The Decathlon Ford rider finished 1min 32sec behind winner Alessandra Keller (Switzerland). Keller was 16sec ahead of second-placed world Jenny Rissveds (Sweden) with Maxwell’s team-mate, Savilia Blunk (USA), third.
After placing fifth in the short-track race earlier in the week at Lenzerheide, Maxwell fought hard to push to the front on the start loop in yesterday’s race, before gradually dropping back as Rissveds, Keller, Blunk and eventually Evie Richards (Great Britain) edged clear of the Kiwi.
Keller clung to a narrow lead from Rissveds and the emerging Richards, who flatted on the final lap.
Maxwell collected 166 points from her fifth placing in the short-track race and sixth yesterday, giving up 112 points of her advantage in the overall points to Rissveds.
But the New Zealand star still holds a significant 323-point lead on the world champion, and nearly 400 points on Keller with two legs remaining in North America.
World champion Alan Hatherly (South Africa) was too strong in the elite men’s race, taking
control mid-race and winning by over 30sec from British rider Charlie Aldridge and Frenchman Adrien Boichis.
New Zealand rider Sam Gaze (Alpecin-Deceuninck) pushed hard early, passing more than 20 riders on the first full lap, but that effort took its toll as he eventually drifted back to 48th, 6min 12sec down on the winner, with compatriot Anton Cooper (Lapierre Racing) 54th from the 92 starters.
Of the other Kiwi riders, Amelie Mackay was 42nd in the under-23 female race, and fellow Cantabrian Ethan Rose rode strongly to finish 26th in the under-23 men. Taupo rider Coen Nicol was 66th.
The penultimate round of the championship for cross-country and downhill will be staged at Lake Placid in upstate New York in two weeks, ahead of the finale on October 9-12 at Mont Sainte Anne, near Quebec City in Canada.
— Allied Media
