Sina Frei wins her second U23 World Championship

Published 09/03/2019 · Updated 01/05/2022

Anne Terpstra just misses the medals in the elite race

The World Championships in Mont Sainte Anne near Quebec, Canada, were also a complete success for the GHOST Factory Racing Team. In the U23 race, Sina Frei was able to repeat her title from 2017 and secured the rainbow jersey for the second time. Her Austrian teammate Lisa Pasteiner completed the team result with an excellent tenth place. In the elite race, Anne Terpstra showed herself to be a candidate for the top places, as she had been recently, and in the end had to settle for fourth place, only just missing out on a medal. Barbara Benko, after a somewhat weaker phase recently, was able to point the finger in the right direction again with 25th place.

Last year, the World Championships were held in Lenzerheide, but apart from Sina Frei’s silver medal, things did not go perfectly for the team there. The athletes were all the more excited about the traditionally difficult race in North America. The course is characterised by natural rock and stone formations and is therefore a real challenge, especially in wet conditions. The athletes coped well with the changing conditions throughout the week, also because they could rely on the support of their familiar environment and support staff.

Already on Wednesday the team relay started, in which five athletes of one nation but of different categories each complete a fast lap in a freely selectable order. As in the last two years, the Swiss were unbeatable and Sina Frei was able to celebrate her first gold medal. But Barbara Benko and Anne Terpstra were also able to familiarise themselves with the course at race pace with a respectable and fast lap.

After Barbara Benko had to skip the race in Lenzerheide for health reasons, she was especially happy to be back at the starting line: “The race was certainly not my best, but under the circumstances I came here with, I have to be really satisfied with 25th place. Unfortunately, in retrospect, things didn’t go 100 per cent perfectly for me during the season and I now know where the mistakes were. Now the focus is completely on next year with the aim of not repeating them and to start perfectly prepared into the Olympic season. Thanks to everyone around me for the patience and support even in not so easy times!”

Anne Terpstra started the elite race just as spiritedly as she has done recently in the World Cups this season and showed herself to be in the leading group right from the start:

“I then had to pay a little tribute to the high pace and recover a bit for a short while”
Anne Terpstra

she described the situation in the second and third of six laps, when she had to settle rather around seventh place. But after a short recovery period she fought her way back and was again just behind the podium places for the rest of the race. “The gap to the front was too big in the end and I had no chance to get closer. Of course I was a bit disappointed about fourth place right after the finish, but I always have to keep in mind where I was before the start of this season and especially how my last season went. Fourth at the European Championships and fourth at the World Championships doesn’t mean a medal either way, of course, but if I could have signed for those results before the season, I think I would have done it blindly.”

Benko DH compressed 1024x683 - Sina Frei wins her second U23 World Championship

Terpstra DH compressed 1024x683 - Sina Frei wins her second U23 World Championship

Lisa Pasteiner felt very comfortable on the technically difficult terrain all week and probably would have been happy with even more slippery conditions.

“This was my first time ever in Canada, but I immediately enjoyed the track and got on very well. On race day I stupidly didn’t feel so good and was really suffering from the start. Shortly before the end we were in a group from eighth to twelfth place and I tried to save a TOP10 result, which I just about managed.”
Lisa Pasteiner

laughed the Austrian at the finish.

Sina Frei could see the tension before the race, as it was her last U23 race and apart from the European Championships also the only international U23 race of the season. Now that the Swiss has advanced to the elite class in the World Cup, she rarely has the opportunity to measure herself against her immediate competitors:

“In the run-up it is of course always a bit more difficult to assess and in the U23 race it is simply raced differently than in an elite World Cup. But of course, when everyone says in advance ‘you’re going to win this anyway’, it’s hard to completely block that out.”
Sina Frei

It took a lap before the nervousness subsided and the four-time U23 European Champion found her rhythm, but then the race developed according to her ideas: “I tried to turn in first in the technical sections, which are sometimes so difficult that it is impossible to stay on the rear wheel. So I didn’t want to have to close those gaps again and again.” That paid off from the third lap onwards and there was a gap to the chasers. From then on Frei was able to keep up her pace and in the end won the race clearly ahead of Laura Stigger and Loana Lecomte from France. “I have to say I am really happy and satisfied. My U23 time was unbelievable and I was able to finish all international races – no matter if World Cups or Championships on the podium. Four European Championship titles and now the second World Championship title make me really proud. Now it’s time to move up to the elite class and next year to the championships. Thanks for all the support and messages, now I’m looking forward to the last World Cup next week in the USA.”

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