Qualifying & Semi-Finals Analysis from the Bielsko-Biala DH World Cup 2024
With qualifying and semi-finals wrapped up, riders now await their final chance at racing glory in Poland. With varying course conditions through the week and a fresh course to learn taking the win in finals won't be easy.
As riders prepare for finals, let's get into the results and stats from qualifying and semi-finals.
A full breakdown of the splits and stats from Junior qualifying can be found here.
Qualifying Results
Elite Women
1st. Camille Balanche: 3:27.778
2nd. Tahnee Seagrave: 3:35.331 / +7.553
3rd. Marine Cabirou: 3:36.143 / +8.365
4th. Louise Ferguson: 3:37.031 / +9.253
5th. Eleonora Farina: 3:37.180 / +9.402
Elite Men
1st. Loris Vergier: 3:01.296
2nd. Dakotah Norton: 3:02.153 / +0.857
3rd. Ronan Dunne: 3:02.676 / +1.380
4th. Loic Bruni: 3:02.998 / +1.702
5th. Troy Brosnan: 3:03.787 / +2.491
Full elite results, here.
Semi-Finals Results
Elite Women
1st. Vali Höll: 3:27.881
2nd. Tahnee Seagrave:3:29.917 / +2.036
3rd. Marine Cabirou: 3:30.791 / +2.910
4th. Veronika Widmann: 3:32.110 / +4.229
5th. Jess Blewitt: 3:32.224 / +4.343
Elite Men
1st. Dakotah Norton: 2:59.867
2nd. Loris Vergier: 2:59.995 / +0.128
3rd. Luca Shaw: 3:00.668 / +0.801
4th. Ronan Dunne: 3:00.920 / +1.053
5th. Lachlan Stevens-Mcnab: 3:01.227 / +1.360
Full elite results, here.
Elite Women's Sector by Sector Results
Sector 1
Qualifying
1st. Camille Balanche: 45.072
2nd. Myriam Nicole: 45.396 / +0.324
3rd. Tahnee Seagrave: 45.406 / +0.334
4th. Phoebe Gale: 46.056 / +0.984
5th. Elise Empey: 46.481 / +1.409
Semi-Finals
1st. Tahnee Seagrave: 44.557
2nd. Nina Hoffmann: 45.039 / +0.482
3rd. Myriam Nicole: 45.040 / +0.483
4th. Veronika Widmann: 45.067 / +0.510
5th. Phoebe Gale: 45.163 / +0.606
Sector 2
Qualifying
1st. Camille Balanche: 54.037
2nd. Marine Cabirou: 56.815 / +2.778
3rd. Nina Hoffmann: 56.824 / +2.787
4th. Tahnee Seagrave: 57.259 / +3.222
5th. Anna Newkirk: 57.317 / +3.280
Semi-Finals
1st. Vali Höll: 54.897
2nd. Marine Cabirou: 55.748 / +0.851
3rd. Jess Blewitt: 56.237 / +1.340
4th. Tahnee Seagrave: 56.580 / +1.683
5th. Veronika Widmann: 56.760 / +1.863
Sector 3
Qualifying
1st. Vali Höll: 28.292
2nd. Camille Balanche: 28.571 / +0.279
3rd. Tahnee Seagrave: 29.311 / +1.019
4th. Mille Johnset: 29.642 / +1.350
5th. Louise Ferguson: 29.827 / +1.535
Semi-Finals
1st. Gracey Hemstreet: 28.799
2nd. Camille Balanche: 28.878 / +0.079
3rd. Vali Höll: 28.931 / +0.132
4th. Tahnee Seagrave: 29.004 / +0.205
5th. Marine Cabirou: 29.478 / +0.679
Sector 4
Qualifying
1st. Nina Hoffmann: 50.087
2nd. Camille Balanche: 51.629 / +1.542
3rd. Louise Ferguson: 51.828 / +1.741
4th. Gloria Scarsi: 51.933 / +1.846
5th. Eleonora Farina: 52.027 / +1.940
Semi-Finals
1st. Nina Hoffmann: 49.874
2nd. Vali Höll: 50.390 / +0.516
3rd. Louise Ferguson: 50.645 / +0.771
4th. Veronika Widmann: 50.859 / +0.985
5th. Gloria Scarsi: 50.949 / +1.075
Sector 5
Qualifying
1st. Camille Balanche: 28.469
2nd. Louise Ferguson: 28.768 / +0.299
3rd. Vali Höll: 28.906 / +0.437
4th. Marine Cabirou: 29.003 / +0.534
5th. Gracey Hemstreet: 29.224 / +0.755
Semi-Finals
1st. Camille Balanche: 27.605
2nd. Vali Höll: 28.203 / +0.598
3rd. Marine Cabirou: 28.264 / +0.659
4th. Tahnee Seagrave: 28.479 / +0.874
5th. Gracey Hemstreet: 28.597 / +0.992
Elite Men's Sector by Sector Results
Sector 1
Qualifying
1st. Loic Bruni: 39.116
2nd. Loris Vergier: 39.505 / +0.389
3rd. Troy Bosnan: 39.735 / +0.619
4th. Rémi Thirion: 39.738 / +0.622
5th. Ronan Dunne: 39.833 / +0.717
Semi-Finals
1st. Luca Shaw: 38.962
2nd. Andreas Kolb: 38.978 / +0.016
3rd. Rémi Thirion: 39.086 / +0.124
4th. Ronan Dunne: 39.092 / +0.130
5th. Loris Vergier: 39.188 / +0.226
Sector 2
Qualifying
1st. Oisin O'Callaghan: 48.404
2nd. Dakotah Norton: 48.724 / +0.320
3rd. Loris Vergier: 48.811 / +0.407
4th. Dan Slack: 48.894 / +0.490
5th. Angel Suarez: 48.943 / +0.539
Semi-Finals
1st. Dakotah Norton: 48.048
2nd. Finn Iles: 48.444 / +0.396
3rd. Ronan Dunne: 48.455 / +0.407
4th. Dan Slack: 48.518 / +0.470
5th. Greg Williamson: 48.531 / +0.483
Sector 3
Qualifying
1st. Loic Bruni: 24.098
2nd. Lachlan Stevens-Mcnab: 24.315 / +0.217
3rd. Loris Vergier: 24.325 / +0.227
4th. Dakotah Norton: 24.417 / +0.319
5th. Laurie Greenland: 24.435 / +0.337
Semi-Finals
1st. Lachlan Stevens-Mcnab: 23.815
2nd. Dakotah Norton: 23.965 / +0.150
3rd. Ryan Pinkerton: 24.116 / +0.301
4th. Thibaut Daprela: 24.130 / +0.315
5th. Troy Brosnan: 24.255 / +0.440
Sector 4
Qualifying
1st. Luca Shaw: 43.648
2nd. Troy Brosnan: 44.312 / +0.664
3rd. Dakotah Norton: 44.422 / +0.774
4th. Dylan Levesque: 44.645 / +0.997
5th. Ronan Dunne: 44.670 / +1.022
Semi-Finals
