All to ride for in MTBO World Cup

All to ride for in MTBO World Cup

With 6 races run and 4 to go, and a best 8 out of 10 for the final scores, there are many athletes who still have the chance of a final top-six position. Just now the individual standings are headed by Martina Tichovska, Czech Republic and Baptiste Fuchs, France. The Czech Republic leads in the team competition.

All the races in WMTBOC in Lithuania this week count for World Cup scores, this being the final of three rounds. The final two individual races (Long Distance and Sprint) will be decisive; those who have scores from all previous races will be able to drop their poorest, but there are several really good athletes who have not scored in one or two previous races who will come up into the reckoning.

Emily Benham, Great Britain in second place in the women’s standings is one of these; she has completed 5 races so far and has 25 points fewer than Martina Tichovska. The score for a race victory is 60 points, for second place 50 and for third 45. Krystof Bogar, Czech Republic, currently second in the men’s list, is in a similar situation.

Emily Benham, GBR – aiming for new overall World Cup win

Athletes who at the moment are outside the top six who will be aiming to reach that level include several previous WMTBOC medal winners. Names such as Svetlana Poverina and Olga Shipilova-Vinogradova from Russia and Marika Hara, Finland, and Vojtech Ludvik (Czech Republic) and Lauri Malsroos (Estonia) all have potential top-six standard.

Close-run team competition – after Czech Republic

The Czech Republic team has enjoyed a ‘clean sweep’ in the team competition so far, winning the Sprint Relay and both men’s and women’s Relays at the European Championships. Behind CZE the competition is very close with five teams separated by only 7 points. The Lithuanian team competing on home ground must feel confident of retaining second place, but Russia, Denmark, France and Finland all have a good chance of a medal placing. The women’s and men’s relays at WMTBOC count separately to give a final total of five races in the team competition.

Leading World Cup placings, prior to WMTBOC

Women

1. Martina Tichovska CZE 300 points
2. Emily Benham GBR 275
3. Gaelle Barlet FRA 242
4. Camilla Søgaard DEN 197
5. Antonia Haga FIN 178
6. Ingrid Stengard FIN 170

Men

1. Baptiste Fuchs FRA 239
2. Krystof Bogar CZE 231
3. Jussi Laurila FIN 217
4. Ruslan Gritsan RUS 200
5. Luca Dallavalle ITA 190
6. Anton Foliforov RUS 183

Teams

1. Czech Republic 60
2. Lithuania 41

3., 4. & 5. Russia, Denmark & France  38

6. Finland 34