World Mountain Biking Championships
Cairns, Australia
September 21-22, 1996


It Really is the Worlds
The French dominated while the Americans and Swiss put in a solid showing at the World Mountain Bike Championships in Cairns, Australia. The last race of the season demonstrated that mountain biking is becoming a truly international pursuit -- the competition is getting interesting.

See World's results below or sample the multimedia showcase of the past season listed on the right.

More Mud

Cross Country


Alison Sydor
Women
Sydor Wins Again; Mathes Takes Silver

Susan DeMattei
Canadian racer Alison Sydor (Volvo-Cannondale) added this world championship win (her third year in a row) to the Olympic silver medal and overall World Cup championship she claimed earlier in the season. Following by almost two minutes, US Nationals Champion Ruthie Matthes (Volvic-PowerBar) won the silver medal (her fifth world championship medal) while Olympic bronze-medalist Susan DeMattei (DiamondBack) placed fifth in the last race of her career. Sara Ballantyne (Univega), who finished eighth has also announced her retirement.

Olympic gold-medalist, Paola Pezzo, who chose not to race in the world championships or seriously pursue the World Cup this season, commented from Interbike in California that she'll be back on the circuit next year and going for the Cup.


    Ruthie Matthes
    39.6km track
  1. Sydor, Alison CAN 2:05.56
  2. Matthes, Ruthie USA @ 1:52.8
  3. Turcutto, Maria Paolo ITA 2:02.9
  4. De Negri, Nadia ITA @ 3:57.8
  5. DeMattei, Susan USA @ 4:52.2
  6. Stropparo, Annabella ITA @ 7:09.1
  7. Leboucher, Laurence FRA @ 7:21.0
  8. Ballantyne, Sara USA @ 7:58.4
  9. Epifanova, Alla/RUS @ 8:11.9
  10. Dahle, Gunn-Rita NOR @ 8:31.4

Men
Chiotti Surprize Winner
Jerome Chiotti (Peugeot-Sachs) of France was the surprise winner of the men's race having only finished 15th overall in the World Cups this season. He beat World Cup Finals winner and second-place finisher in the overall World Cups Thomas Frischknecht (Ritchey) of Switzerland by almost two minutes.


    Thomas Frischknecht
    58.4km track
  1. Chiotti, Jerome FRA 58.4km in 2:37:36.3
  2. Frischknecht, Thomas SUI @ 1:57.1
  3. Hoydal, Rune NOR @ 2:06.6
  4. Pallhuber, Hubert ITA @2:29.7
  5. Djernis, Henrik DEN @ 5:55.0
  6. Brentjens, Bart NED @ 7:08.9
  7. Savignoni, Jean-Christophe FRA @ 7:36.3
  8. Brenes, AndresCRC @ 7:53.8
  9. Fontana, Alessandro ITA @ 8:00.5
  10. Kristensen, Lennie DEN @ 8:48.7

Downhill


Leigh Donovan
Women
Chausson Wins; Donovan Takes Silver

Missy Giove
While the US placed six women in the top 10, none could beat Anne-Caroline Chausson (Sunn Chipie) of France who won the senior championships after three consecutive junior championship wins. She beat the defending world champion and US Nationals winner, Leigh Donovan (Mongoose), by a mere .18 seconds. Recent World Cup champion Missy Giove followed close behind for a bronze on the technically challenging course.

    2.5km track
  1. Chausson, A.C. FRA 5:27.58
  2. Donovan, L. USA 5:27.76 @.18
  3. Giove, M. USA @ 3.79
  4. Bonazzi, G. ITA @ 11.79
  5. Sonier, K. USA @ 12.85


Nicolas Vouilloz
Men
Vouilloz Wins; Palmer Takes Silver

Shaun Palmer after the disappointing World Cup finals in Hawaii
Nicolas Vouilloz (GT) of France, who recently claimed the overall World Cup championship, beat American Shaun Palmer (Intense-Fox) by only .15 seconds. An ex-snowboarding champion, Palmer switched from boards to mountain bike racing a year ago. His second place finish is the best by an American since Mike King (GT) won the world championship in 1993. King finished fifth this year behind Eric Carter (Troy Lee).

    2.5km track
  1. Vouilloz, N. FRA 4:54.79
  2. Palmer, S. USA 4:54.94 @ 0.15
  3. De Bever, B. NED 4:55.12 @ 0.33
  4. Carter, E. USA 4:56.50 @ 1.71
  5. King, M. USA 4:57.22 @ 2.43

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