The first downhill race of the year is over and with the World Cup racing on at the same venue next week this weekends racing was a great opportunity for some of the biggest names to get between the tape. In the elite men's race, Matt Walker would best his teammate Danny hart by 0.0.86 to take the win and Americans Charlie Harrison and Dakotah Norton would sit in third and fourth. Rounding out the top five would be another British rider, Phil Atwill.
For the elite women, Tracey Hannah would dominate the women's field with a nearly four-second gap to Nina Hoffmann. Monika Hrastnik, Eleonora Farina and Veronika Widmann would complete the podium. Despite practicing here in Maribor Tahnee Seagrave did not complete qualifying or race in the final. She said on Instagram earlier today;
"I'm just using the practice to get my bike set up and have some bike time - I didn't want to put more pressure on myself when dialing in my set up to be able to push hard for next week is more important."In the Junior Men's race, Thibaut Daprela would lay down an impressive run that would have placed him inside the top nine elite men. Ethan Shandro and Kye A'Hern would sit second and third both just over four seconds back. Vali Holl continues her domination of the Junior Women's field with a gap of over 11 seconds to Anna Newkirk. Her time of 3:43.176 would have given her second place behind Tracey Hannah in the elite women's category.
Elite Men
1st. Matt Walker: 3:10.017
2nd. Danny Hart: +0.086
3rd. Charlie Harrison: +1.000
4th. Dakotah Norton: +2.136
5th. Phil Atwill: +3.085
Elite Women
1st. Tracey Hannah: 3:41.094
2nd. Nina Hoffmann: +3.996
3rd. Monika Hrastnik: +5.058
4th. Eleonora Farina: +7.401
5th. Veronika Widmann: +8.256
Junior Men
1st. Thibaut Daprela: 3:14.500
2nd. Ethan Shandro: +4.147
3rd. Kye A'Hern: +4.386
4th. Emile Rilat: +8.175
5th. Simon Chapelet: +8.382
Junior Women
1st. Vali Holl: 3:43.176
2nd. Anna Newkirk: +11.603
3rd. Mille Johnset: +18.269
4th. Ottilia Johansson Jones: 1:02.620
Full Results
Live Updates:
7:27am PDT Elite Men's Podium: 1st. Matt Walker 2nd. Danny Hart 3rd. Charlie Harrison 4th. Dakotah Norton 5th. Phil Atwill
7:27am PDT Matt Walker takes the win.
7:26am PDT Troy goes into seventh, 3.284 back.
7:25am PDT Troy Brosnan is over two seconds back at split one. Can he make this up at the bottom and take the win?
7:25am PDT Matt Walker is looking strong coming into the World Cup season as he beats Danny by 0.086.
7:22am PDT Dakotah Norton crosses the line in third, two seconds of Hart's pace.
7:21am PDT Danny Hart moves into first place, taking almost a second off Charlie's time.
7:20am PDT Phil Atwill sits in second, only 2.085 back
7:19am PDT Danny Hart sets the fastest split one so far. 1.750 up on Charlie Harrison.
7:17am PDT Charlie Harrison goes fastest, with an incredible 4.377 second gap ahead of Mark Wallace.
7:16am PDT Charlie Harrison is over two seconds up at split one.
7:14am PDT Wyn Masters comes across the line in fifth, only 1.479 back.
7:12am PDT Hatton is slower in the bottom section and sits third, 0.581 off the pace.
7:12am PDT Charlie Hatton looks to be up by over a second on Mark Wallace at split one.
7:10am PDT Mark Wallace just beats Neko's time by 0.233
7:08am PDT Neko Mulally goes into first by 1.422 seconds.
7:07am PDT Reece Wilson goes into second. 0.668 off Gee.
7:07am PDT Gee Atherton sets a time of 3:17.049
7:04am PDT The top 31 Elite Men are now on track. Gee Atherton is first to tackle the course.
7:03am PDT Junior Men's Podium: 1st. Thibaut Daprela 2nd. Ethan Shandro 3rd. Kye A'Hern 4th. Emile Rilat 5th. Simon Chapelet
7:03am PDT Thibaut Daprela takes the win by over four seconds.
7:03am PDT Something went wrong for Ross Blake in the lower part of the course. He was up at split one but drops to 11 when he crosses the line.
7:01am PDT Thibaut Daprela is on an amazing run. He is up by 2.470 on Ethan Shandro's time.
