Mountain bike
The Olympic season doesn’t start ideally for mountain biker Mona Mitterwallner. The Tyrolean, who won her first two World Cup victories last year, missed the first two stops in Brazil because she has not yet recovered from an illness.
10.04.2024 15.31
Online since today, 3:31 p.m
The marathon world champion took part in the Cape Epic stage race in South Africa in mid-March when she was ill, which turned out to be a bad idea. “I asked a lot of my body. Brazil is simply coming too soon after the virus. “I decided with my team that it would be wiser to leave Brazil out,” said Mitterwallner.
Because she only wants to compete in top form and with a chance of winning. “I couldn’t have said that in Brazil.” The 22-year-old’s focus is clearly on the Olympics and the World Cup in Andorra, where she achieved her debut victory in the World Cup last year.
“It will definitely be spectacular”
Her local rival Laura Stigger, on the other hand, starts the season in top shape and with big goals. In 2023 she not only celebrated her first World Cup success in cross country, but also won three races in the non-Olympic short track.
GEPA/Patrick Steiner Laura Stigger is looking forward to the spectacle in Brazil
Stigger is ready for the weekend’s races in Mairipora and then Araxa. “It will certainly be spectacular because the fans in South America are extremely enthusiastic. “I’m just looking forward to competing again with the world’s best athletes and competing with them,” said Stigger.
No thoughts about the Olympics
The 23-year-old wants to build on her previous successes. “I will do my best and hope that it will be enough to achieve good placings.” She is not yet thinking about the Summer Games in Paris. “It’s still too early to think about it at the moment. Now our full concentration is on the World Cup.”
The Austrian men around Max Foidl and Gregor Raggl are still not among the contenders for top places. The Cross-Country World Cup includes eight stations, Leogang is not one of them this year. The downhillers, however, will be back in Salzburg in June and their season begins in Scotland at the beginning of May.
