From 15 to 17 September, the UCI Mountain Bike Marathon World Championships will return to the far north for the first time since 2005. Namely to the cycling country of Denmark, where the Tour de France 2022 kicked off with a three-day festival. 17 years ago, Gunn-Rita Dahle Flesjå (NOR) and Thomas Frischknecht (SUI) won the marathon titles in Lillehammer, Norway. The Nordic nations are among the absolute dominators in women's marathon racing: since 2003, when the first marathon world championships were held, Norwegian and Danish racers have taken a total of 11 victories in 19 events. But this picture has changed in recent years: the last three MTB marathon world champions have come from Austria (Mona Mitterwallner, 2021), Switzerland (Ramona Forchini, 2020) and France (Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, 2019).
South Americans back on the marathon world championship throne?
Riders from South America are traditionally strong in the men's marathon world championships in mountain bike racing. Nations such as Colombia regularly feature on the podium. But last year, the Lenggrieser Andreas Seewald on Elba as the first German to win the rainbow jersey in the MTB marathon. After the double victory of Colombian Héctor Páez in 2019 and 2020 and the victory of Brazilian Henrique Avancini in 2018, Seewald broke the South American winning streak.
MTB Marathon World Championships 2022: The course in Haderslev
The World Championship course in southern Denmark is a circuit around the town of Haderslev: the course is 40 kilometres long and awaits the riders with two main climbs with 500 metres of elevation gain. The men ride three laps, covering a total of 120 kilometres. Compared to last year's World Championship course, which had a whopping 4800 metres of climbing, the World Championship race in Denmark is likely to be more of a fast, cross-country-style race. The women will have to complete two full laps plus an additional 7.5 kilometre loop in the battle for the marathon world championship title, resulting in a total distance of 87.5 kilometres.
Neff, Sarrou, Seewald, Páez: The favourites for marathon world championship gold
The starting list for the World Championship races is peppered with UCI world champions, marathon experts and cross-country stars. "We are very much looking forward to seeing Pauline Ferrand-Prévot on Danish soil," says organiser Joan Løgstrup. "We will also Jordan Sarrou - the MTB XC world champion of 2020- and are very excited to see whether the French duo will dominate both races."
In the women's race, reigning MTB marathon world champion Mona Mitterwallner will be looking to make her season golden after two second places in the World Cup. Local heroine Caroline Bohé is also likely to play a role on home soil. Former world champion Ramona Forchini (SUI), Olympic champion Jolanda Neff (SUI), XC expert Haley Batten from the USA and the young Italian Giada Specia - fourth on Elba in 2021 - are also at the start. The most promising German starter is Stefanie Dohrn.
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There are also some cross-country stars in the men's field for the long distance. Luca Braidot (ITA) and Vlad Dascalu (ROM) in the lead. They will be joined by Danish riders Sebastian Fini Carstensen, runner-up at the European Championships, and Simon Andreassen, who won the national championships on this course last year. In addition to defending champion Andreas Seewald from Germany, last year's number two, Diego Arias (COL), and number three José Dias from Portugal will also be at the start. Other strong international riders with medal chances: Héctor Páez (COL), Tiago Ferreira (POR) and the Italian trio Fabian Rabensteiner, Samuele Porro and Juri Ragnoli. The German squad is completed by Simon Schneller, Lukas Baum, Georg Egger, Simon Stiebjahn and Sascha Weber. The complete start list can be found here.
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Where can you watch the 2022 World Marathon Championships?
According to the organisers, it will take place on 17 September at YouTube a livestream of the event give. The live timing of the 2022 World Marathon Championships in Denmark is available on this platform.
