Wild World Cup racing ends with historic win in West Virginia

Wild and unpredictable as ever, Snowshoe served up and incredible show on Saturday for the elite men’s and women’s finals. One season title wrapped up while the other was thrown into disarray. All while two Irish riders made history in West Virginia in the men’s race.

On the Canadian front, it was a sensational ride for Jakob Jewett, earning his career-best elite World Cup result. It was an interesting weekend for Canada’s two overall contenders, Finn Iles and Jackson Goldstone, who are up against the French contingent of Loic Bruni and Loris Vergier. One thing is certain, though. Mont-Sainte-Anne will now play host to a truly grand finale for the elite men’s season.

Elite women: Höll hauls in season title

The elite women’s semi-finals were slightly chaotic in Snowshoe. Both Nina Hoffmann (Syndicate) and Vali Höll (RockShox Trek) struggled through to finals, the latter crashing while 10 seconds up on her closest competitor.

In the finals, just a few short hours later, Hoffmann was able to put together a consistent run. It wasn’t enough to slow down a hard-charging Marine Cabirou, though. Scott-SRAM’s French woman has had good results at Snowshoe in the past and, on Saturday, was one of the rare riders to get a clean run through the jagged rocks. Cabirou moved into the lead with only Vali Höll remaining at the top of the mountain.

With Höll’s crash in semis still seeing her set the fastest time, the question for finals was whether the Austrian would push for the win or, after the scare earlier in the day, play it safe and try lock down the overall title. Knowing she only had to make it to the bottom of the course intact to lock down the season trophy, the 21-year-old appeared to opt for the latter. Making it to the bottom intact was paramount, though Snowshoe’s technical rocks made that no easy ask.

Höll would ride clean, finishing third behind Hoffmann and just 0.66 seconds off Cabirou’s winning time. That earned the Austrian the 2023 season title at the same venue where she won her first title. It also wraps up an amazing double season for the RockShox Trek racer, winning world championships and the World Cup title.

“To wrap up the overall wine race before the season is over and to be world champion, it’s been the best season of my career so far,” Höll said. The Austrian let on that the safe tactics were the name of the day. “My quality and semi were a bit hectic, I crashed in both runs. So I thought I’m going to play it safe. When I crossed the finish line and saw I was just 0.6 behind the win it was a bit annoying, but I wrapped up the overall and that’s all I could have asked for. Women’s racing is exceeding our limits, every weekend we are going faster and pushing harder. It’s going to be great to influence future riders to come and race downhill world cups.”

 

Cabirou takes the win, though, her second in a row.

“It was a really hard week because the track changed a lot, the conditions too,” Cabirou said. “If you told me I would win at the start of today, I would not believe you.”

Gracey Hemstreet secured 10th in the elite women’s race, continuing her impressive debut season.

Elite men: Luck of the Irish and overall standings chaos

Four Canadian men made it through the semi-finals for Saturday afternoon’s racing. Two, Finn Iles and Jackson Goldstone, are in contention for the overall title.

First, though, was Seth Sherlock (Intense Factory Racing). The Squamish racer is just barely back on the bike after a lingering wrist injury. Sherlock put in a big run in finals, riding clean and confident, much to the appreciation of team boss Aaron Gwin, who happened to be a guest in the commentary booth for finals. That put Sherlock in 23rd overall by the day’s end.

Jakob Jewett (Pivot Factory Racing) was up next for Canada. Floating over the sharp rocks of Snowshoe, Jewett was definitely riding on the edge. The B.C. racer clipped, like solidly clipped, the big foam board course marker at one point but it didn’t seem to slow him down at all. Working his prototype lugged-carbon Pivot, Jewett stayed green through all the splits to push Dylan Levesque (and Greg Minnaar) down the standings and move into the hot seat. Matt Walker (Madison Saracen) would quickly take his place, but Jewett remained up on stage in the top three for a good while. Jewett would hold on for 12th, a career-best and sensational result for the young Canadian.

