Sensational World Championship silver for Alessandra Keller

In a dramatic short track race Alessandra Keller won silver at the World Championships in Les Gets, France. After a heavy fall, Keller was seemingly hopelessly behind, but never gave up and won the silver medal with a sensational race.

Alessandra Keller started the race in her usual confident, attentive and fierce manner. She positioned herself optimally again and again and always kept her attention. Until a fateful crash occurred after two-thirds of the race: “When it got wet, I went into the rockgarden in second place. But then my front wheel slipped sideways and I went over the handlebars pretty hard,” said Keller, looking back on what was probably the race-deciding situation.

Keller started the last three laps 20 seconds behind the leader in 12th place. Pauline Ferrand-Prévot immediately attacked at the front and the Frenchwoman seemingly effortlessly pulled away from the rest of the competitors within a few meters. Alessandra Keller, on the other hand, didn’t think about giving up. She fought her way back into the fight for silver over the last three laps: “I tried to concentrate only on myself and just go full throttle. I think I succeeded in this,” Keller said with a smile at the finish.

And how it succeeded. In the final laps, the 26-year-old not only caught up with the group in the battle for second place, but pulled off her horrendous pace to deservedly take her first World Championship medal in the elite category in second behind Ferrand-Prévot. “I felt brutally strong. The fall happened, self-inflicted. Because of the way the race went, the silver medal feels like a victory for me.”

“The medal means a lot to us”

Ralph Näf, the team manager of Thömus maxon, was extremely pleased with Alessandra Keller’s World Championship medal: “What Alessandra showed today is awesome. Her fighting spirit is simply incredible. For us as a team, this silver medal means a lot!”

Vital Albin’s strong performance not rewarded

Vital Albin also showed a strong XCC race. Nevertheless, he was never able to find his way into the race. Albin made some mistakes himself and was held up several times. He could not use his strong form and good feeling as desired and reached 14th place. But Albin drew a positive conclusion: “I felt good, the legs turned very well. So I take the positive with me and look forward to the cross-country race on Sunday.”