Jackson Goldstone and Finn Iles soar to sensational 1-2 World Cup finish on Canada Day

Saturday’s elite downhill World Cup in Val di Sole, Italy was phenomenal no matter who you were cheering for but, for Canadians, it was extra special. Jackson Goldstone earning his first elite World Cup win, in just his third start, is a wildly impressive feat.

Fellow Canadian Finn Iles finished in second place. With Iles the podium beside Goldstone, it is the best-ever Canadian result in an elite World Cup. While the race was in Italy, all of this happened on Canada Day, making it an thrilling day for fans watching back home.

A historic Canada Day in Italy

It wasn’t long ago that having two Canadians on an elite World Cup downhill podium was a notable and historic moment. While the first time it happened neither Canuck was on the top step, it was still a huge marker of just how far Canada’s downhill program had progressed. With a 1-2 finish in Val di Sole, Goldstone (Syndicate) and Iles (Specialized) land the best-ever Canadian downhill result.

They weren’t the only Canadians on form, either. In the elite women’s race, first-year-elite Gracey Hemstreet finished seventh. Her Norco Factory teammate Mark Wallace finished 25th in the elite men’s race. Jakob Jewett (Pivot Factory Racing) followed less than one second behind in 26th.

The result also comes one day after Bodhi Kuhn won his first junior men’s downhill World Cup in Val di Sole, also moving into the leader’s jersey in that series.

Jackson Golstone versus the Black Snake of Val di Sole

It was a historic run for Goldstone but also one that nearly went off the rails in the first corner. With changing weather conditions keeping riders guessing all day, Goldstone nearly went down in the first and third corners of the infamously rough “Black Snake” track in Val di Sole.

“The rain kinda scared me a little bit, but I thought no, I have to go for something special,” Goldstone siad of the weather, adding that his Syndicate teammates helped him with his win. “I was washing quite a bit, I didn’t find the grip the whole way down. But I had Greg and Laurie down before me, telling me what was wet and what wasn’t.

The Syndicate’s young prodigy collected himself and looked calm and in control the rest of the way down, finding creative lines including one sneaky highline in the lower woods that looked decisive.

“The run was on the edge the whole time, right from that first corner,” Goldstone said after the finish. “I had a really good bottom section, which I think I was strong for, which is where I think I made up a bunch of time, but I’m so stoked.”

After Goldstone’s run, he sat in the hotseat while Finn Iles, Jordan Williams and Loris Vergier attacked the course. Iles briefly tagged a tree and couldn’t touch his fellow Canadian’s time. Williams crashed into the safety netting near the bottom of his run and, while ok, was out of contention. Vergier looked a little too controlled to challenge for the win and slotted into fifth.

The last French rider off the course, Goldstone and Iles launched a huge celebration. The younger Canadian hugged teammates, his mother and father in the crowd, and pretty much anyone around him.

The best second-place finish

Finn Iles, so close to his second World Cup win shared that second was hardly settlingc considering who was in front of him.

“I’m happy with second, because Jackson won, he’s a fellow Canadian. He’s pretty young so it’s crazy to see. And it is Canada Day,” the Specialized rider said.

Iles result is all the more impressive considering his weekend started with a crash during his qualification run. From there, he was able to turn around and set the third-fastest time in semi-finals and second-fastest in finals.

“The weekend’s been tough, this track is so demanding. In qualifying I had a stupid crash, I just lost focus,” Iles said, sharing that he tries not to let changing weather conditions affect him. “There’s nothing you can really do. When I leave the pits I don’t want to hear anything about the track I don’t want to hear anything about the race, I go to the top and when I get in the gate I just set my focus and go.”

With the fantastic 1-2 finish, Jackson Goldstone and Finn Iles now lead the overall standings. Goldstone has 786 points to Iles’ 774. Loris Vergier trails in third with 742 and five rounds of racing remaining.

World Cup downhill takes a nearly two-month hiatus now. But in that time, racers will join the rest of the cycling world for the first-ever combined cycling world championships in Scotland in the first week of August.