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Americans Jill Kintner and Melissa Buhl take silver and bronze medals at world MTB championships

by VeloNews.com

• September 04, 2009
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Australians win both four-cross gold medals on their home track

• Results

By Agence France Presse

Australians Jared Graves and Caroline Buchanan claimed a golden double in the four-cross events at the UCI world mountain bike championships in Canberra, Australia Friday.

Americans Jill Kintner and Melissa Buhl took silver and bronze, respectively, in the women’s four-cross behind Buchanan.

Graves and Buchanan won Australia’s first medals of the championships after each went through the night session undefeated before holding firm in the medal round to claim gold at Stromlo Forest Park.

The victory for Graves, who last year was a finalist in BMX at the Beijing Olympic Games, confirmed his status as the world’s best 4X rider after he entered the championships as the World Cup Series leader and world number one.

Frenchman Romain Saladini, the only rider who looked to have any hope of beating Graves, won silver with teenage world championship debutant, Jakub Riha from the Czech Republic, third.

In the women’s event, Buchanan, 18, won all three of her rounds including a thrilling final to claim the gold medal from Thursday’s top qualifier and world ranked number three Kintner.

Dutchwoman Anneke Beerten, the world ranked number one, missed the final but won the consolation final.

Results

Four-cross finals

Men

1. Jared Graves (AUS)
2. Romain Saladini (FRA)
3. Jakub Riha (CZE)
4. Rafael Alvarez Lucas (ESP)

Team classification
1. Australia 78 pts
2. Czech Replublic 67
3. France 48
4. Germany 40
5. Great Britain 39
6. USA 36
7. Switzerland 34
8. Netherlands 33
9. Spains 29
10. New Zealand 20

Women
1. Caroline Buchanan (AUS)
2. Jill Kintner (USA)
3. Melissa Buhl (USA)
4. Anita Molcik (AUT)

Team classification
1. USA 21 pts
2. Australia 18
3. Austria 9
4. Netherlands 8
5. Japan 7
6. Hungary 5
7. Czech Republic 4
8. South Africa 3
9. Great Britain 2
10. Ecuador 1