Bonnet, Jansson claim Junior XC world titles

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Swedish was the first national anthem heard when cross-country competition began on Friday at the Mountain Bike World Championships in Nove Mesto na Morave, Czech Republic. Sweden's Ida Jansson dominated the race from start to finish to take the title.

Riders faced a tough, rolling 4.1 kilometre course, with steep climbs and technical rock gardens. The women did a 2.8 kilometre start loop plus three laps of the circuit.

Jansson, who is coming back from a broken wrist that denied her a chance at the European Championship title, led the women's race from start to finish. Martina Berta of Italy led the chase for the first lap of the three lap race, before being caught by Lisa Pasteiner of Austria. Pasteiner pulled to within 15 seconds of Jansson, but couldn't quite close the gap, finishing second at 25 seconds. Berta held on for third, but faded in the second half of the race to finish nearly two minutes back.

For Jansson, it was a strong return to racing. "It is the best day of my life! I had hard luck earlier in the year and wasn't sure of my form, but I felt very good out there today."

Bonnet gives France another gold

France followed up Thursday's world title in the Team Relay with a victory in the cross-country on Friday, as Thomas Bonnet won the Junior Men's title in Nove Mesto na Morave, Czech Republic, at the Mountain Bike World Championships.

The Junior men's race saw five riders break away from the rest of the field on the first lap. The group contained Bonnet, Vital Albin (Switzerland), Chris Blevins (USA), Quinton Disera (Canada) and Axel Zingle (France). Disera was the first to get dropped, then Zingle after his team mate Bonnet attacked as Blevins was joining the group. Albin and Blevins were together entering the final lap, but the American had a mechanical problem, dropping him the fourth and enabling a late surging Tobias Halland Johannessen (Norway) to take the bronze medal behind Albin.

Bonnet came charging through the finish with his head down and had to be flagged down from starting another lap. "I was so focussed on the race that I did not realize it was the last lap," he explained. "I was concerned about Blevins joining us at the front, so I attacked. Then I kept going as hard as I could. It is fantastic to win."

Junior Women Results

Junior Men Results