Hemstreet and Goldstone second in junior DH qualifying at world championships
Results: Canadians swarm top-10 on first day of downhill in Val di Sole
Qualifying is done at downhill world championships in Val di Sole, Italy, and the Canadians are looking fast. Gracey Hemstreet and Jackson Goldstone led the Canuck juniors, both ranking second after Friday’s runs down the rocky, steep worlds track. Four more Canadians squeezed into the top-10 along with Hemstreet and Goldstone ahead of Sunday’s finals.
Junior Women
Gracey Hemstreet was a late addition to the Canadian team due to an early season injury, but the Sunshine Coast racer is clearly already back up to speed. Hemstreet qualified second in Val di Sole, behind Bulgaria’s Izabela Yankova.
Emmy Lan, the Canadian junior women’s downhill national champion, followed close behind in ninth. Lily Boucher and Vanessa Bruneau followed in 23th and 14th, rounding out Canada’s junior women’s entries. All four Canadians are first year juniors, looking fast in their first experience with European racing.
Junior Men
Jackson Goldstone showed Friday he has the pace to continue his stellar debut downhill season, seeding second behind 2020 junior world champion Oisin O’Callaghan of Ireland. Goldstone will have to make up 1.328 seconds if he wants to add world champion to the two World Cup wins and Canadian national title he’s already earned this season.
Tristan Lemire and Jakob Jewett are also in the tightly-packed top-10 after qualification and well within striking distance of the podium. Lemire set the sixth fastest time, after a heavy crash Friday morning in training, and Jewett eighth. Both are within six seconds of the day’s fastest time.
Three more Canadians clustered around 15th position. Wei Tien Ho, Coen Skrypnek and Marcus Goguen placed 14th, 15th and 16th in qualification. It’s the first year of racing overseas for all three, too. Finally, Cole Stinson placed 29th.
All the Canadian riders move on to finals. Those take place Sunday, Aug. 29 in Val di Sole, Italy. Junior races won’t be televised, but here’s how you can watch elite racing.
Results: 2021 UCI mountain bike world championships
Junior Women: Downhill
| 1 | YANKOVA Izabela |  |
4:38.260 | |||
| 2 | HEMSTREET Gracey |  |
+6.558 | |||
| 3 | GUTOEHRLE Sophie |  |
+8.731 | |||
| 4 | PIERRINI Leona |  |
+13.309 | |||
| 5 | CLAVEL Vicky | |
+15.302 | |||
| 6 | HAUGOM Kine |  |
+16.452 | |||
| 7 | DA MOCOGNO Delia |  |
+16.690 | |||
| 8 | VAN DER VELDEN Siel |  |
+19.664 | |||
| 9 | LAN Emmy | |
+19.784 | |||
| 10 | ERICKSON Ella |  |
+20.868 | |||
| 11 | GONZALEZ GRIMAU Aina |  |
+30.789 | |||
| 12 | ARTZ Emma | |
+42.823 | |||
| 13 | BOUCHER Lily | |
+48.202 | |||
| 14 | BRUNEAU Vanessa | |
+1:03.128 | |||
| 15 | KUCHYNKOVA Simonka |  |
+1:27.729 |
