their title. Denmark completes the podium of this event which will not be on the program of the next Olympic Games.
Switzerland wins the first duel
Ambitious on this relay after finishing outside the podium and therefore losing its title last year at home, the French team was nevertheless well into its race. Composed – as required by the regulations – of two junior athletes (Julien Hémon, Anaïs Moulin), two hopefuls (Adrien Boichis, Line Burquier) and two elites (Loana Lecomte, Julien Sarrou), the tricolor relay aimed for gold from this relay consists of 6 laps of 3.5 km, one per athlete.
After a big start from Boichis, the Blues settled into the top three, while Switzerland fell behind to everyone’s surprise. Never further than 4th place, France took the lead at halfway, after two big stints from Loana Lecomte and Line Burquier. The lead was gone during the relay of junior Anaïs Moulin.
When starting for the last lap, Jordan Sarrou (2020 world champion) had a delay of 13 seconds to make up for Switzerland. Not an easy task, facing the legend Nino Schurter, ten times world champion in individual, and seven times in mixed relay. At 37, the cross-country legend did not falter and managed his team’s lead, while Sarrou secured the silver for the Blues.
Beyond the battle for gold, this standoff between the Swiss and the French had another stake. By retaining its title, Switzerland obtained an eighth crown in the mixed relay, and thus became the most successful nation in history in the discipline ahead of… France. The Blues will be able to take their revenge individually on Thursday, with the cross-country short track, and Saturday with the Olympic cross-country.
