World beater Looser does it in style
Mountain biking
Vera Looser won the UCI Mountain Bike World Series cross-country marathon event at Morzine in France on Saturday – another significant career highlight for the 29-year-old.
The two-time Olympian from Namibia fought for six hours, 9 minutes 50 seconds to complete the tough 100 kilometre course and cross the finish line in first place.
With one more race to go in the series, Looser defeated series leader, Lejla Njemčević of Bosnia (6 hours 11 minutes 31 seconds) into second place.
Third was Irina Luetzelschwab of Switzerland (6:17:02).
Looser took to social media to say that after the World Championship this year she sat down with her new coach Genevieve Weber and went back to the drawing board.
“The past three weeks were all about the long climbs – my biggest weakness. The training was so hard, sometimes I just couldn’t do them. But I pushed through.
“This win is for you Gen. Never could I have done this without you. Thank you for making me believe in myself and making me suffer every other day of a week.
“I knew that a World Cup race with 100 km and 4000 metres of climbing would be a survival race towards the end. I tried to pace myself as well as possible from the start. But the last 7km climb was simply brutal. Especially the last 500 m of walking. As if the legs were not hurting enough already.
“Luckily the last 15 km were mostly downhill and I could play my biggest strength,” she said.
During June this year, Looser achieved a break-through bronze position at a 100 km UCI World Cup marathon event in Italy to show her prowess at this discipline.
The two-time Olympian from Namibia fought for six hours, 9 minutes 50 seconds to complete the tough 100 kilometre course and cross the finish line in first place.
With one more race to go in the series, Looser defeated series leader, Lejla Njemčević of Bosnia (6 hours 11 minutes 31 seconds) into second place.
Third was Irina Luetzelschwab of Switzerland (6:17:02).
Looser took to social media to say that after the World Championship this year she sat down with her new coach Genevieve Weber and went back to the drawing board.
“The past three weeks were all about the long climbs – my biggest weakness. The training was so hard, sometimes I just couldn’t do them. But I pushed through.
“This win is for you Gen. Never could I have done this without you. Thank you for making me believe in myself and making me suffer every other day of a week.
“I knew that a World Cup race with 100 km and 4000 metres of climbing would be a survival race towards the end. I tried to pace myself as well as possible from the start. But the last 7km climb was simply brutal. Especially the last 500 m of walking. As if the legs were not hurting enough already.
“Luckily the last 15 km were mostly downhill and I could play my biggest strength,” she said.
During June this year, Looser achieved a break-through bronze position at a 100 km UCI World Cup marathon event in Italy to show her prowess at this discipline.
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