The men’s 2024 UCI Cross-country Short-Track (XCC) World Champion managed to miss two rounds and still ran away with the overall series by winning half of all races, while the Swiss rider didn’t finish outside the top eight all year to claim her second XCC overall in three seasons.
While the Cross-country Short Track (XCC) format was once simply a qualifier for the grid positions of the Cross-country Olympic (XCO) race, since 2023 it has become its own tightly contested series and the competition is fierce.
The racing favours riders who can sustain a hard pace for 20 minutes before finding extra reserves of power in an all-out sprint for the line, meaning it requires a different skill set to the longer, endurance focused XCO event. But then some athletes – like this season’s overall winners – manage both with panache.
In the men’s field, Victor Koretzky (Specialized Factory Racing) won four out of the six races he entered, finishing on the podium in the other two to add the XCC title to the 2024 UCI XCC World Championship that he claimed in Andorra in August.
Alessandra Keller (Thömus Maxon) meanwhile seized the lead in the individual standings after round three in Nové Město na Moravě (Czechia) and didn’t look back.
KORETZKY PRODUCES A NEAR-PERFECT SEASON
Like several other riders who ply their trade in the WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series, Victor Koretzky has previously juggled other disciplines – most notably on the road for Bora-Hansgrohe. That changed for the 2024 season – the Frenchman focusing solely on mountain biking in the build-up to his home Olympic Games in Paris.
This meant that fans were treated to his explosive racing from the very first round in Mairiporã, Brazil, where the Frenchman went toe-to-toe with 2023 UCI XCC World Champion Samuel Gaze (Alpecin-Deceuninck), reigning UCI XCC overall series holder Luca Schwarzbauer (Canyon CLLCTV XCO) and team-mate Martín Vidaure Kossman (Specialized Factory Racing) in a four-up sprint. Although he came away with fourth, it was a sign of intent from Koretzky.
A week later, there was no catching Koretzky, as he broke away from another team-mate, Christopher Blevins (Specialized Factory Racing) to win by three seconds – an age in Short Track. His victory propelled him to the top of the individual standings, and when he followed it with another win in Nové Město na Moravě, he had a 160-point lead over second-placed Schwarzbauer.
By Val di Sole, Trentino, it looked like fans had a straight shoot-out between Koretzky and Gaze on their hands – the New Zealander recording his second XCC win of the season to make it two wins each. But when the Frenchman sat out the next two rounds in Crans-Montana, Valais, Switzerland, and Les Gets, Haute-Savoie because of recovering from Covid and preparation for the Olympics, momentum appeared to have shifted to Gaze who bumped Koretzky down to second in the individual standings.
While the WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series paused for the summer, the Frenchman didn’t, narrowly missing out on gold at Paris 2024 before storming to his first UCI XCC World Championship title in Pal Arinsal, Andorra. The rainbow bands can sometimes act as an extra weight on a rider’s shoulders, but it seemed to give Koretkzy an extra gear.
In the penultimate round in Mt Van Hoevenberg – Lake Placid (USA), a last-lap surge was enough to secure his third win of the season, while a poor performance from Gaze meant Koretzky had a 154-point lead with one round to go. He would only need to finish eighth in Mont-Sainte-Anne, Quebec (Canada) to add the overall series to his rainbow jersey but fired himself to his fourth first of the season, overtaking Mathieu van der Poel’s (Alpecin-Deceuninck) record (five) for most men’s XCC podiums in a season in the process.
KELLER IN CRUISE CONTROL
While not as dominant as Koretzky in terms of race wins, Alessandra Keller (Thömus Maxon) took control of the women’s standings from round three and kept things consistent all year to seal her second UCI XCC World Cup overall title before the final race of the season.
She got her XCC season off to a strong start in Brazil, finishing third and fourth in Mairiporã and Araxá respectively to find herself third behind Haley Batten (Specialized Factory Racing) and Evie Richards (Trek Factory Racing – Pirelli).
When the WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series entered its European phase, Keller ramped things up a gear, winning in Nové Město na Moravě (Czechia) to leapfrog Batten and lead the series by 30 points.
In Val di Sole, Trentino, poor results from her closest competitors saw her stretch her lead even more, while a second and first in Crans-Montana, Valais and Les Gets, Haute-Savoie saw the Swiss rider land a one-two punch on her XCC rivals they ultimately couldn’t recover from.
Entering the final two rounds of the season, Keller had a 310-point lead over second-place Puck Pieterse (Alpecin-Deceuninck), but with the Dutch rider opting not to compete in North America, her closest rival for the XCC crown was Rebecca Henderson (Primaflor Mondraker Racing Team) – the Australian 414 points behind with a maximum of 500 available. Essentially a foregone conclusion, Keller was able to take her foot off the gas in the XCC and save some in reserve for the XCO races, where she was also leading the series title. The Swiss rider couldn’t afford to completely relax though – the XCC acting as a qualifier for the XCO’s grid positioning.
In Mt Van Hoevenberg – Lake Placid (USA), she rolled home in eighth to become mathematically uncatchable in the XCC, while the following weekend, another eighth place confirmed her XCO title two days before the final round of the season.
