XTERRA World Cup – Czech Republic this Weekend in Prachatice

August 11, 2023

Find live updates from Saturday’s race on Instagram starting at 12 noon CEST, followed by extensive coverage of the invite-only elite XTERRA Short Track races, supported by Czech National TV with 25 on-course cameras, on Sunday at 10am CEST here: https://www.xterraplanet.com/watch-live.

/ENDURANCE SPORTSWIRE/ – The XTERRA World Cup rolls into the medieval town of Prachatice in the Czech Republic with full distance and XTERRA Short Track races this Saturday and Sunday, August 12-13.

It’s the start of an intense set of five races in 15 days across three countries that could make or break the dreams of the elite triathletes competing in the world’s premier off-road triathlon circuit.

Find live updates from Saturday’s race on Instagram starting at 12 noon CEST, followed by extensive coverage of the invite-only elite XTERRA Short Track races, supported by Czech National TV with 25 on-course cameras, on Sunday at 10am CEST here: https://www.xterraplanet.com/watch-live.

Seventy professional off-roaders from 18 countries are on the start line for Saturday’s full-distance race, including nine of the top 10 ranked men in the World Cup standings, missing only American Josiah Middaugh who had surgery to repair a broken foot earlier this week, and the top five ranked women in the world.

The top 20 ranked athletes in the XTERRA World Cup standings, plus five wild cards, will then square off in Sunday’s fast-paced made-for-TV Short Track showdowns.

As the championship season unfolds all eyes are on reigning XTERRA World Champion, Arthur Serrières from France, who has won the last four XTERRA Czech full-distance races and currently sits second in the World Cup standings.

“XTERRA Czech is a special race for me, it was where I had my first big win four years ago and the vibe here is amazing,” said Serrières. “To prepare for this block of racing from now until the World Championship in Trentino next month, I spent six weeks at an altitude training camp and I’m really happy with the work I put in. Of course, when you come down from altitude you never know exactly what to expect about your shape, so we’ll see.”

It’s been nine weeks since the last World Cup weekend when the XTERRA European Championship and Short Track races were held in Belgium, so it’ll be interesting to see what kind of shape all the contenders are in as well.

The Forissier brothers, Felix and Arthur, swept through Belgium with Felix winning the full-distance race while Arthur won the Short Track title the next two. Those two look hard to beat, even for Serrières, but they’re not the only other Frenchmen capable of taking the top spot as Maxim Chane has some insiders hedging their bets on him to pull off an upset.

Seven-time World Champ Ruben Ruzafa has been close all year, and regularly first-off the bike. If the course is technically challenging enough it’s possible he could enter the bike-to-run transition with an insurmountable lead.

The home crowd will be cheering for Lukáš Kočař, who was greeted to a hero’s welcome and a massive finish line celebration when he won the Short Track race here last year. The current XTERRA World Cup leader, Jens Emil Sloth Nielsen from Denmark, is also a force to be reckoned with.

