The construction work on the courses has been completed. Both the downhill and cross country courses have already been extensively inspected by the Austrian World Championship participants, who will be competing with a record line-up from 7 to 11 October.
From 7 to 11 October, the world's best bikers will compete for the World Championship medals in the disciplines of cross country, downhill and e-MTB in a total of 13 competitions. The final countdown to the major bike event in Saalfelden Leogang has now begun with the completion of the two World Championship courses.
The team, led by the two organisers Marco Pointner and Kornel Grundner, have faced a challenging period of preparation under difficult conditions. After all, the top priority is to get athletes, coaches, press and staff through the major sporting event in good health. In addition to developing a sophisticated Covid-19 prevention concept, a completely new course also had to be built for the cross-country events. The construction work has now been completed - the result is a varied track, most of which is located in the finish area of the Epic Bikepark Leogang and uses three existing trails to conserve resources: ‘It's a very difficult course that is certainly worthy of a World Championships,’ says the ÖRV's sporting director, Christoph Peprnicek, who has already been able to train in Leogang with his record line-up of local athletes. No fewer than 44 Austrian World Championship participants will be at the start, including of course the two medal hopes, Laura Stigger in cross country and Valentina Höll in downhill.
Vali Höll can look forward to a new, extremely technical section on the Downhill World Championship course, as the 2.5-kilometre-long Speedster track has been further expanded for the second World Championships in Saalfelden Leogang after eight years: ‘The new sector of the Downhill track raises the Speedster to a higher level once again,’ says Kornel Grundner, World Championship organiser and Managing Director of Leoganger Bergbahnen. Perhaps it was also made for the local heroine, who feels particularly at home on technically challenging sections. Höll already proved last year that she can be one of the fastest in Leogang, when she would have finished third in the elite class with her time in the junior classification. The Saalbach native will be making her debut in the elite class at the World Championships in Leogang. However, the World Championships kick off on 7 October with the cross-country team competition.
Photo: (c) EXPA/JFK Photography
