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Twice as Nice! N1NO is World Champion and World Cup Champion!

Sep 5, 2022 | News | 0 comments

Only one week after celebrating his 10th World Championship win, Nino Schurter rounds off an incredible season by securing the 2022 World Cup Champion Title, for the 8th time in his career.

Val di Sole, Italy, The Grande Finale of the 2022 World Cup couldn’t have been any more exciting, having four riders battling it out for the crown of the best overall rider of the year. Sure, N1NO had a calming advantage of 130 points. But a top 6 result was needed if, for example, local hero Luca Bardot takes the win. With Titouan Carod and David Valero Serrano only few points behind Braidot, all four athletes had their hopes on the title.
There was no room for failure for N1NO, the 10-time World Champion.

Fun track at Val di Sole
Imagery by Michal Cerveny & Remy Fabrigue
However, N1NO had some aces up his sleeves. He knew the Val Di Sole track with its very steep power climbs and technical demanding descents not only suited him but also his SCOTT Spark, which is perfectly made for this terrain. This was well proven at last year’s World Championship, when N1NO won his 9th title on the identical bike.
On top of this, he was counting on the tremendous support of an enthusiastic crowd of fans.
Priority of the day was riding smart and not risking any crashes or mechanicals. When Titouan Carod already attacked in the opening lap, N1NO was holding back a bit, controlling his most dangerous contender Braidot. This seemed to work very well. Two laps to go, it was the World Champion himself who put his contenders into the hurt box. Jordan Sarrou was able to hang on for a while, but then had to let go as Braidot did before.
The leader Titouan Carod was by then out of reach. But on the last lap, N1NO got closer and closer to the leading Frenchman.
Again, to secure the overall World Cup title was N1NO’s mission. With a fine second place he did far more than needed to do so.
It was another outstanding performance by the now 8-time World Cup Champion, who has shown constant performance throughout the whole season.
Winning the first race in April in Brazil and finishing as second in September in Italy speaks for itself.
“What can I say. A month ago it didn’t look very promising I could either win Worlds or the World Cup overall. Now I have both major titles! I’m over the moon. 2022 sure was an amazing season for me that I don’t take for granted.”

Nino Schurter
10x World Champion, 8x World Cup Champion
SCOTT-SRAM MTB Racing

The 2022 World Cup overall podium
David Valero Serrano (4th), Titouan Carod (2nd), Nino Schurter (1st), Luca Braidot (3rd), Alan Hatherly (5th)

Even if the Word Champion title comes with more emotions and prestige, it’s fair to say the World Cup Champion title is valued just as much.

In 2022, N1NO captured both. 10-time World Champion. 8-time World Cup Champion.

No doubt: The Greatest Of All Time.

“It’s one thing to focus on a peak event like a World Championship and fulfill it. But being able to deliver a consistency to win the overall of the World Cup requires by far a bigger commitment over a whole season.
N1NO delivered a unique and difficult combination of both, which makes him the greatest of all time.”

Thomas Frischknecht
Team Director
SCOTT-SRAM MTB Racing

Kate Courtney

“Save the best for last” was Kate’s motto for the Grande Finale. She was in much better shape than what showed at World’s a week ago. With a good 6th place finish in the Short Track, setting her in first row for the XCO, she delivered her best XCC race of the season. On Sunday’s XCO race, she wanted to step it up and raced a very ambitious race from the start.
She looked strong on the climbs and confident on the descent until two laps to go, when she had some mechanical issues with her shifting that forced her to stop in the pits twice. It’s too bad, as this would have been her first World Cup podium of the season. Instead she finished in P13.

Lars Forster & Andri Frischknecht

Both didn’t hit it right at the start. While Lars Forster was blocked from a rider not getting into the pedal, Andri Frischknecht even went down hard in a mass crash. 10 seconds into the race, he was dead last and even had to get a new shoe in the pits. P25 was not the result Lars was aiming for in the Grande Finale, and neither was P31 for Andri. At least Andri can claim he passed 80 riders with lap times that showed this was one of his better performances this season.

With the 2022 World Cup in the books, a hectic period comes to an end.
Time to breathe for the athletes and the staff behind the scenes.
A couple more races and the season is over. Time to celebrate and re-charge the batteries.

Celebrating Nino’s World Cup Champion title
From left to right: Yanick Gyger (Mechanic), Brad Copeland (Mechanic), Julia Hegar (Physio), Thomas Frischknecht (Team Manager), Peter Baumgartner (Handler), Kurt Gross (Mechanic)