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Home News The European student-athletes left their mark on the red Costa-Rican soils

The European student-athletes left their mark on the red Costa-Rican soils

3 June 2024
The start of the last event of the very successful FISU World University Championship Cycling in San Carlos. (photo Marco Sanchez)

Lush scenery, tropical weather, great television coverage and of course a lot of sweat and smiles: the San Carlos 2024 FISU World University Championship crowned impressive European student-athletes in both road cycling and mountain biking.

With five events and at least as many weather changes, San Carlos hosted a really exciting cycling championship that ended up crowning exclusively European riders. In Costa Rica, Czechia triumphed, bringing home a total of five gold medals: Jakub Toupalik in the Individual Time Trial, Daniel Mraz in the Road Race, Patricia Srnska in both the XCE and the XCO and Jan Zatloukal also in the XCO.

Czechia’s Patricia Srnska and Aneta Novotna celebrate their gold and bronze medals in the Olympic Cross Country (XCO) event.

The student-athletes really enjoyed competing in San Carlos, with a great level of opposition and quite challenging atmospheric conditions, to say the least.

“It was my first time competing in the XCE event, smiled gold winner Aron Horváth from Hungary. I am really happy to win against rivals such a high level. The atmosphere was spectacular: I really like Costa Rica!”

The lucky ones were the Mountain Bikers, who were able to stay dry and even feel some sunshine, unlike the Road Race participants who ended up totally drenched by the tropical rain.

Congratulations to all the new World University Champions, to everyone who participated and to the Organising Committee. You can still watch the replay of the action on www.fisu.tv

Written by Thérèse Courvoisier, photos Marco Sánchez_FECOCI