Savilia Blunk threw her bike across the line in Lenzerheide and, for the first time, crossed a UCI Short Track World Cup as its winner. Blunk battled her way to the front, edging Ronja Blöchlinger in a sprint for the line to clinch her debut UCI XCC World Cup victory, with another Swiss star, Alessandra Keller, finishing third. The result did more than fill a page: Blunk joined just three other American women to have ever won a World Cup XCC since the discipline was added in 2018 — Haley Batten, Kate Courtney and Chloe Woodruff.
How the race was decided
The pace was high from the gun. Puck Pieterse set the early tempo, leading into the descent for the first time with Keller and Blöchlinger for company, but the Dutchwoman was on the limit from the off. Blunk, mindful of the week behind her, took no chances. She worked her way to the front of the pack in the early laps to keep herself out of harm's way.
Keller, riding for the home crowd, forced the issue. On the penultimate lap she went all in on the climb, her surge enough to break Nicole Koller and Sina Frei, but Blunk and Blöchlinger clung on and still had the champion's wheel as the race entered its final lap. Keller had played her hand too soon, and had no response when Blöchlinger and Blunk countered on the last climb. The decisive move came in the closing metres. Blöchlinger led into the crucial descent, but Blunk kept her nerve, attacking up the inside on the bridge before the final corner and leading out the sprint. The finish straight sits on a right-hand bend, and Blunk chose the inside line, throwing her bike to victory.
"It hasn't really sunk in yet. I tried to have a good race, be smart and I felt super good. It's been a long time coming."
She spoke plainly afterwards. "I knew it was a secret line for the last lap. It takes a lot of effort but I think it closes a few inches and that's all it took," she told reporters.
A step in the story
The win did not arrive from nowhere. Blunk has stood on the World Cup podium several times over the years. What changed was form, sharpened over a hard fortnight. A week earlier she had shown strength to finish fifth in the Leogang XCO despite a coming-together with Jenny Rissveds that left her on the ground. There was a wider drought behind the result too. The last American elite World Cup win had come in April 2024, when Haley Batten took both titles in Brazil, which makes Blunk's debut victory in Lenzerheide feel historic.
For years she has raced near the front. In Lenzerheide, she finally led it home.