1st. Troy Brosnan: 43.474
2nd. Luca Shaw: 43.488 / +0.014
3rd. Lachlan Stevens-Mcnab: 43.678 / +0.204
4th. Charlie Hatton: 43.884 / +0.410
5th. Dakotah Norton: 43.941 / +0.467
Sector 5
Qualifying
1st. Loris Vergier: 23.733
2nd. Ronan Dunne: 23.963 / +0.230
3rd. Dakotah Norton: 24.327 / +0.594
4th. Ryan Pinkerton: 24.346 / +0.613
5th. Luca Shaw: 24.363 / +0.630
Semi-Finals
1st. Loris Vergier: 23.670
2nd. Ethan Craik: 24.188 / +0.518
3rd. Jakob Jewett: 24.203 / +0.533
4th. Luca Shaw: 24.211 / +0.541
5th. Lachlan Stevens-Mcnab: 24.215 / +0.545
Story of the Sessions
Elite Women
The undisputable top rider in the elite women's qualifying was Camille Balanche as she was fastest through three of the five sectors and was second quickest in the other two. After her near-perfect performance, Balanche crossed the line a huge 7.553 seconds ahead of Tahnee Seagrave. Myriam Nicole was on a great run until the final sector where she dropped from third to tenth place, 12 seconds off the top qualifying time and handing Marine Cabirou a slot inside the top three.
Semi-Finals presented a different story as while both Tahnee Seagrave and Marine Cabirou would match their positions from qualifying, Vali Höll would take top honours this time around. After a slower first split, Höll came out fighting as she took the lead after sector two and never dropped outside the top three for individual sector times helping her maintain the race lead to the finish line. The gap to second-placed Tahnee Seagrave was closer than qualifying as she was 2.036 seconds back from Höll. Camille Balanche didn't go quite as well in the semi-finals with a seventh-place finish, although she will carry the confidence that even Höll's winning time could not quite match her top qualifying run.
Elite Men
Despite holding two of the fastest sector times in qualifying, Loic Bruni ended the session in fourth place after a final split saw him drop back outside the top three. Loris Vergier rode the closest to a rapid Bruni in the early parts of the course before taking over the lead by 0.143 seconds at split four, where he built a more substantial margin of 0.857 seconds to Dakotah Norton. Sitting just behind his Mondraker teammate, Ronan Dunne completed the top three as he looks comfortable on the fresh course this week.
After coming close in qualifying, Dakotah Norton went one better in the semi-finals as he set the fastest time, just beating Loris Vergier by 0.128 seconds. Norton lost around half a second in the first sector before quickly riding to the front where he led from sector three to the finish. After his qualifying win, Vergier seems to have found some great lines in the final sector, finding 0.594 seconds against Dakotah Norton. Luca Shaw had a great start to his third-placed run with the top time through sector one before he had to fight back after a slower second split. Loic Bruni and Troy Brosnan crashed in the semi-finals but as protected riders, are straight into tomorrow's big show for another chance at victory.
Qualifying VS Semi-Finals
Elite Women
As riders prepare to face off one more time in finals, Camille Balanche's fastest qualifier remains untouched as Vali Höll fell just short of surpassing it in the semi-finals. When examining the split times of the top five riders in the semi-finals compared to Balanche's qualifying run, the second sector is a big area for improvement, with Höll the only rider with a top-five time to go within a second of the top qualifier. Balanche and Höll's times were the fastest in the respective timing sessions, with the World Champ's sector over 0.8 seconds slower. While Höll will want to look at sector two, Balanche lost over a second to Vali and couldn't match any of the top five semi-final runs through sector four.
Elite Men
The elite men's split time comparison shows the gains made between the timing sessions, with most of the splits showing the top five riders improving upon Loris Vergier's top qualifier. As spotted in the women's stats, sector four was where riders made noticeable improvements from qualifying, with all top five elite men over 0.5 seconds faster here. The final sector demonstrates Vergier's dominance on this part of the track, as out of the top five riders, the only person to beat his qualifying run was Vergier. Vergier's semi-final run was 0.063 quicker than his top qualifying ride in sector five.
Speed Trap
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Do you think it could be possible to have results function of suspension manufacturer and tire manufacturers?
I wonder if we may see a pattern emerge according to each race conditions.
Cheers!