Finn Iles leads Canadians in Elite Downhill worlds qualification
Rowdy Val di Sole track delivers drama on Friday in Italy
Photo by:
Bartek Wolinksi / Red Bull Content Pool
World championships are back at Val di Sole and the track is looking rougher than ever. The gnarly conditions delivered plenty of excitement during Friday’s qualification, with several big names, including Brook MacDonald and Loic Bruni hitting the deck hard.
Finn Iles leads the Canadian elites into Sunday’s finals, after qualifying 10th. Seven Canadians in total will line up for elite finals in Val di Sole. They join the strong Canadian junior contingent that stormed into a raft of top-10 qualification results earlier on Friday.
Elite Women
Two Canadians are entered in the elite women’s downhill race. Rachel Pageau and Jennifer McHugh. Both rank inside the top-20 after Friday’s qualifying round. Pageau set the 17th fastest time, even after a hard fall in practice. McHugh is 20th, appearing in her first European downhill event.
Vali Holl leads the elite women, crushing the Val di Sole track in 4:10.696. The young Austrian has two world champions chasing close behind. 2019 world champion Myriam Nicole and 2020 world champ Camille Balanche placed second and third, 1.079 and 2.144 seconds back. They’ll be joined by Tahnee Seagrave in Sunday’s final, who is nursing a neck injury in Val di Sole but makes it through to the finals via her status as a protected rider.
Elite Men
Finn Iles leads Canada’s elite men into Sunday’s finals after qualifying 10th on Friday. Iles is 6.146 seconds behind Loris Vergier, who set the day’s fastest time. French riders set four of the seven fastest times in elite men’s qualifying, even with defending champ Loic Bruni limping across the line in 66th after a wild crash. Antoine Vidal, Thibault Daprela and Benoit Coulanges qualified third, fifth and seventh. Laurie Greenland (2nd), Greg Minnaar (4th) and Troy Brosnan (6th) disrupted the French party in qualifying.
Behind Iles, Mark Wallace was the next fastest Canuck, qualifying 26th. Elliot Jamieson followed in 32nd and Lucas Cruz in 37th. Gabe Nuron is 51st going into Sunday, racing in his first world champs.
Downhill world championship finals take place Sunday, Aug. 29 in Val di Sole, Italy. Before that, the under-23 and elite cross country racers line up for their title races on Saturday, Aug. 28. Here’s how you can follow the action from back in Canada.
Elite Women: Downhill
| 1 | HOLL Valentina |  |
4:10.696 | |||
| 2 | NICOLE Myriam |  |
+1.079 | |||
| 3 | BALANCHE Camille |  |
+2.144 | |||
| 4 | FARINA Eleonora |  |
+4.605 | |||
| 5 | HRASTNIK Monika |  |
+7.867 | |||
| 6 | WIDMANN Veronika | |
+8.342 | |||
| 7 | CABIROU Marine | |
+10.484 | |||
| 8 | BLEWITT Jessica |  |
+11.915 | |||
| 9 | JOHNSET Mille |  |
+16.432 | |||
| 10 | HOFFMANN Nina |  |
+21.914 | |||
| 11 | NEWKIRK Anna |  |
+22.045 | |||
| 12 | SIEGENTHALER Emilie | |
+23.288 | |||
| 13 | BERNARD Mathilde | |
+25.724 | |||
| 14 | SALAZAR Mariana |  |
+28.485 | |||
| 15 | DELEST Agnes | |
+28.915 | |||
| 16 | PARTON Mikayla |  |
+29.378 | |||
| 17 | PAGEAU Rachel |  |
+33.278 | |||
| 18 | RONNING Frida Helena | |
+36.042 | |||
| 19 | HOGIE Abigail | |
+40.582 | |||
| 20 | MCHUGH Jennifer | |
+44.033 | |||
| 21 | RICHTER Raphaela | |
+53.496 | |||
| 22 | IJURKO Ainhoa |  |
+54.866 | |||
| 23 | WELZEL Justine | |
+56.998 | |||
| 24 | FISHER Stacey | |
+57.239 | |||
| 25 | NEISSL Marlena | |
+57.893 | |||
| 26 | TORREGROSA SANCHO Telma | |
+1:00.205 | |||
| 27 | SKELTON Kailey | |
+1:03.043 | |||
| 28 | HAYDEN Mazie | |
+1:05.449 | |||
| 29 | SHARP Katherine | |
+1:19.450 | |||
| 30 | HORVAT Spela | |
+1:30.494 | |||
| 31 | THIES Sabine |  |
+1:33.374 | |||
| – | DU TOIT Frances | |
DNF | |||
| – | SEAGRAVE Tahnee | |
DNF |