Jackson Goldstone (Syndicate) started off the top 10 riders and was the first of the overall contenders to drop in. His challenge for the win was short-lived, with a flat tire early on deflating his effort in West Virginia. The Squamish phenom somehow kept sending it for a good while before the flat forced him to slow his pace. He would cross the line well back, finishing in 29th on the day. An impressive ride on the flat, but not great for Goldstone’s chances of challenging Bruni in the overall points race.

Finn Iles (Specialized Gravity) was up next and was absolutely hauling through the upper sections of Snowshoe’s track. The Whistler racer started losing ground, fighting with the sharp rocks through the middle of the course. A big pre-hop down the final container drop pulled in some time, but couldn’t get Iles onto the podium. Iles salvaged 10th. A solid result, but also not great for his chances of challenging Specialized teammate Bruni for the overall title.

Bernard Kerr and Loris Vergier both found the line between risk and control that was required for the West Virginia track. In somewhat similar runs, the two slid down the steepest section near sideways to fly through a steep catch berm. Both would fill out the final spots on Saturday’s podium.

For the Snowshoe fans, though, the most important rider in the top 10 was Dakotah Norton. Intense Factory Racing’s American flew out of the start gate to loud chants of “U!S!A!” from the enthusiastic West Virginia crowd. Norton eased into his run, building speed the whole way down the track to take the lead with just a few riders left to drop in.

Ronan Dunne (Continental Atherton) quickly put Norton’s time under pressure. The first of two Irish riders in the top five after semis, there was clearly something about the Snowshoe track that was working for them. Dunne rode, as he tends to, on the absolute ragged edge of control but held it together to take over the lead.

Oisin O’Callaghan (YT Mob), the other Irish racer, was entirely unwilling to let Dunne have all the glory. Only halfway down the course, O’Callaghan was already 1.050 seconds up on Dunne. The YT racer saved an absolutely wild moment off of the imposing double rock drop to stay on his bike and, somehow, extend his lead. O’Callaghan lost a bit of pace at the bottom of the course, but not enough to lose his lead. Dunne, despite losing his lead, was absolutely loving the Irish 1-2 with only Loic Bruni remaining at the top of the mountain.

Bruni dropped in with the pressure of the overall title on his shoulders. Never one to shy away from pressure, Bruni was in touch through the first few splits. The run started to come unraveled when the French six-time world champ smashed a rock hard, looking like either the rock, sealant or some part of the bike sprayed off. But Super Bruni hit the next split green, still on pace. Bruni’s ever-composed posture was clearly hiding a run on the edge, though. Clipping a tree coming into one of Snowshoe’s never-ending rock gardens, Bruni went out the front door and hit the ground hard. The Specialized racer was back on his bike quick enough but clearly rattled, crossing the line 26th. Also not good for his run at the overall title.

While Bruni contemplated what comes next, moving very slow in the finish area, the Irish congratulated him and then started the celebrations.

Ireland Ascendant

It’s a historic win for O’Callaghan, the first-ever Irish World Cup winner and first Irish 1-2 with Dunne. Amazingly, O’Callaghan is the seventh different elite men’s winner in seven rounds of racing this season.

“It’s surreal, I think I’m about to have a heart attack. The crowds here are amazing. Everyone here the whole way down was absolutely roaring,” O’Callaghan said after the race. It’s not just a historic win for Ireland, it’s also a moment of redemption for the YT racer. “coming from 2020, having a good strong junior year, I haven’t really performed since. To do this here, I can’t put it into words. It was a good weekend from the start. From the first practice I was riding pretty fast from the first run, everything was clicking.”

Dakota Norton rewards the U.S. crowd with a third-place finish. Loris Vergier (Trek Factory Racing) was the only one of the overall contenders to have a good day, placing fourth just ahead of Pivot boss Bernard Kerr.

Overall set for a grande finale at Mont-Sainte-Anne

Leaving Snowshoe the overall picture is, if anything, more complicated. Bruni retains his lead, but now with 1528 points to Vergier’s total of 1458. With Goldstone at 1366 and Iles 1320, there are less than 200 points separating the top four racers.

The season heads home to Canada next for what will now be a truly grand finale at Mont-Sainte-Anne. There are no points for qualifying or semis at the final round so the series will be decided, as it should be, by one run for all the glory.