Qualifying Photo Epic: Wild N' Wonderful - Snowshoe DH World Cup 2019
Photo Epic presented by Five Ten
It's always exciting to be at a new venue and all the unknowns that it brings. After the fresh and untested track puzzled more than a few riders during the training yesterday, the pace began to pick up significantly during today's training and run up to qualifying. A few riders showed their cards in timed training, but for the most part everyone was yet to play their hand and show what kind of speed they able to harvest from the West Virginia woods. But once the clock began to tick over for real there would be no place to hide.
First up would be the junior men and women and newly crowned world champs Vali Holl and Kye A'hern. Kye is racing in the rainbow jersey for the first and only time as he moves up to elite at the close of the season. When the clocks were stopped it would be the two World Champions who would lead the charge with the fastest times, and they will be looking to close out their junior racing career on a high note. The second and third spots would go to Anna Newkirk and Mille Johnset for the junior women, and Janosch Klaus and America's own Matthew Sterling in junior men's.
With no points up for grabs at the final round, qualifying meant a bit less for the elite men and women, but that didn't mean riders weren't charging. Hard efforts are always put in so that racers can analyze split times and break the track down to find sections where they need to find time vs. sections they can know they have their lines dialed. Pushing in qualifying and learning from the result is a big part of putting together a winning run on race day.
For the women, it would be Tracey Hannah who would best her rival in the points, Marine Cabirou, by just over 2 seconds to set up a showdown in tomorrow's final that will come down to the final two runs of the season. World Champ Myriam Nicole would come third with Vero Widmann and Sian A'Hern rounding out the top 5.
In the elite men's qualifier Danny Hart would pip World Champ and World Cup points leader, Loic Bruni, by 0.25 seconds to take top honors, while American racer Charlie Harrison would take a crowd-pleasing third. The always consistent Troy Brosnan would come 4th, just ahead of Greg Williamson. We will have to wait another day to see how the rivalry between Loic and his rival for the overall, Amaury Pierron, plays out as Amaury finished well down the list in qualifying at each split.
The Americans racers did not disappoint the hometown crowds either, as they claimed 4 of the top 9 positions. Charlie Harrison as previously mentioned came down in third, followed by Luca Shaw and Dakotah Norton in 6th and 7th respectively, and a career-best 9th for Bruce Klein. You can rest assured the local crowd will have plenty to cheer about tomorrow.
It was a dark and foggy morning in Snowshoe and things were looking quite ominous as training got underway. Luckily it was short-lived as the rest of the day saw nothing but sunshine
The sun began to burn away the morning fog just as the first riders were taking to the track for the early morning training session
Spare a thought for the man, Brook MacDonald, as he begins his spinal injury recovery. Send him a message to keep his spirits up in the hospital in Quebec!
A click here and a click there. The fine-tuning sometimes makes all the difference when the times are as tight as they are here in Snowshoe.
Tracey Hannah has one more run to go as she tries to take home the number 1 plate for the first time in her career.
Myriam Nicole ready to get stuck into the morning practice action.
A foggy first run of the day for Thibaut Daprela. He would later lead at all the splits by nearly 3 seconds in his quali run until a crash in one of the last corners pushed him down to 6th
It's still soft out there in spots and the ruts are no joke.
Greg Minnaar very much in touch in 8th.
Hugo Frixtalon once again put in a strong top 20 run.
Dakotah Norton flying sideways and into 7th.
12th for young German racer Max Hartenstern.
Charlie Harrison backed up his pace from timed training to take 3rd.
Danny Hart looked fast in practice and carried that pace into his qualifying run to take the top spot
Kye A'Hern wearing the rainbows for the first time and riding right to the top of the result sheet in junior men.
Myriam Nicole has some 10 seconds to find ahead of the big show tomorrow.
It was the first outing on track for Myriam Nicole in her freshly acquired rainbow stripes. She will be third from last down the hill tomorrow.
Luca Shaw could be on for his best showing of the 2019 season. He's in the mix for a podium position.
Marine Cabirou breathing right down Tracey Hannah's neck in both qualifying and the overall point chase
Aaron Gwin has some work to do if he wants to fight for the podium tomorrow.
Kirk McDowall showed what he is capable of today with one of his strongest showings, qualifying in 11th place.
Troy Brosnan, in the mix as usual. He ended up 2 seconds off the pace in 4th.
Loic Bruni on the gas and showing he has the speed needed to hold onto the leader's jersey
No points on offer today but Loic Bruni is one step closer towards that World Cup overall.
Bruni, all guns blazing for 2nd place, but with no extra points scored for the overall it won't settle his nerves much.
Tracey Hannah boosting the big rock double en route to the fastest time in qualifying
Martin Maes is safely into the big show tomorrow, will he endure a lengthy stint on the hot seat?
Young American, Joseph Foresta, has had a mixed season but is onto a good thing here. A top ten today bodes well.
Anna Newkirk will surely come out swinging tomorrow on American soil.
Emilie Siegenthaler has ramped things up after a steady start to 2019; she finished 8th today.
A crash up top pushed Amaury down the order but if you look at the time gaps between his lower split times you can see he is very much on the pace to give everyone a run for it
Amaury Pierron might have stacked it today, but all that means is tomorrow is an 'all or nothing' kind of day.
Laurie Greenland's qualifying run didn't go to plan with a crash on the bottom half of the course. He lives to fight another day as a protected rider.
Greenland went for a bit of a loose run today, which by his standards is a little scary. He hit the deck and now we can't be sure where he sits among the top contenders.
Greg Williamson can taste his first podium from here... Come on G Willy!
Atherton stretching to the absolute limit off the first rock of the double drop.
Brendog following Luca Shaw into the open before the ultra steep chute.
4th for Patrick Laffey as he pushes hard to try and get back into the top 3 in the overall junior men's rankings
Tahnee Seagrave was fastest at the top splits but had some issues lower down in her run to eventually finish back in 6th
The home crowd will be cheering on Matthew Sterling in the junior category tomorrow after he qualified third fastest.
A track of immense contrast. Only the best all-rounders will cope with the huge hucks, variable gradient and technical difficulty of this Snowshoe course.
Veronika Widmann with another strong showing in 4th. Another podium would be a good conclusion to her season.
After a strong MSA performance, Sian A'Hern laid down a top run for qualies here south of the border with 5th.
Bruce Klein has been a total animal on this track all week and it translated to a 9th place for the American.
Millie Johnset was pipped into second by Anna Newkirk, it's pretty tight between them though so it's all to play for on race day.
Vali Holl has one race left as a junior and will depart the start gate last tomorrow.
Dakotah Norton was another top performer from the American crew, taking 7th today.
Janosch Klaus got his first podium in Lenzerheide and clearly wants more. He came down into 2nd place, just 1 second back on Kye A'Hern.
Thomas Estaque doing what Thomas Estaque does best, getting wild on the steeps and tech.
A very happy Tracey Hannah just one run away from a World Cup title.
What a ride from Bruce Klein to finish the day in 9th after a very up and down season.
Charlie Harrison can smell his second podium, and on home soil too.
The puzzle is certainly real this season for AG, but if it was easy... well you know the rest. His spirits are up and he'll be nothing but stoked to race in front of the home crowd tomorrow.
The sun was shining all day and the woods are slowly drying out. If it stay like this the finals wipe be run in prime conditions
That's a wrap from qualifying day here in Snowshoe.
The party continues tomorrow... And yes, they picked this up and carried it out
No words needed.
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I'm not 100% on this though