The 2024 World Road Cycling Championships took place this past week in Zurich, Switzerland. The event will forever be remembered for a tragic and fatal incident in the junior women competition on Thursday. That is when 18-year-old Muriel Furrer of Zurich died from injuries in a race crash.
Slow Response time
According to Sjoerd Valkering of idlprocycling.com, Furrer lied unnoticed in the woods for an extended period of time before receiving any medical attention. A trauma helicopter only came to the scene of the tragedy one hour after the race had been completed. It was determined that Furrer died of a traumatic brain injury and had unsuccessful surgery later in the day.
Furrer’s Cycling Accolades
Furrer’s most notable cycling accomplishment was winning bronze in the mixed relay event for Switzerland at the 2024 European Mountain Biking Championships in Cheile Gradistei, Romania this past May. Furrer teamed up Finn Treudler, Nicolas Halter, Ramona Forchini, Anina Hurter, and Thomas Litscher. Italy won the gold medal and France won the silver medal. Furrer also won the silver medal in the women’s time trial and road cycling events at the Switzerland National Junior Cycling Championships.
After the tragedy, there was consideration to cancel the 2024 World Road Cycling Championships. However, the event continued at the request of the family.
Who won the four elite events?
In the men’s road race, Tadej Pogacar of Slovenia, the bronze medalist in the road race from the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2021, won gold with a time of six hours, 27 minutes and 30 seconds. Ben O’Connor of Australia won the silver medal with a time of six hours, 28 minutes, and four seconds. Mathieu van der Poel of the Netherlands, the 2023 world champion, won the bronze medal with a time of six hours, 28 minutes and 28 seconds.
In the women’s road race, Lotte Kopecky of Belgium, the reigning Olympic bronze medalist from Paris, won the gold medal with a time of four hours, five minutes and 26 seconds. Chloe Dygert of the United States won the silver medal and Elisa Longo Borghini of Italy won the bronze medal.
In the men’s time trial, Remco Evenepoel of Belgium won the gold medal with a time of 53 minutes, 1.98 seconds. Evenopoel won the time trial and road race at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. Filippo Nanna of Italy won the silver medal with a time of 53 minutes, 8.41 seconds. Edoardo Affini of Italy won the bronze medal with a time of 53 minutes, 56.42 seconds.
In the women’s time trail, Grace Brown of Australia, the reigning Olympic gold medalist in the time trial, had a winning time of 39 minutes, and 16.04 seconds. Demi Vollering of the Netherlands won the silver medal with a time of 39 minutes, 32.83 seconds. Dygert won the bronze medal with a time of 40 minutes, 12.46 seconds.
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