XTERRA CZECH ELITE MEN’S START LIST

XTERRA World Cup Position – World Rank – Name, NAT

1 – 7 – Jens Emil Sloth Nielsen, DEN

2 – 1 – Arthur Serrières, FRA

3 – 2 – Arthur Forissier, FRA

4 – 16 – Michele Bonacina, ITA

5 – 3 – Ruben Ruzafa, ESP

6 – 5 – Sébastien Carabin, BEL

7 – 4 – Felix Forissier, FRA

9 – 10 – Maxim Chane, FRA

10 – 12 – Kieran McPherson, NZL

11 – 9 – Lukáš Kočař, CZE

14 – 20 – Xavier Dafflon, SUI

15 – 18 – Sullivan Middaugh, USA

19 – 62 – Andres Carnevali Del Castillo, ESP

21 – 50 – Keller Norland, USA

22 – 41 – Dominik Wychera, AUT

24 – 26 – Théo Dupras, FRA

25 – 28 – Jules Dumas, FRA

25 – 46 – Wouter Dijkshoorn, NED

30 – 87 – Pâris Fellmann, LUX

32 – 21 – Jens Roth, GER

34 – 37 – Lucas Van Deynze, BEL

37 – 45 – Geert Lauryssen, BEL

39 – 26 – Scott Anderson, GER

43 – 85 – Ruslan Farci, ITA

NR – 14 – Francois Vie, POR

NR – 22 – Federico Spinazze, ITA

NR – 23 – Petr Soukup, CZE

NR – 39 – Karel Dusek, CZE

NR – 41 – Tom Fisher, AUS

NR – 54 – Simon Schwarz, GER

NR – 56 – Jaroslav Kulhavy, CZE

NR – 57 – Samuel Jud, SUI

NR – 58 – Gaetan Vivien, FRA

NR – 68 – Matteo Sfregola, ITA

NR – 75 – Vojtech Bednarsky, CZE

NR – 76 – Tomáš Strnad, CZE

NR – 81 – Gianfranco Cucco, ITA

NR – 87 – Lucas Goene, NED

NR – 89 – Pierre Simeon , FRA

NR – 103 – Michal Francke, CZE

NR – 122 – Adriaan Albert Myburgh, RSA

NR – 146 – Matthias Gourgues, FRA

NR – 159 – Bart Cooymans, NED

NR – 213 – Boris Janata, SVK

NR – 261 – Vaclav Bednarsky, CZE

In the women’s elite race, there is a clear-cut top 5, but not a unanimous number one.

Alizée Paties (FRA) is tops in the standings, Loanne Duvoisin (SUI) won the XTERRA European Championship full-distance race, Sandra Mairhofer (ITA) won the XTERRA Belgium Short Track and this race last year, Solenne Billouin (FRA) is the reigning XTERRA World Champion and just now coming into top form for the season, and Marta Menditto (ITA) is now a few months into her first full-time professional season and the results of her training over the last two months will be on display this weekend.

XTERRA CZECH ELITE WOMEN’S START LIST

XTERRA World Cup Position – World Rank – Name, NAT

1 – 3 – Alizée Paties, FRA

2 – 4 – Loanne Duvoisin, SUI

3 – 5 – Marta Menditto, ITA

5 – 1 – Sandra Mairhofer, ITA

6 – 2 – Solenne Billouin, FRA

15 – 14 – Carina Wasle, AUT

15 – 25 – Bonnie Van Wilgenburg, GBR

17 – 19 – Ségolène Léberon, FRA

17 – 23 – Emma Ducreux, FRA

19 – 10 – Helena Karásková Erbenová, CZE

23 – 40 – Stepanka Bisova, CZE

30 – 72 – Katja Krenn, AUT

33 – 55 – Pauline Vie, POR

34 – 22 – Carole Perrot, SUI

34 – 49 – Lorena Erl, GER

34 – 35 – Camille Jobard, FRA

38 – 75 – Marine Echevin, FRA

39 – 25 – Beatriz Ferreira, POR

40 – 49 – Katerina Jezkova, CZE

NR – 36 – Kerri-Ann Upham, GBR

NR – 44 – Maria Calleja, ESP

NR – 46 – Maria Doring, GER

NR – NR – Aneta Grabmullerova, CZE

NR – NR – Jana Dubcova, CZE

Read the full event preview here.

ABOUT THE XTERRA WORLD CUP

In 2023, for the first-time in XTERRA off-road triathlon history, the most compelling World Tour events from the EMEA, Americas, and Asia-Pacific regions united to create a premier series of events that will award roughly $350,000 to XTERRA’s fastest professional athletes.‍

The seven-stop, 12-race XTERRA World Cup kicked off April 15, 2023 at the XTERRA Asia-Pacific Championship in Kenting, Taiwan, and will culminate September 21-23 at the XTERRA World Championship in Trentino, Italy.

In addition to seven traditional full-distance events that combine a 1.5-kilometer swim with approximately 30km of mountain biking and 10km of trail running, there are five fast and furious XTERRA Short Track races on the schedule that will be streamed live.

‍Round two of the XTERRA World Cup took place at Oak Mountain State Park in Pelham, AL (May 20-21), round 3 was at the XTERRA European Championship in Namur, Belgium (June 10-11), and round 4 is this weekend at XTERRA Czech (August 12-13) followed by XTERRA Germany (Short Track on August 18, full-distance on August 19. Round six then heads to the Rockies in Avon, Colorado for the XTERRA USA Championship on August 26.

“The XTERRA World Cup was designed to provide a high aspirational race series for our sports’ biggest stars from across the globe, a series of events where our best athletes can race head-to-head on the most epic courses in the world,” said J-D Cousens, XTERRA VP of Operations & Global Marketing.

To determine XTERRA World Cup Series Champions, elites will add their best four scores from the first six full-distance races with their best three Short Track scores and whatever they get (or don’t get) at the XTERRA World Championship.

Learn more at xterraplanet.com.