Live | XTERRA World Championship 2022 – Lake Molveno, Italy

Surrounded by the Brenta Dolomite mountains, Molveno is the perfect destination for an off-road triathlon – https://bttlobo.com/

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If World Championships were won on paper or by popular opinion, the title would already belong to Arthur Serrieres – and for good reason.

He’s the reigning and two-time World Triathlon Cross Champion, the reigning and three-time XTERRA European Champion, he won the Europe Triathlon Cross Championship on this course in Trentino last year, and was runner-up at XTERRA Worlds the last two times to a pair of gentlemen – Hayden Wilde & Bradley Weiss – who won’t be on the start line.

Serrieres is the fastest runner in the sport, he arranged his entire year and two grueling altitude training camps for this one day, and is as fiercely competitive as they come. But, he still has to earn it in real life, where anything can happen, against a stacked field of 60 elite men representing 20 countries.

And if those three Frenchman aren’t intimidating enough – add one more – Maxim Chane. He’s just 26-years-old, but he’s been in the game for a long time, and won the 15-19 division XTERRA World Championship in 2014 before going pro. He’s really good on really hard courses with a lot of climbing, like XTERRA Italy – Lake Garda which he’s won the last two years, and will be in his element in Trentino.

The last and only Frenchmen to win an XTERRA World Championship was Nico Lebrun in 2005 – and now he’s running the show as the sports technical director.  The race may be in Italy, but to win it, you’ll have to go through France.

Of course, there are mountains in America too, and two of the best climbers in the world live and train in Eagle-Vail, Colorado – home to the highest elevation XTERRA on earth. The XTERRA USA Championship race starts at 7,400-feet elevation then climbs 3,000-feet into the thin air of the Rockies, topping out at 9,400 feet.

Josiah Middaugh is a 20-year veteran and the 2015 XTERRA World Champion. He’s been in the top 10 at Worlds for 10 straight years. To say he’ll feel right at home at altitude,  climbing up a rocky path in the Dolomites – no matter what the weather conditions are – would be an understatement.

His son, Sullivan, who turned 18-years-old in March, literally grew up with XTERRA and has grown into a world-class athlete. He just graduated from Battle Mountain High School where he set the school record in the 5K (15:30) and is headed to Arizona State University as part of the USA Triathlon Project Podium squad which is designed to develop athletes into Olympic medalists.

The one constant at XTERRA Worlds over the last eight years, and perhaps the most remarkable stat in all of off-road triathlon, is Ruben Ruzafa’s eight-race streak with the fastest bike split. Since 2013, Ruzafa has been first off the bike at Worlds. He won two of those races (2013-2014) and finished on the podium at five of the other six, so the question isn’t “is he going to be in the mix” … it’s “can he hold on.”

There are three other elite men who need to be mentioned among the title contenders – Jens Emil Sloth Nielsen, Lukas Kocar, and Sebastien Carabin. They’re all great mountain bikers and tough competitors who have shown that on any given day are capable of taking the top spot.

For the first-time in the history of XTERRA Worlds, home field advantage is a factor, and it belongs to Sandra Mairhofer (not that she needs it!).

Mairhofer lives in South Tyrol, about 2.5 hours away from Trentino in northern Italy, where there is an abundance of mountain trails available for off-road training. She rides an RDR Ares, a light full suspension mountain bike handmade in Italy especially built for climbing these mountains. And she won the European Triathlon Cross Championship on this same course just one year ago when it doubled as XTERRA Trentino.

The reigning World Cross Triathlon Champion has had a phenomenal year, winning the XTERRA European Championship and XTERRA Germany, the Italian Cross Tri National Championship, and the Italian Winter Triathlon National title for the fifth straight year.

Helena Erbenova-Karasova and Carina Wasle have the experience and grit to push the younger elites to their limits, and when it comes to Worlds – nobody has a resume like Paterson. In her last 10 XTERRA World Championship races she’s won it three times and finished second five times.

The XTERRA World Championship is presented by Trentino Marketing and Dolomiti Paganella. Partners include Molveno Holiday, Andalo Vacanze, Zoggs, Vittoria, Elleerre, Pissei, Namedsport, Kolektor, One Zipper, and Paller.

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