It's a Knockout!
FVO's Grace Molloy finished her international season on a high, as she nabbed the silver medal in the final World Cup race of the year in Uster, Switzerland in dramatic circumstances,
Having relocated to Sweden 12 months ago in order to improve her training environment, Grace was perhaps looking for improvement in her forest racing and couldn't have envisaged that her breakthough performance would come in one of her less-favoured disciplines, with her previous best in the Knockout Sprint being a 19th place in 2022.
Her challenge almost came to a premature end, as she was on the cusp of elimination in the qualification race, lying 36th at the halfway stage after an early error before redoubling in the back half for an eventual 21st place.
Her reward in the quarter-final was to be drawn in the same heat as European Championship gold and silver medallists Pia Young Vik (Norway) and Hanna Lundberg (Sweden) with three to progress, and Vik and Lundberg were quickly off the front. Grace was 6th at the second-last checkpoint, nine seconds off progression, but showed real leg strength to overcome the field on the long leg back home, and came in for what was eventually a comfortable seven second gap over 4th.
The free draw for the semi-final saw her against Lundberg and Vik once more, and, in the knowledge that she perhaps lacked the raw pace to run in, she chose to control the front of the race. All went well until 200m from the finish, when, a fraction of a second behind Lundberg, she slipped on wet grass and allowed Vik, who had been trailing throughout, to nip through into 2nd
That looked to be the end of the journey, but a TV camera had spotted Vik taking an advantage by grabbing a barrier, contrary to a new regulation, and the race jury chose to reinstate Grace to the final, but not eliminate Vik.
With seven women in the final, the action was tight. The planner threw a major curve-ball by taking the race inside a local school and around an underground car park, and Grace was in bronze medal position at halfway. The breakthrough came on the 9th leg, where the field went left and Grace committed to a rightward route that took her into a marginal lead.
World champion Simona Aebersold was on home soil, and was determined to give the locals something to cheer about, and retook the lead with two to go, but Grace was strong into the finish to hold off the challenge of Czechia's Tereza Rauturier for an unexpected silver medal.