A strong elite women's field included the podium finishers from the Tokyo Olympics, with all three od the medallists making it through the elimination rounds to the final, along with Australian Lauren Reynolds, who just avoided a crash in the semis to make it through\ to the race for the rainbow jersey.
In the final it looked like Shriever would have to ride hard throughout the race after taking a slim lead into the first corner, with defending world champion Alise Willoughby (United States) and British teammate Felicia Stancil among those that were quick down the ramp. Willoughby had former world champion, Australian star and husband, Sam Willoughby watching on as coach.
The 22-year-old Shriever was just far enough ahead to avoid the carnage when Stancil crashed, bringing down Zoe Classens (Switzerland) and Willoughby, on the exit from the first corner.
The rest of the field was obstructed with Judy Baauw and Laura Smulders, both from host-nation of the Netherlands, the least inconvenienced but they had little chance of pulling back the already substantial gap to Shriever. The British rider charged toward the finish line with a comfortable gap and ended up winning her first world championships by a huge margin.
"It’s pretty hard to believe at the moment," said Shriever. "I’ve been riding consistently all day. I just wanted to go out there and have a good time, like I did in Tokyo.
"I went into gate 8, had an all-right start and just dug in and managed to take the win. I’m gassed, yeah."
Baauw took silver ahead of Smulders, while Australian Reynolds finished in fifth after being significantly delayed behind the crash.
In the men’s elite race the Netherlands, there was pressure on home-town star Kimmann, who lined up in gate 8 and took the lead early. From the first corner, it was only 2018 winner Sylvain Andre (France) looked like the only real challenger.
Andre kept the pressure on but Kimmann was fast through the technical sections and crossed the line first to make it an Olympic and World Championship double in both the men’s and women’s elite categories. Retiring David Graf (Switzerland) bowed out from world competition with a podium as he claimed the bronze medal.
Kimmann, even with his knee still healing after he crashed into an official who came onto the course during training at the Olympic Games, was the strongest throughout competition and claimed a deserved rainbow jersey.
"Absolutely insane," said Kimmann of his win. "On Monday night my doctor did another MRI to my knee and called me up and said ‘I wouldn’t recommend racing’. I said ‘you know it’s the home worlds, right?’ He said ‘If you take two months off (after the world championships), I’ll let you race’.
"The last few days have been rough because I had to rest and basically not do anything. I just felt off. Then I saw Bethany win, Olympics and worlds and I thought ‘Jeez, a home worlds doesn’t have enough pressure already!’ But I managed to pull it off.”
Kimmann stood in the home straight after the victory raising his bike aloft and basking in the adulation of the home fans, who had been a consistent parochial presence throughout the finals, cheering the Dutch especially as they were announced.
“Winning the Olympics was cool, but to finally have a crowd to celebrate with, a crowd that screams your name when you’re in the gate, that’s special," said Kimmann.
Australian Izaac Kennedy had been flying down the ramp with very fast starts in each and every race but in the final he didn't fly away from the gate with his previous zip and was towards the back of the pack from the start, eventually finishing seventh. It was a top showing from the 21-year-old from Brisbane, the youngest rider in the finals.
Fellow Aussie Jack Davis was eliminated in the motos in his first elite men's world championships.
Mariane Beltrando (France) won the race for the junior women’s title while on the last turn of a crash-heavy junior men’s race Italy's Marco Radaelli powered into first place.
