Emily Batty takes bronze medal at 2016 world championships
Batty sprints for bronze, Pendrel fifth at the UCI world cross-country championships in the Czech-Republic
Emily Batty of Brooklin, Ont. earned the bronze medal at the cross country mountain bike world championships in Nové Město na Moravě, Czech Republic in a dramatic sprint. In the final lap, two of the riders sitting in the medal contention flatted opening up the course for American Lea Davisonk who seized the silver medal, and Batty to ride into medal positions. Batty came into the final straight with a gap to Maja Wloszczowska (Poland) who had been riding in second position before flatting. Wloszczowska put on a powerful chase to close the gap to Batty after receiving a new wheel coming into the final meters but the Canadian was able to defend her position and earned her first medal at the world championships.
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Batty stayed towards the front of the race for most of the day. In the final two laps, she became the lead Canadian passing Catherine Pendrel who was riding in fifth position. The course was not kind to many of the top racers. Defending champion Pauline Ferrand-Prévot crashed hard while Jolanda Neff (Switzerland) who came into the race as the favourite and had an excellent start could only manage an eighth place finish. Pendrel who also started very strong finished in fifth place.
An emotional and exhausted Batty exclaimed, “That’s a bronze,” as she recovered after the finish. Batty, who won gold at the Pan Am Games in 2015, will be headed to Rio in August to represent Team Canada at the Olympic Games along with Pendrel. With two riders in the top five, Canada solidified their place as one of the strongest teams headed to Rio after a successful run of medals during the world cups earlier in the season. Annika Langvad (Denmark) won the rainbow stripes as she rode to a convincing win 1:12 up on her Specialized teammate Davidson.
Disappointed I didn't find my best today at Worlds but excited for @emilybatty who did! (bronze for her 5th for me) pic.twitter.com/vjzhQR9uhB
— Catharine Pendrel (@cpendrel) July 2, 2016
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In the women’s junior race Sidney McGill was the top finishing Canadian in 21st while Quinton Diseria was 12th in the men’s juniors race with Gunnar Holmgren in 16th.
