Jennie Stenerhag

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Marathon World Championships in Switzerland 

2019-09-23

I had no expectations at this year's World Champs, but I am a competitive person and was aiming for a better result. But I am so incredibly disappointed with my performance. I had the worst feeling in the legs during the entire season, and it happened at the World Champs. I have to sit down and analyse what went wrong. I did not think that this year's World Champs course was a for me. Initially I thought the steep downhills would be my weak point, but after lots of practise my skills improved and I really enjoyed those sections. Instead it was my climbing that let me down, which was strange since I have been climbing so much better this season. I have my idea of ​​what went wrong, but it is something I keep to myself.

We started at 9am and I had a good starting position on the second row. It was a little chilly and I got cold between the warm-up and the start. At first, I got off to a good start and set a high pace, but then suddenly my legs felt completely empty. The first downhill went well, I was in a small group just behind the lead group, but as soon as it went up a bit I just felt completely empty, have never felt this empty before, everyone rode away and I sat alone in no man's land. Esther caught up with me after a while and passed me just before the most technical downhill run, I saw her for a long time and it was going really well, until I caught up with a few girls on the downhill who were going bit slower and I was unable to pass them. I came down to the first feed zone after 14 km and was told that I was 23a. Now, the real climbing was going to start, so I thought that the legs would wake up and I could catch up with Esther. I was with 2 other girls and we saw Esther a bit ahead of us. But on the next long climb I could not keep up with the 2 I was with, they just sailed away. I passed Ariane who also seemed to be having a tough day. But then I was passed by 2 other girls up to Törbel. There I was told that I was in 20th place, Ariane then passed me and disappeared before the second really technical run. I had a good descent but I got really sore in the triceps muscle and could barely slow down when I got to the bottom where I got a bottle from Craig. He said I was in 18th place which I thought was strange when I hadn't seen anyone else. It was very stiff in my legs and I found no flow at all. I was on my own and it felt as though the race was over for me. I still had the last climb,which went perfectly ok, I was passed by a Polish girl while passing  a Swiss girl. Next it was "The wall" which was a hill of 700 meters with a gradient of 25% , became the most talked about part during the week, wondering if I should have had a 30 blade instead of my 32. But we opted for the 32 because it was only 700 metres in a race that was 70km’s long. Once up, I saw the "10 km left" sign and got some extra energy when I saw a girl in front of me and managed to pass her. Out on the last little loop and with 4 km left I passed another girl and got a little more energy, a little late then of course ... She caught up with me and with about 500 meters left we caught up with another girl and I managed at least sprinting past the two and it ended up being an 18th place at this year's World Champs (so it was wrong then that I was 18th at Craig). This was not at all what I had hoped for and as I said, although I did not have expectations for the competition, the disappointment is quite big right now.

Now I look forward to 2 quiet weeks at home in Falun before it's time to go to South Africa. Big thanks to everyone who supported me during the Swedish season and especially ÅBRO, I am eternally grateful for the support I receive from you.

Row 2.

And we are off! 

On the first long climb together with 3 other girls 

Very disappointed after the finish 

The Swedish national team. Emmy, David (mechanic), me, Micke and Fredrik (team manager). 

At least the bike was ready ;) 

Micke and I the day before the race.

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