Girls from Baar are the best in the world

After winning the Swiss championships and qualifying for the World Cup, almost nothing more stood in the way of the "Medal win at the World Cup" mission of Vanessa Hotz, Saskia Grob, Elena Fischer and Stefanie Moos. Due to illness, however, the cyclists from Baar were not able to fully train until three weeks before the UCI Indoor Cycling World Championships in Basel (we reported). Their participation in this career highlight hung in the balance. It took a massive mental effort for the riders not to lose their confidence in their skills. And they were able to rely on the professional support of their trainers, Eliana Thalmann, Claudia von Rotz and Patricia Kottmann.

And they have received their reward for their efforts: in front of nearly 2,000 spectators in the St. Jakobhalle, they have won the world title. The girls from Baar mastered the 25 exercises and transitions perfectly in their performance. After a long five minutes, the scoreboard showed 214 points. They thereby gained a lead of more than 20 points and launched the three-day World Championships in the best possible way from the Swiss point of view.

The World Champions in the St. Jakobshalle: Saskia Grob, Elena Fischer, Stefanie Moos and Vanessa Hotz (from left).

"We are incredibly proud and can’t believe it yet. It's the reward for years of training on and off the bike, "said Vanessa Hotz. "We never stopped believing in ourselves and never lost sight of our goal, even in difficult moments," she continued. Her team-mate Elena Fischer added: "The World Cup freestyle performance ran as it has all season, and showed our consistency this year. We would like to thank our families and friends, as well as the association for the many years of support. In particular as a marginal sport, we depend on broad support”, she said, on behalf of all the riders.

That the medals would be awarded between the teams from Germany, Austria and Switzerland was clear from the difficulty points that were submitted before the World Cup. The team from Austria also showed a perfect freestyle performance - but with a lower starting value, which is why they were classified in third place. The Germans – who started with the same level of difficulty as the Swiss - secured the silver medal, despite two dismounts.