July 9/22 10:08 am - Canadian Downhillers Have Historic World Cup Weekend

Posted by Editoress on 07/9/22
 

Canadian downhillers had possibly the best World Cup in Canadian history on Saturday in Lenzerheide, Switzerland, with wins in both the Junior categories and a second place in Elite men. There were no Canadian Elite women competing.

Gracey Hemstreet (Norco Factory) won the Junior women's competition by nearly two seconds, for her third World Cup win of the season, while world champion Jackson Goldstone (Santa Cruz Syndicate) won the Junior men by 1.5 seconds, for his second win of the season. Both Hemstreet and Goldstone are the World Cup leaders for their respective categories. Canadian Junior men also finished fifth - Bodhi Kuhn - and sixth - Wei Tien Ho.

In Elite men, Finn Iles (Specialized Gravity) set the fastest time until the final rider came down - World Cup leader Amaury Pierron (Commencal/Muc-Off). Pierron pushed Iles into second, with world champion Greg Minnaar (Santa Cruz Syndicate) third. Pierron continues to lead the overall standings, but Iles - who missed the second round due to a concussion - has moved up to fourth in the standings from sixth.

"Honestly, I'm really happy," said Iles. "I had a hard weekend with crashes and just not feeling like myself on the bike. But today, before my race, I said 'just forget about everything and go riding'. I'm upset because it is second to Amaury again [the same as Round 1], but it's good points for the overall. I'm really stoked because two Juniors, Canadians, won, and there were a bunch in the top-10. It's just crazy to see how fast the Canadians are right now. I'm hoping one of these times I can take a win as well."

Final results