Cycle-ball worlds: Holzer and Wolf chase a third straight title
The women's tournament at the Indoor Cycling World Championships opens on Friday, 30 October, at the MHP Arena in Ludwigsburg, rad-net.de reports. The event had been planned for Derby in Britain but moved at short notice after the organiser there pulled out. Each team plays every other team twice in a preliminary round, and the top two meet for the title on the afternoon of Sunday, 1 November.
This is only the fourth edition of the women's championship, first held in 2023, and since this season women also have a World Cup. Holzer plays for RV Concordia Prechtal and Wolf for RKV Hofen; both are 25. Wolf says defending the title is clearly their goal. The pair rate Switzerland as their main rivals and warn that Japan should not be underestimated.
Training together takes planning, as the two live more than 200 kilometres apart. They usually meet two or three times before a match day, roughly ten sessions a year, currently more. Their clubs add practice twice a week in Hofen and three times in Prechtal, and both also train alongside the men's teams there.
Both took up cycle-ball at seven or eight: Wolf with her cousin, Holzer through her father, who still coaches, and her brother. According to Holzer, the strength gap with boys became obvious from U15 or U17, and many girls quit at that stage.