7:01am PDT Ethan Shandro goes into first.
7:00am PDT Ethan Shandro goes faster again. This time beating the fastest split one by over two seconds.
6:59am PDT Kye A'Hern goes fastest at split one. 1.684 up.
6:58am PDT Klaus Janosch goes into second. Just under two seconds from the fastest time of the day so far.
6:57am PDT Kye A'Hern is on track, can he take the top spot today?
6:56am PDT Third place changes hands again with Tarmo Ryynanen coming in just 4.409 off Luke's time.
6:54am PDT Benjamin Beck comes across the line 3rd, 7.5 seconds off the top spot.
6:50am PDT Marko Niemiz goes into second place. Only 3.863 back.
6:43am PDT Robert Johanson slots into third, 14.385 seconds off first.
6:36am PDT Williamson's time seems to be holding well so far. Francesco Savadori was the closest to beating his time and now sits in 2nd 9.551 back.
6:27am PDT Luke Williamson currently sits in first with a time of 3:22.883.
6:25am PDT Junior men are now on track.
6:23am PDT Elite Women's Podium: 1st. Tracey Hannah 2nd. Nina Hoffmann 3rd. Monika Hrastnik 4th. Eleonora Farina 5th. Veronika Widmann
6:22am PDT Tracey Hannah wins in Maribor with a time of 3:41.094.
6:21am PDT Monika Hrastnik goes into second place.
6:20am PDT Tracey Hannah is up by 2.567 at the first split. Can she repeat her qualifying performance?
6:19am PDT Monika Hrastnik is 2.883 seconds back at the first split.
6:18am PDT Tracey Hannah on course.
6:13am PDT Nina Hoffmann is currently in first with a time of 3:45.089.
6:07am PDT Elite Women on track
6:05am PDT Junior Women's Podium: 1st. Vali Holl 2nd. Anna Newkirk 3rd. Mille Johnset 4th. Ottilia Johansson Jones
6:03am PDT Vali Holl takes the top spot in Maribor, 11.603 seconds ahead of Anna Newkirk.
6:01am PDT Vali Holl goes fastest at split one with a time of 1:40.448.
5:59am PDT The Junior Women are now on course.
Live timing here.
Now what i really would like to know is whether she was flat out on that final run or if there was some more in the tank...
Yours though...that I'm curious about too.
But go Matt Walker - breakout year? Could be.
There are some protection rules for the Top 10 etc..
Damn, i was about to say that!
Vali is going to continue to demolish them anyways when they move up a level.
Clearly today’s race she was in touch, but you don’t know that this will carry through to the WC races in general.
Totally right that she stays in junior to get as much experience as possible without any damaging pressure (or Rach stuffing her by 15 seconds) which would knock her confidence.
All in my humble opinion of course.
maes did same if I recall and stepped up early to full elite for the challenge.
Are you serious? It was already said before, she´s a legit junior. I´m pretty sure she doesn´t get off on the fact she demolishes her direct competition, but rather knows to whom she needs to compare herself.
The junior category is a level playing field as it is. If the other girls suck, well tough luck.
Sandbagging would be if she found a loophole to race in a category she shouldn´t be racing in.
Which is not the case.
Besides that, pushing Vali up would rob the other girls of a legit top contender to chase. I´m sure the current situation pushes all the girls to bring their A-game and beyond in order to best Vali. That kind of competition grows fierce competitors and increases the level of the whole division. It was about time someone lit a fire in the junior womens category and stopped them from goofing around. We need new blood in the top 4 elite women ranks and so far only Vali has shown promising results. The rest would most likely have just quit once they have to compete against Rachel, Tahnee, Myriam and Tracey. Just look how long it took Tahnee after moving up to get used to what she needed to do in order to challenge Rachel. The step up from junior to elite women is to damn big right now, but Vali being there is a first step.
Well, i´d say in this case it´s a good thing actually, as it prevents some over ambitious parents from whoring out their children in the name of success. Not a huge problem in dh (yet), but it happens a lot in other sports. I bet the rule makes a lot more sense in XC and road racing, where the stakes are much higher.
I like what Vali is doing or what her parents/management is doing. They kept it low profile while she´s in juniors and didn´t go for some high profile team. Letting her grow into things organically is way better than pushing her to be some sort of child superstar only for her to burn out before 20.