The second round of the 2022 downhill World Cup provided incredible racing at Fort William. In the Junior Women’s racing Gracey Hemstreet backed up her Lourdes win with another sizeable victory at Fort William. A slow third split caused Phoebe Gale to lose her grasp on the lead and despite pulling back around three seconds on the last parts of the course she would have to settle for 2nd. Pinkbike Racing’s Aimi Kenyon had an incredible run to cross the line only six seconds back and took third place. In an amazingly close race for such a long track Jordan Williams just pulled ahead of Jackson Goldstone by only 0.038 seconds. It looks like Jackson lost most of his time in the final split but both riders had runs that would have seen them in the top three in yesterday’s qualifying. Remy Meier-Smith completed the top three and was the only rider to come within 12 seconds of the top two.
Nina Hoffmann takes her first Fort William win and the first victory here for Germany as she crosses the line over three and a half seconds up. Camille Balanche couldn’t match the speed of Nina today but managed to have a clean run down the hill to second place and continues to hold the overall title lead. Myriam Nicole is still recovering from the effect of her concussion but secured third place. Amaury Pierron put down a huge run in the Elite Men’s race to take his third back to back Fort William win and makes it two for two in 2022. Teammate Thibaut Daprela takes second place and Laurie Greenland comes within one second of the top time.
Check out the full results below.
Results:
Elite Women
1st. Nina Hoffmann: 5:14.170
2nd. Camille Balance: +3.615
3rd. Myriam Nicole: +7.172
4th. Eleonora Farina: +9.621
5th. Vali Höll: +11.478
Elite Men
1st. Amaury Pierron: 4:37.115
2nd. Thibaut Daprela: +0.469
3rd. Laurie Greenland: +0.916
4th. Benoit Coulanges: +0.936
5th. Matt Walker: +1.927
Junior Women
1st. Gracey Hemstreet: 5:37.496
2nd. Phoebe Gale: +2.947
3rd. Aimi Kenyon: +6.067
4th. Jenna Hastings: +14.527
5th. Lisa Bouladou: +25.953
Junior Men
1st. Jordan Williams: 4:38.485
2nd. Jackson Goldstone: +0.038
3rd. Remy Meier-Smith: +4.476
4th. Henri Kiefer: +12.461
5th. Bodhi Kuhn: +13.927
Full Results:
Elite Women
Elite Men
Junior Women
Junior Men
Live Race Updates:
The Elite Women’s racing kicks off at: PDT 04:30 / EDT 7:30 / BST 12:30 / CEST 13:30
The Elite Men will start at: PDT 5:30 / EDT 8:30 / BST 13:30 / CEST 14:30
The Elite Women’s race is now underway as Mariana Salazar takes to the course first.
Anna Newkirk crosses the line with a time of 5:41.709, this is still around 20 seconds off the fastest qualifier.
Flying into the lead by over five seconds Mille Johnset takes the fastest time so far today.
After the first five Elite Women the top three are:
1st. Mille Johnset: 5:36.321
2nd. Monika Hrastnik: +4.760
3rd. Anna Newkirk: +5.388
A mistake from Mathilde Bernard sees her almost slide off the track but she manages to find some grip and stay between the tape.
Mathilde Bernard goes across the line in fifth place, 12 seconds off the time of Mille Johnset.
Green all the way down, Veronika Widmann flies into the lead so far by almost seven seconds. We are now within ten seconds of the fastest qualifier.
Nina Hoffmann smashes the time of Veronika Widmann and goes six seconds faster than Camille Balanche’s qualifying run.
UK racer Stacey Fisher enters the finish area in fourth place, 23 seconds back.
Mikayla Parton goes into third place after a clean run down the brutal track.
Eleonora Farina comes the closest so far to Nina but she is still over nine and a half seconds back.
Marine Cabirou has to avoid the road gap after she slides out on the entrance to the jump. This mistake will have cost her a lot of time.
Despite the mistake, Marine’s time is still good enough for sixth place so far with three riders left.
Myriam Nicole can’t match Nina Hoffmann’s speed and finishes in second place, just over seven seconds behind the current leader.
With two riders to go the top five Elite Women are:
1st. Nina Hoffmann: 5:14.170
2nd. Myriam Nicole: +7.172
3rd. Eleonora Farina: +9.621
4th. Marine Cabiro: +12.394
5th. Veronica Widman: +15.214
Vali Höll slides out in the second split after being very close to Nina one the first part of the track.
