Strong performances by Keller, Albin and Wiedmann at Worlds

The Thömus maxon trio Keller, Albin and Wiedmann convinced at the World Championships in Les Gets (Fra) in the cross-country race. Alessandra Keller fought for the medals for a long time and finished as an excellent fifth – her best World Cup result. Vital Albin took 15th place in his first elite world championship after a great chase and Luke Wiedmann convinced with 9th place in the U23 race.

After short track silver on Friday, Alessandra Keller showed no signs of fatigue and showed another sensational race in Les Gets. After a rather cautious start, she soon pulled away behind the again superior Pauline Ferrand-Prévot with Haley Batten. Keller and the US-American duelled for the silver medal for a long time before Jolanda Neff was able to close the gap from behind. In the last two rounds, Alessandra Keller lacked the last energy against Neff and Batten, and at the very end against Loana Lecomte.

Keller: “Surprised that I could fight for medals”.

Nevertheless, with the 5th place she brought her best result of her career at World Championships to the finish line and was very satisfied about it: “Today I surprised myself. The fact that I was able to fight for a podium place for so long makes me super happy. This result is further proof of my great consistency this season”, Keller summed up with satisfaction at the finish line.

Vital Albin with a great race to catch up

Vital Albin also showed a great fighter’s heart at his very first World Championships in the elite category. He did not start well into the race. In the first two laps Albin did not feel well, fell back and even crashed in a technical root passage. But suddenly, after two laps, Albin started a sensational race to catch up from 47th place. With better and better lap times he fought his way forward lap after lap. With the third-best final lap, Albin was even able to move up to 15th place. A successful world championship premiere!

Wiedmann with consistency in the top 10

The U23 rider Luke Wiedmann also showed a strong race. Starting the race with bib number 29, he did not let himself be tempted by the high initial speed and rode his own pace consistently. Wiedmann’s pacing was perfectly chosen and at the halfway point of the race he was able to move up to 9th place. The rider from Solothurn did not give up this position until the finish. Thus Wiedmann and the whole team Thömus maxon drew an extremely content World Championship balance. The World Cup final in Val di Sole (Ita) follows next weekend.