I competed in this event 2-3 times already, but I love coming back to "Prachatice"- and as this was one of the World Cup stops leading towards the world championship at the end of September I had to race here again.
Together with my friends Kieran (New Zealand) and Tiago (Portugal) I made my way from Vienna to the Czech Republic. We arrived on the Tuesday before the race to have a really good look at the course again. The trails were in great condition and we were all looking forward to Saturday's race (1.5km swim, 33km mountain bike, 11km cross country).
There were almost 50 elite men at the start. With my World Cup ranking I got start number 15, of course I wanted to undercut it. The lake where we swam was so cold that we put on the neoprene suit, but arm freedom is always a bit limited, so I lost time to the top as a weaker swimmer. I really wanted to put pressure on the bike and found a good group to make up time going forward. We drove further and further forward, but my legs didn't feel really fresh. In the top 25 I entered the 2nd transition area with 2 other athletes in tow. At the end of the run I was able to make up a few positions and cross the finish line with a good 21st place. I took a few points into the WC ranking and I'm happy with my performance, on a better day the top 15 would have been quite realistic.
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