Victor Koretzky celebrates his World Championship gold. © ANSA / MAXIME SCHMID

Gold joy in Switzerland, but South Tyroleans lag behind

On Tuesday, the next gold medals were decided at the Mountain Bike World Championships in Switzerland. South Tyrol's cycling elite had to settle further back in recent years.

September 09, 2025

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Victor Koretzky and Alessandra Keller each won the gold medal in the cross-country short track. Frenchman Koretzky won a nail-biting battle in the men's race, finishing one second ahead of silver medalist Christopher Blevins of the USA, followed by Mathis Azzaro of France, another two seconds behind. This is the 31-year-old's second gold medal in short track, having already triumphed in Andorra a year ago.

In the women's race, as in the recent World Cup in Les Gets, France, it was a showdown between local hero Alessandra Keller and the Swede Jenny Rissveds. This time, however, Keller had the edge – and caused great cheers among the Swiss fans. The 29-year-old did not relinquish her lead in a thrilling duel and celebrated her first professional World Championship title. "It's incredible. I've always wanted the short track title. But it was exhausting," she told the SRF.

South Tyrol's marathon rider beaten

South Tyrol's mountain bike experts were already in action days before. Veronika Widmann competed in Sunday's downhill competition, finishing 15th (+13,741 seconds) in the triumphant Austrian Valentina Höll. Gloria Scarsi was the best Azzurra in the field (+7,888 seconds). The day before, Fabian Rabensteiner and Sandra Mairhofer were challenged – in a competition of a special kind.

125 kilometers and more than 5.000 meters of elevation gain were to be conquered in the marathon races on Saturday. While American Keegan Swenson won the race in 6:01:44,3 hours, Rabensteiner only managed 14th place, 11.51:7 minutes behind. In the women's race, Swenson's compatriot Kate Courtney took the gold medal in 10:11,1:18 hours, while South Tyrolean Mairhofer finished 46.10th (+XNUMX minutes).