Race Analysis: Fort William DH World Champs 2023

Fort William brought some incredible racing as it held this year's World Championships after a 16-year break from its first time hosting in 2007. The racing was raw and rowdy as the refreshed track provided an interesting challenge in both the dry and wet. Apart from the newly crowned world champions who else was performing well at Fort William?

After an amazing day of racing let's get into the results and stats.

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Final Results

Full results, here.

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Sector by Sector Results

Overall Split Positions

Split Rankings

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Sector Breakdown

Sector 1

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The first short split created two very different situations in the Elite racing categories. While the men's race remained tight at the front with Matt Walker just edging ahead of Andreas Kolb, the women's action saw Nina Hoffmann take a lead of 0.4 seconds against Rachel Atherton. Vali Höll would take 3rd here, nearly 0.6 back. Charlie Hatton would also lose 0.6 seconds in the first sector.

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Sector 2

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The second split accounts for nearly half the race time and both race winners made the most of this as Charlie Hatton would lead Thibaut Daprela by 0.3 seconds. Andreas Kolb would be the only other rider within 1.6 seconds of the new World Champ. Vali Höll fell just over 0.1 seconds back from Marine Cabirou here but the Austrian would gain almost a second against second-placed Camille Balanche. No other Elite Women came within 1.9 seconds of Marine Cabirou here.

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Sector 3

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Camille Balanche would begin to pick up momentum through split three as she took back time against Vali Höll. With Vali Höll still second in this sector, Camille would only pick up just under a second of valuable time against her closest rival. The results here did help distance the Swiss rider from Marine Cabirou as she was around 1.7 back. While it was Laurie Greenland who won this sector it could have been crucial for Charlie Hatton in securing the rainbow jersey. A fourth place in the split may not have been a big help for Charlie but Andreas Kolb's 25th place may just have given the British rider the lead as there was a 1.3-second difference between them.

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Sector 4

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Another stage victory for Camille Balanche as she would pull more time back on Vali Höll as she found just short of 0.6 seconds on the eventual race winner. Marine Cabirou would take another top split result and the only other woman within a second of Camille. Greg Williamson had a great ride through this sector as he ended up the winner finding just over 0.4 seconds against Andreas Kolb who looked to be back up to speed after a slower third split. Charlie Hatton remained a constant threat taking another top-five sector result.

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Sector 5

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Vali Höll was clearly feeling at home on the jumps at the bottom of the course as she managed to best Camille Balanche here by a massive 1.391 seconds. Jenna Hastings came closest to the 2023 World Champ but would still be 0.379 seconds off the pace. For the Elite Men, it was another new sector winner as no one rider was able to be the fastest in more than one split. Angel Suarez would be the guy to top the times here with a tiny gap of 0.038 back to Brook Macdonald. Charlie Hatton would rank 32nd here and lose 0.433 seconds to Andreas Kolb.

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Story of the Session

Elite Women

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Elite Men

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The Perfect Run

Elite Women
The Perfect Run: 4:56.243 (1.999 seconds faster than the race winner)

//Nina Hoffmann: 1:00.083 // Marine Cabirou: 2:06.215 // Camille Balanche: 42.984 // Camille Balanche: 38.335 // Vali Höll: 28.626 //

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Elite Men
The Perfect Run: 4:23.021 (3.726 seconds faster than the race winner)

//Matt Walker: 55.036 // Charlie Hatton: 1:49.422 // Laurie Greenland: 38.003 // Greg Williamson: 34.156 // Angel Suarez: 26.404 //

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Stats Breakdown

The top 15 race margins were plotted before including results at positions 20, 25 and 30.

The top 15 race margins were plotted before including results at positions 20, 30, 40, 50, 60 and 70.

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