After the excitement of qualifying on Tuesday, Mattia Debertolis finished 47th in today’s Middle Distance Final, with a time of 47:32, +13:50 behind the winner, Norway’s Eirik Langedal Breivik. Among the Italian athletes, Mattia was the top finisher in the race.
This was his first-ever World Championship forest Final, a significant milestone in his growing international career.
“I started well through the first controls, but then made a big mistake at number 6, where I lost a lot of time. From that point on, I knew the result was gone, but I tried to reset and finish the race as best I could. I’m very disappointed, because apart from that one control, I was navigating well. Physically, I also struggled from the beginning, and by the end I was really tired. Now I’ll focus on recovering because the Long is already tomorrow. Still, I’m happy I made it to the final.”
The Middle was run on a fast but technically terrain, with many details to keep track of.
Next up: the Long Distance, where Debertolis and Sebastian Inderst will be back on the start line tomorrow.