Vali Höll goes into fourth place after her crash at the top of the course.
Nina Hoffmann wins in Fort William after Camille Balanche crosses the line over three seconds back.
The top five Elite Women are:
1st. Nina Hoffmann: 5:14.170
2nd. Camille Balance: +3.615
3rd. Myriam Nicole: +7.172
4th. Eleonora Farina: +9.621
5th. Vali Höll: +11.478
The Elite Men are now on course with Yannick Baechler taking the first run of the race.
After the first 15 riders the top five Elite Men are:
1st. Austin Dooley: 4:47.657
2nd. Roger Vera: +1.561
3rd. Dennis Luffman: +2.339
4th. Mark Wallace: +2.681
5th. Kirk McDowall: +4.199
Ben Cathro crosses the line in 2nd place so far, just 0.431 seconds back.
Connor Fearon lays down an incredible run to find 1.379 seconds on Austin Dooley’s time to take the lead. Connor’s time is still around 10 seconds off yesterday’s top qualifying time.
A massive crash on the rocks for Joe Breeden. We hope he isn’t seriously injured.
With 25 riders to go the top five Elite Men are:
1st. Dylan Levesque: 4:43.031
2nd. Connor Fearon: +3.247
3rd. Austin Dooley: +4.626
4th. Kye A’Hern: +4.889
5th. Ben Catro: +5.057
Greg Williamson comes the closest to Dylan Levesque’s time so far but has to settle for 2nd place.
Remi Thirion was fastest in the middle parts of the track but loses time at the bottom and crosses the line in 2nd, 0.062 back.
A big crash for Max Hartenstern at the top of the course, he is up and back on his back to make his way to the bottom of the course.
Baptiste Pierron now takes the lead by just 0.173 seconds.
Reece Wilson finishes his run in fifth place, just under two seconds off the top time so far.
Dakotah Norton was on a wild run but crashes on the bottom part o the course and loses a lot of time.
With 15 riders to go the top five Elite Men are:
1st. Baptiste Pierron: 4:42.858
2nd. Dylan Levesque: +0.173
3rd. Remi Thirion: +0.235
4th. Greg Williamson: +0.577
5th. Reece Wilson: +1.968
Thibaut Daprela could be on a huge run as he is over two and a half seconds up at the first split!
Thibaut takes the lead by a massive five seconds! The time is even good enough to just beat Laurie Greenland’s fastest qualifying time.
It’s a crash for Ethan Craik at the top of the course.
The top part of the course is looking slick as it is Kade Edwards who comes off the bike.
Kade doesn’t waste his run with some huge tricks on the motorway jumps.
Luke Meier-Smith comes into the finish four seconds back but this is still good enough for 2nd place behind Thibaut Daprela.
Angel Suarez goes into third place, 4.716 off the pace.
Trouble in the woods section destroys Matt Walker’s lead but he manages to still end his run in 2nd, 1.458 behind.
A crash for Luca Shaw at the wallride stops any chance of a podium.
Benoit Coulanges starts off slow managing to build speed as he makes his way down to cross the line just behind Thibaut in 2nd.
Danny Hart goes into fourth, 3.910 back.
Loris Veriger lays down an amazing run pulling time back down the course but a mechanical puts him into fourth place.
With 5 riders to go the top five Elite Men are:
1st. Thibaut Daprela: 4:37.584
2nd. Benoit Coulanges: +0.467
3rd. Matt Walker: +1.458
4th. Loris Vergier: +2.024
5th. Danny Hart: +3.910
Bernard Kerr is another rider having issues and goes into 12th.
Amaury Pierron beats his teammate and goes into the lead by nearly half a second!
It won’t be eight wins in Fort William for Greg Minnaar as he goes 3.9 seconds back and into sixth place.
A few mistakes during his run puts Charlie Hatton in 14th.
There is just Laurie Greenland left, can he stop Amaury Pierron from taking his third back to back Fort William win?
Laurie Greenland is over a second up at split two. Amaury was very fast in the second half so he will have to keep this speed going.
Laurie Greenland can’t manage to keep up at the bottom and goes into third.
Amaury Pierron wins in Fort William for the third time in a row and becomes the second Elite Male to win here three times.
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