Final Results from the Downhill at Crankworx Whistler 2023

 lol far gnarlier than val di sole?

 @Royal28: Ya got me - i musta ate the hyperbole pills after the race (have never been to either track) but the steeps looked waaaaaay steeper (and rockier) on camera w/ that one rock-filed (that Blewett gapped in the lower section) looked like nothing I've ever seen on cam @ Val or anywhere really. But whatever - just looked badass and wilder than anything UCI has shown...at least on screen.

 @chrismac70 Just talking about the track itself homie. But still dunno what you mean - after watching this, and at these speeds, by all measures - every one of these guys are full on elites, easily.

Additional hats off to Marcus Goguen - that MF w/ zero elbow pads & just a t-shirt was easily the raddest look of the day for me. Dude just looked purely wild....such a baller sasquatch run. I'm blown away.

 @chrismac70: mark Wallace isn't elite? Beside the point, the racers at this event are incredible riders and you don't need to be top 10 in the world to be elite

 @Royal28: definitely not gnarlier than VDS. But the bottom half of 1199 got pretty rowdy

 @Mtn-Goat-13: Agreed! Goguen is a f*cking lunatic any time the ground isn’t dead flat, on a bike or skis. Check this out youtu.be/DVVGc7TDVXg

 @chrismac70: Technically true - factually - every one of these riders is purely elite at elite speeds. But more so you have now overtaken DC Addict as single lamest life-gone-brown sad grandma whining must-complain and have-only-something-lame-to-say commenter on PB. Spare us your negativity and sad life commentary.

 @Mtn-Goat-13: Bros going for the most disliked Pinkbike commenter award 2023.

 @WestC0astWanderer: True dat - a litreally black hole (no insult to blackness). Total negativity. I'm just not gonna respond again, homey's a waste of our time.

 They pick up the track at the bottom corner of that feature. It is a shame that we don't get to see how they're riding it.

 @Richridesmtb: agreed, seems like it's a feature that could make up or lose a lot of time.

 Only really needed an extra camera shot for that roll and another one for the huge drop to triple triple section.

 www.instagram.com/reel/CvD2ORDOpVy/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA=

 I kept rewinding to try and catch that rock drop into the berm and realized they just didnt film it, even though it was the gnarliest part of the track.

 They didn’t have a camera on the rock gap/roll but they did film the entire road sprint! And they had a garbage quality drone shot. I guess this is the quality camera work from red bull that everybody misses so much? Oh yeah, and they filmed the last corner from the back of the berm, so you couldn’t even see it.

 And the younger brother beat him!

 And 2 for 2 after BKs elite win at Crankworx Innsbruck!

 Waxx is the man!! That whole team has the best vibes.

 Team Pivot, on it this year!

 Good call out!

 Surprised the broadcast didn't mention it. Maybe they don't have the rights, but it would have been cool if they showed some of his clips from the FWT before his run. The guy is bonkers on skis. I think his run yesterday was the most entertaining of all.

 Came to say that too... that' dude had the raddest look of anyone w/ just the T-shirt...holy fugg, just made my effin day!

 @adamkat: Agreed - had to go back for the replay just to watch his run. Perhaps a few outta control moments there, but damn, full cojones, t-shirt & seemingly padless and wow...my fave run of the whole event for sure.

 @Mtn-Goat-13: Check out his highlights from the Freeride World Tour. First year in the senior men's category and he blew some minds haha www.youtube.com/results?search_query=marcus+goguen+freeride+world+tour

 @adamkat: Weird - thot I replied to this but didn't. Actually saw that run and didn't make the connection. This dude is a rager for sure - couple of my buds (independent of my comment) though Goguen was the best run of them all and it wasn't the fastest, but holy shit...so badass.

 I missed the last word of what you wrote! Yes more women. More men too.

 30,000 first place bucks men and women would get em all here....

 @snomaster: nothing stopping them applying to run a WC race there Is they want to

 @snomaster: It usually is.

 @chrismac70: nothing stopping them except the UCI and their outrageous demands and huge fees.

