World Championships 2011 - DH Finals in Photos
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 Steve Peat having a word with Nico Vouilloz during the closing moments of the last practice before the finals. |
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| Always the optimist, Doug Hatfield stashed a bottle of celebratory bubbly in the local, glacier fed creek in front of the Syndicate pits. Just in case of a win. And just in case they needed to drown their sorrows a bit for a loss. |
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| It looked like the rain was going to hold off, but at exactly 11:18 am the downpour started and lasted the whole day through. For most teams, there was only one tire choice available: full spikes. |
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| With the rain coming in hard, racers planned on it being one of those kind of days... |
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| Any questions as to how steep this track is? Faustin Figaret of France had the fastest time in qualifying for juniors, it was a different story in the finals though, 11th place in the mud. |
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| This bird saw way too much action over the course of the juniors race; I think I counted 9 flights? |
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| Fionn Griffiths did not have as smooth a ride as her teammate--winner and new World Champion, Emmeline Ragot. Fionn, like almost everyone else, had a hell of a time in the slick conditions. |
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| Ragot was simply on FIRE, a full 15.279 seconds up on the competition! |
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| Myriam Nicole was greased lightning last year here in Champery - until she was beat by Ragot. After her run here in Champery, Ragot considered Pom-Pom to be her biggest threat. |
 | For sure there were a lot of dangerous riders left to come. But after Pom-Pom came down, I started to breathe easier. - Emmeline Ragot |
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| Sam Blenkinsop rolling to catch the chair up for his start. Evidently having his lucky number 256 painted on his downtube provided enough good luck to offset his plate number 13. Which is likely now his new lucky number. |
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| Logan Binggeli had a rough day at the office - 37 and a half seconds out. |
| This track is insane in the wet. - Logan Binggeli |
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| Well off the hot seat with his time of 4:26.831, Duncan Riffle was gracious to the hot seat holders, shaking hands as congratulations for rides well done. |
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| Mazzi strong man Bernat Guardia cracked the top 20 aboard his new Mazzi DH sled--one of his best rides all season long. |
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| With a knee held together by "bits of duct tape and string", Bren-dawg Fairclough threw down as hard as ever, coming home fourth. Considering the blown ACL and complete lack of lateral stability, his ride was every bit as amazing as Danny Hart's. |
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| Blenki, one of the best wet riders around, went with gloves for once vs his typical gloveless style. |
| I feel the bars better without gloves; but to be honest, in this wet, I needed grip more than I needed feel. - Sam Blenkinsop |
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| Unreal. The kid's been knocking on the door all season long and on the one day he needed to shine, he blazed! 11.699 seconds faster than anyone else! |
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| It would have been unreal had Gwin taken the win here, but not unexpected. As it was, Gwin laid down a hell of a ride - he was second at the first split by only a second; but he crashed and got tangled up in the course netting, and there was no way to make up enough time in the slick conditions to come through with the double. |
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| Emmeline Ragot takes the win, richly deserved after a somewhat forgettable and injury plagued season. |
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| Danny Hart - the new World Champion! |
A few bonus shots...
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| Too mental to wrap my brain around... one last time with the trials boys on the creek station; there were a number of other stations, but the creek one looked to be the most challenging by far, especially in the rain... |
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| Fabien Canal with his own personal fan club during the XC Men's U23 race. An unimpressed Fabien finished the day in 23rd position... |
Photos by Colin Meagher
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man i gotta say i am quite bummed at the lack of excitement and coverage of canadian girl dh medalists, claire and lauren.
2 bronze medals for the ladies and they get no mention? even in the girls elite podium shot?
no interview with claire? was this not a first ever canadian ladies elite dh medal in the modern era?
no interview with lauren? she has won 2 jr ladies medals in 2 years, one gold, one bronze has she not?
this is pinkbike right? this is canada right?
ladies always get the short end of the stick. not cool.
congrats lauren, congrats claire.
instead we get an xc shot with some euros mooning the camera?
and woow to rachel 2nd place
canada has crazy amounts of training areas, what is needed is more exposure to young girls with the canadian female pros being the roll models in the many levels of press.just sayin'.
As to lack of female coverage and podium mention, my bad; in that kind of a work atmosphere a few things get missed. For a point of reference, I had 1200 images from the day to edit down to 20 for PB, digitally "clean up", caption, and upload, and 30 minutes to do so. But I will try for more balanced coverage next time.
Cheers!
you know, the people havnt been always on some planks which made them go fast but it took some time since all the hype about skiing developed i think. and now, after skiing and all that classic sport gets boring i think it is time for a new and exciting way of sport that attracts the people..best example skicross or boardercross what is even olympic now! BUT WHAt I WANT TO SAY WITH THAT F*CKN NOVEL IS THAT I WILL ALWAYS FOLLOW THAT SPORT