Kuhn and Jewett lead Canadians into finals at Leogang World Cup
Six Canadians on finals start list for Sunday in Leogang
World Cup downhill racing is back in action after a brief break for the XC racers to wrap up their Olympic qualification in Nove Mesto. Saturday is all about qualifying for finals. Three Canadain juniors are through to Sunday’s racing while five Canadian elite men move on from qualifying to race Saturday’s semi-final. Three of them would advance on to Sunday’s elite finals, led by Bodhi Kuhn.
Elite qualifying
For the elites, Saturday started with qualifying but didn’t end there. For the riders that made it through that first round (60 men, 15 women), it was just the start. A quick break while the juniors raced qualifying and the elites had to head back up the hill for semi-finals.
Oisin O’Callaghan (YT Mob) fastest in men’s qualifying, but just 0.060 seconds ahead of Canyon’s Luca Shaw.
Finn Iles DNF’s, but moves through to semis on protected status. The Specialized racer crashed during practice. Due to the preculiarites of the UCI’s protected rider rules, all Iles had to do in the qualis and semis was drop out of the start hut. He did just that, and only that on Saturday. But hopefully that means he’s at least feeling healthy enough to race on Sunday.
That leaves Jakob Jewett (Pivot Factory Racing) as the fastest Canuck in qualifying, posting the 19th fastest time. Kirk McDowall (Norco Racing Division) moves through to semis in 39th, same with Bodhi Kuhn (Trek Factory Racing) in 41st and, just inside the 60-rider cut-off, Mark Wallace (We Are One Momentum Project). Seth Sherlock (Gwin Racing) misses out by 0.856, ending his weekend in 68th. Gabe Neron’s another second back in 83rd, Tegan Cruz (Kena NS) 90th, Henry Sherry 112th, Tristan Lemire (Evolve Racing) 122nd and Garrett McIntosh 146th.
Valentina Höll (YT Mob) dominated the elite women’s qualifying, finishing a full eight seconds ahead of the next fastest rider. That was the U.S.A.’s Anna Newkirk (Beyond Racing), who just edged out Myriam Nicole (Commencal MucOff) for the second position going into semi finals.
Gracey Hemstreet (Norco Race Division) led the Canadian women in qualifying in 28th. Charlotte Gaudreau followed in 31st. With the UCI’s err… overly strict 15-rider cut-off for women’s semi-finals, that ends the weekend for both riders.
Juniors qualifying
There are no semi-finals for the juniors, so they were fighting to move through directly to Sunday’s finals.
Asa Vermette (Frameworks Racing) led the junior men through qualifying, though the U.S. phenom was only 3.24 seconds faster than second place. That was Dane Jewett (Pivot Factory Racing). Jon Mozell (We Are One Momentum Project) set the seventh fastest time, with a quartet of French racers between him and Jewett on the results sheet.
Ryan Griffith, Jewett’s Pivot teammate, moves through to finals with a 17th place in qualis. Michael Delesalle (Gwin Racing), in 34th, just misses out on the 25-rider cut-off. So do Anthony Shelly in 40th, Loick Hudon in 43rd, Benny de Vall in 48th, Jack Macleod in 53rd, Justin Gagné in 62nd and Dylan Marino in 63rd.
In junior women’s qualifying, Eliana Hulsebosch (Union) leads by a solid margin over fellow Kiwi’s Sacha Earnst (Trek Factory Racing) and Erice van Leuven (Commencal Les Orres). No Canadians in the junior women’s race.
Elite semi-finals
On the men’s side, Loic Bruni (Specialized Gravity Racing) puts himself in pole position for Sunday, setting the fastest time in semi-finals. But SuperBruni has the Canyon Cllctv duo of Luca Shaw and Troy Brosnan breathing down his neck. Both finished within one second of Bruni’s semis time. Fastest qualifier, O’Callaghan, slid to fourth with winner of the last World Cup round, Ronnan Dunne, moving through to finals in sixth.
For the Canadians, Bodhi Kuhn (Trek Factory Racing) moved up a few spots from qualifying to finish 23rd in semis. He’ll be joined in finals by Jakob Jewett (Pivot Factory Racing), who just squeaks through under the 30-rider cut-off in 29th. Finn Iles again registers a DNF in semis but moves through to finals via his protected rider status. Mark Wallace crosses the line in 45th and Kirk McDowall in 48th, ending their Leogang weekend.
Vali Höll led again in semi-finals, though with Anna Newkirk moving within two seconds of the Austrian world champ. There was some shuffling in the ranks, as Tahnée Seagrave (Canyon FMD) moved up to third. Between protected riders and the restrictive, 15-rider cut-off to get into semis, UCI’s semi-final format managed to cut the field from 16 riders starting semis to 13 riders that will start finals in Leogang. Perfectly good use of an afternoon…