 @chrismac70: Holy @#$&, STFU already

 @chrismac70: Whistler is so big that it doesn't need anything like WC marketing or visibility. That's the reason they arent willing to jump through the hoops and pay the fees. I agree there is nothing stopping them from hosting but im sure when they look at it, it doesn't make sense given that place is packed all summer with riders and tourists in general. But it would still be awesome for them to host.

 @chrismac70: I am sure it's your goal, but you most certainly win the loser troll account with your volume of negative tw*twaffle comments. Go ride your bike man.

 I died laughing when that happened. The drone was not needed to begin with and the PA system from the announcer in the crowd could be heard on Rob and Elliot's broadcast. Only two complaints, otherwise, I loved the track coverage and thought it was awesome racing!

 Oh for sure- top 10 time with go arounds! He’s absolutely on one! Been on fire all season and only getting faster! It’s sooooooo rad to see
Stoked for what’s to come!

 That kid has a bright future. Even after doing the ride arounds he put down a very fast time and would've been top 10 in Elite.

 Yep that was some killer race action!

 Although, I don't know why there was only one U19 woman racing. That's a bit disappointing to see.

 What happened?

 @blissindex: When it was announced that Finn wasn’t going to race, a bunch of kids in the crowd were audibly upset. I’m sure it was a real bummer for them but it was kinda funny

 @BagelMan: Gotcha - I meant why didn’t he race?

 @BagelMan: I guess I am one of those kids

 @Toryt7: Lots of fully grown-up kids were audibly upset in front of their TVs / phones when that was announced.

 @blissindex: we saw him in the SRAM tent we a few people huddled around his hand, he was covered in dust

 @jazzawil: damn hope it’s nothing. I’m sure he wanted that win.

 Read this in Rob Warner’s voice and you will be in a happy place.

 No.

There is simple very little appeal to go at Crankworx Whistler. European WC contender simply would rather spend some holidays in family, race or train close to home than fly all over the worlds if there are no UCI points to earn.

It is up to their respective sponsors/employer to send them at Crankworx or Crankworx to decide being a major UCI even. I guess the only reason Valentina Höll was there is because she is racing for an US Brand.

 @opignonlibre: it’s a C1 Uci event with that level of points awarded. Jakob would have got 60 for the win

 @bgoldstone: genuine question now that you're in team management space

Do DH teams (and their riders for that matter) place much value on UCI ranking points at all? And does it actually have much influence on race selection/planning?

While XCO riders will chase points, it is obviously a very different scenario for them where start position can significantly impact race outcome.

I kind of figured DH riders on the whole probably aren't that interested in chasing points? Yes/No?

 @Cabin: sorry, I‘m not Bailey so don’t the answer to that.

 @bgoldstone: Lol. My bad!

 @bgoldstone: which is not more than a french cup and with less prestige. Good luck motivating euro guys to fly to the other side of the pond for this.

 Jackson had his appendix removed a few weeks ago

 @leon-forfar: but wasn't he racing World Cups?

 @theMeasure: Yes, he had surgery after the 3rd world cup during the current mid season break.

 It's really crazy that Pinkbike, a news site is not doing any reporting after Crankworx races. It doesn't need to be full on videos or long form journalism. Borrow from other sports, even Supercross/Motocross and put out quick recap news that wasn't on the broadcast the night of the event. Especially when so many of the Pinkbike staff is up in Whistler right now. A 'reporter' from Pinkbike should be going to the Specialized truck and asking questions on Finn's status (for instance) as well as other general news/injuries/quotes from the event. I understand Pinkbike is not going to send a reporter across the pond to cover an event. But no reason someone couldn't be tasked doing a quick same day 'news' report with inside information from being on the scene there at the Canadian Open DH.
CC: @brianpark @sarahmoore

 @btjenki: Patience is thin hey? I see 6 articles this morning related to the Canadian Open race in one way or another. I'm sure more is still to come. Crankworx Whistler is a shit show, and I'm sure their staff are putting in LONG hours after every event to get content out asap. They mentioned in the live feed that Finn went down in practice before the race and made the call not to race maybe 10 minutes before he was supposed to drop in. They are probably waiting to hear from Finn himself before posting any potentially false information/ respecting his privacy at the moment. Scrolling up on this article reveals the live (at the time) written updates about the race.

