06.22.08 - Canada’s Marie Hélène Prémont fourth at world mountain bike championships

VAL DI SOLE, Italy – Marie-Hélène Prémont of Chateau-Richer, Que., finished fourth on Sunday in the women’s cross country race at the world mountain bike championships.

Margarita Fullana of Spain won her third career world title clocking one hour and 39 minutes and 01 seconds under hot and muggy conditions. Sabine Spitz of Germany took the silver finishing 1:43 back and defending champion Irina Kalantieva of Russia was third 2:20 back of the winner.

Prémont was 2:52 behind Fullana for her second consecutive fourth place at the worlds after earning bronze in 2006. Catharine Pendrel of Kamloops, B.C., was sixth 4:51 back.

This season on the World Cup circuit, Prémont had reached the podium in all five races including a victory at the most recent stop in Scotland.

‘’It was a very tough race,’’ said Prémont, the 2004 Olympic silver medallist in the event. ‘’My legs weren’t pumping as well as I would have liked but I gave everything I had. The tempo was high right from the start. It was a fast race overall and I tend to excel in the longer races.’’

Pendrel has posted three World Cup top-10 finishes this season and continued her rise on the international scene on Sunday. On the final lap she pulled ahead of Olympic champion and four-time world champion Gunn Rita-Dahle of Norway to move into sixth.

‘’It was a good race for me, I was able to bounce back from a slow start,’’ said Pendrel. ‘’I gained some positions on the steep climbs and dug hard the entire race. I was especially pleased with my strong finish to the race.’’

Kiara Bisaro of Courtenay, B.C., was 35th.

In the men’s race, Christoph Sauser led Switzerland to a medal sweep with Florian Vogel second and Ralph Naf third.

Geoff Kabush of Victoria was 14th and Seamus McGrath of Carling, Ont., 24th.

Canada ended the competition with seven top-10 finishes this week.

Also finishing in the top-10 were: Miranda Miller of Whistler, B.C., fourth in the junior women’s downhill; sixth place finishes were posted by the Canadian relay team, Emily Batty of Brooklyn, Ont., and Bianca Adolf of Vancouver in the women’s under-23 and junior cross country races respectively; and Raphael Gagné of Quebec City was seventh in the men’s under-23 cross country race.