Marathon World Championships head to Snowshoe, West Virginia
Team USA bring deep roster to home race
The UCI Marathon Mountain Bike World Championships will be held in Snowshoe, West Virginia this Sunday, the first time the event has taken place in North America. As host country, the United States is dreaming big and bringing a deep roster of heavy hitters including Hannah Otto, Alexis Skarda, Christopher Blevins, and Haley Batten.
Otto won the Snowshoe Marathon World Cup last season and has not shied away from making her ambitions for the rainbow stripes known. This year she competed on the Marathon World Cup circuit, riding to a second place at the Megeve, France round, in addition to competing in the Life Time Grand Prix, where she’s currently ranked 6th overall.
Otto will be joined in the elite women’s race by Skarda, the current marathon national champion who is ranked 4th in the Life Time Grand Prix. Olympic silver medalist Batten will also be racing ahead of the XCO World Cup in Lake Placid, New York.
Austrian Mona Mitterwallner will be looking to retain her title from last year, challenged by the likes of Candice Lille (South Africa) and Adelheid Morath (Germany). The Swiss Jolanda Neff is on the start list, though she had to drop out of the Paris Olympics due to breathing problems. Multi-time world champion Pauline Ferrand-Prevot (France) will not be in attendance as she just retired from MTB racing.
On the men’s side, the USA’s roster is headlined by XCO racer Blevins and former marathon national champion Cole Paton. There are also a slew of underdogs on the roster, including Alex Wild, who just rode to a career best second place at Chequamegon, Chris Mehlman, Bradyn Lange, and Zach Calton.
They’ll be challenged by international talent like Martin Stošek (Czechia), Lukas Baum (Germany), Andreas Seewald (Germany), Simon Andreassen (Denmark), and Héctor Páez León (Columbia). Last year’s champion Henrique Avancini (Brazil) has since retired from racing, and previous champion Sam Gaze (New Zealand) is not racing either.
The course will feature 65 miles of twisty Appalachian trails and more than 6,500 feet of elevation gain.
“It’s super technical and it lasts forever,” Lejla Njemčević said. “Riding three and half hours on this feels like an enduro race.”
The World Cup last year was a mudder, and rain is in the forecast this week, making for an intriguing set of conditions as riders battle for the rainbow stripes.