 Why would he?

He's recovering from a surgery. He's currently leading in points. Why would he put at risk World Champs AND his chances at an overall by racing a race that does not matter?

There is absolutely no reason that any elite racer should be racing this event outside of a person testing new equipment or trying to shake off the dirt of a long absence. I would be telling my racers NOT to race it if I was one of their sponsors.

Holl racing it made no sense. Ferg was the only other ranked woman in that field and she has 10 points on the season...

Men... no top end elites raced.

You want more to race... get it included on the UCI calendar or do it off season so people aren't risking world champs and World Cup overall chances. Until then... I'd expect to have no more than 1 or 2 top 25 riders annually.

Finn and Goldstone are both guys that are legit overall and world champs contenders now. They'd be wise to not race this during the season for at least the next 10 years.

 @btjenki: truth. guys need to learn from the moto journalism world. Though Vital MTB can't even take a hint from Vital MX, MXA or Racer X. Wyn TV is all we have on that front

 @leon-forfar: You must not of read what I wrote. I'll reply to your responses below:
1. "Crankworx Whistler is a shit show, and I'm sure their staff are putting in LONG hours after every event to get content out asap." --- What Canadian Open news content was the Pinkbike journalism team burning the midnight oil on last night? There hasn't been any reporting on the event at all and likely won't be. ... Since the race ended 26hrs ago they posted: 1. the results, 2. posted two videos and quotes from Crankworx media team, 3. Cameron (contracted photographer) posted bike checks and Dave Trumpore (contracted photographer) did a Photo Epic post. So, no reporting on the race from the Pinkbike editorial team.
2. "They mentioned in the live feed that Finn went down in practice before the race and made the call not to race" Yes, the broadcast mentioned that. What I referenced was there appeared to be no further reporting after the race concluded. Which is still the situation 26hrs later.
3. "They are probably waiting to hear from Finn himself before posting any potentially false information" If you read what I wrote, I said an example of reporting would of been to go to the Specialized trailer and ask the team/Finn what happened. At that point, if they declined to discuss it, they would write in the article, "We asked Finn and he declined to discuss it" (Like they do in moto or other sports when journalists go asking questions about injuries, etc.)
4. "Scrolling up on this article reveals the live (at the time) written updates about the race." Again, if you read what I wrote, I was referring to post-race reporting.

 @btjenki: haha ok, does the photo epic and race report not count (that we do for all big international events)... There's no specialized truck here FYI. And Finn simply drove home because he lives 30 min away... but I did walk over the the SRAM truck he was pitting out of and had a chat before he left. Just a minor injury to his hand that he'd rather rest before world champs in two weeks than risk making worse. That's all written in the recap and photo captions... Sorry this failed to meet your expectation. Oh and we've been going "across the pond" to cover races year in and year out for over a decade too. Remind me again what we missed?

 @onemanarmy: your not allowed to point out the truth on here that for any serious WC racer this is a non event especially this close to world championships

 @davetrumpore: Hey Dave, I wasn't referring to your content because you're a contracted photographer (not part of the Pinkbike editorial writing staff). My point; that there were no news stories posted right after the race by reporters who's job was solely to report on the race. If this was moto, let alone a larger sport, there would be a news story written and posted within hours of the event concluding. Imagine if Tomac did something off camera right before the Supercross main event and there wasn't (until the next afternoon) a shred of news/explanation of why he didn't start, other than "he made the decision to not race today after some difficulties in practice". It would never happen. That was all I was really pointing out. I know Pinkbike has the deal where they lean on the photographers shoot photos and report via captions in one swoop for them. But as I've also always thought that was a bad idea, on a number of levels. What spurred me to comment originally was that I thought it funny that a lot of Pink Bike staff are up in Whistler right now and that there was no follow-up info posted right after the event on the status of Finn--the number one qualifier, local boy and a favorite for worlds. To be clear, there was other race news as well, but I'm just pointing on the big one.

Additionally, I know there is no money in MTB as compared to moto and other sports. Which is why I made my comment that Pinkbike doesn't send writers overseas to write race report articles. I understand that they're overseas method is leaning on you and other photographers to 'write the news in the captions' as their race report. But I find that a bummer when comparing to other sports. This has nothing to do with the quality of your work. Your race photos are the best in the industry IMHO and captions are good.

