On a course as magnificent as it was leaden, Arthur Serrieres and Solenne Billouin have just crowned themselves Xterra World Champions. As is often the case in this discipline, the French were supreme and were the more than deserved winners of the world title.
In Italy, the race included 1500 meters of swimming, 32 kilometers of mountain biking and 10 kilometers of running: all this took place on a beautiful, but above all extremely tough and at times extremely technical course. In the men’s race, a nice duel between the two compatriots Arthur Serrieres and Felix Forissier began fairly quickly.
Of those two men, it was Forissier who took off first during the run and grabbed a small lead over Serrieres. However, the latter did not let that gap get anywhere large, and managed to limit his deficit to at most 15 seconds. In the final kilometers, however, Forissier began to crack and that was the moment Serrieres took over the lead in the race.
Serrieres won the race in 2:38:53. Only 27 seconds later, Forissier was second, and 2:29 minutes behind, Dane Jens Emil Sloth Nielsen finished third.
Women’s race – Billouin next-level
In the women’s race, no one was equal to Solenne Billouin. Initially, a leading group consisting of five women still formed, but soon after on the bike, the Frenchwoman took off on her own. Fellow countrywoman Alizee Paties was the best to follow, but was constantly more than a minute behind. Another minute behind, a nice duel for bronze ensued: it was fought by Italian Sandra Mairhofer and Dutchwoman Diede Diederiks.
While Billouin and Paties saw their first and second place in no danger, at first it seemed that Mairhofer would take home the bronze. She started the run more than a minute ahead of Diederiks, but the top Dutch athlete quickly came alongside again during the run, securing third place.
Billouin won the race in 3:06:12. Paties was second in 3:08:10 and Diederiks third in 3:10:49.
Solenne Billouin as Xterra World Champion (Picture: Triathlon Today)
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