Mona Mitterwalner (Austria) and Simon Andreasen (Denmark) took the rainbow jersey at the UCI Mountain Bike Marathon World Championships (XCM) on Sunday at Snowshoe Mountain in West Virginia. It was the first time in the 22-year history of the championships that the event was held in North America.

In the elite women's marathon, 22-year-old Mitterwalner took the rainbow jersey for the third time in four years, completing the 104 km course in 5 hours 15 minutes 06 seconds.

Cinna Fry (Switzerland) took the silver medal 26 seconds behind, and last year's silver medalist Candice Lill (South Africa) was another 43 seconds behind, finishing solo to take bronze. 2016 XCM title holder Yolanda Neff (Switzerland) was one spot off the podium. She finished in fourth place.

Two-time Junior MTB World Champion Laura Stiger (Austria) was fifth, while Lifetime Grand Prix Series women's leader Sofia Gomez Villafagne (Argentina) was sixth. The top American rider was Alexis Skarda in ninth.

Andreassen, 26, a two-time junior cross-country MTB world champion and elite men's marathon bronze medalist at the 2022 World Championships, finished first in a time of 4 hours 33 minutes 08 seconds to win his first elite world title.

Andreassen caught up with the lead pack and attacked from last place with Colorado native Christopher Blevins, the reigning Pan American cross-country mountain bike champion, to win.

“It was a wild day, starting at the back of the field and going straight down the mountain on singletrack,” said Blevins. Four hours and 30 minutes was plenty of time to get to the top, but I was still surprised when I realized I had made it to the lead group.”

David Valassen said on Instagram.

David Valero Serrano (Spain) came in third, two seconds behind Blevins.

Andreas Seewald (Germany), the 2021 XCM world champion, was fourth, and Victor Koretzky (France), the 2024 MTB short track world champion, was fifth. American Cole Paton was ninth.