 @btjenki: I don't know what you think this sport is, but it isn't Moto, or F1, or anything close to that level in terms of money/ people employed to go and do all this stuff you seem to desperately need within an unreasonable timeframe. Also, I prefer that we aren't a paparazzi filled sport. No one needs that shit. Why should people be hounding a possibly injured rider trying to get the scoop. Back up and let him have his space, and he will announce when he wants to. As Dave said, Finn lives 30 minutes away, and peaced out before they had a chance to hunt him down (probably because they had to be where the actual news/ event was, rather than chasing a rider who left the scene).

If you have never been to Crankworx, and don't know anyone who is actually employed to work during crankworx (I know many people who are there for content production, and trust me, they are up every night until at least 2am working on articles, or editing videos/ photos etc, after being on the hill getting said footage for hours). Here are the articles I saw related to the event (and if you write those off as irrelevant, then I don't even know what you are wanting...), and my bad, I guess there were only 4 excluding the replay
www.pinkbike.com/news/video-canadian-open-dh.html
www.pinkbike.com/news/25-race-bikes-from-the-downhill-at-crankworx-whistler-2023.html
www.pinkbike.com/news/video-winning-runs-from-the-crankworx-whistler-downhill-2023.html
www.pinkbike.com/news/final-results-from-the-downhill-at-crankworx-whistler-2023.html

And who cares of they are contracted photographers. They are contracted by PINKBIKE. Pinkbike isn't a mega corparation with 100s of reporters. The editorial team are checking out all of the other crankworx events, and testing bikes (lots of tests are held at Crankworx Whistler for new products).

 @leon-forfar: Yes, I've been to Crankworx many times, and have been there to shoot photos for media as well. I know the grind and hours these people put in. I know what Dave was up to with shooting all day, then culling images, processing, writing captions, posting to Pinkbike site, etc. It's a brutal schedule which is also why there should always be a writer working to cover the words so the photographer can focus on only the images. But that's not how MTB media works, which was my point originally.

No one is/was 'hounding' Finn. Dave said he saw him in the SRAM pits after the race and asked him what happened and he got the info. Dave was busy working on images and processing so the 'news' did not make it out until the next afternoon as a photo caption in a Photo Epic. Original point was that Pinkbike didn't have any writers/contracted writers there covering the race in their backyard and how different that is from moto, let alone larger sports. If you prefer the lack of media coverage that MTB gets compared to moto, that's fine. I was just pointing out that it was wild that there was no report after the race on Finn's situation when it was clearly as easy as someone going to the SRAM pit and asking him, then posting it.

As to the links you posted... My original point stands. There was not written race report content following the race (hours after or next morning). Your links are: the page for the live feed, bike checks (not race news), a post with embedded videos to the winning runs (that Redbull put together) and the final results. No a race report.

Yes, I know Pinkbike doesn't have a staff of 100's of reporters. But they're actually fairly large in terms of scale when looking at them as part of the Outside family--when we're talking non-mainstream sports media. I never said I cared they contracted photographers or writers. That's A-OK in my book. Point was they didn't contract or have anyone there to write a post-race news article. Not that big of a deal, as it's normal for MTB media, I just chose to point it out here.

 @btjenki: I just don't see what more can be written about the race when they have all the pre race info about the new track via go pro laps, and course walk, a replay accompanied by written updates as they happened, and then there was a highlights video and winning runs posted within 24 hours of the race. What more is there to know about it? They can only fluff out the content so much when all the info you would need is basically there. Even in regards to Finn. Not much more to say beyond he wasn't starting due to a crash. It said in the caption for the photos that he minorly hurt his hand, and preferred to stay healthy for World Champs. All seems reasonable enough to me.

Either way, I don't really care that much. There has been plenty of free content so far (and will continue to be), so who are we to complain that it isn't enough?

 She's beat up but seems to be OK, per her Instagram

 @The-Foiling-Optimist: thnx

 On broadcast they said something happened during practice.

 Jackson is her brother.

 @abhorred: her baby brother yeah