August 27/22 18:14 pm - Hemstreet Wins Canada's First Medal at MTB Worlds
Posted by Editoress on 08/27/22
Gracey Hemstreet won Canada's first medal of the Mountain Bike World Championships on Saturday in Les Gets, France, taking the silver medal in the Junior Women's Downhill competition. Bodhi Kuhn also finished fifth in the Junior Men's competition.
The Les Gets track is extremely steep, rough and rocky, starting in the open at the top before ducking into the trees and finally coming back into the open for the final 300 metres. The expected rain did not materialize, leaving the track dry, dusty and loose.
Hemstreet finished third at the Worlds last year, and has been the dominant rider on the World Cup circuit this season. However, she just came up against a faster rider on the day - New Zealand's Jenna Hastings was 1.87 second faster at the finish line. Joy Attalla was the only other Canadian competing, finishing 11th.
"Yes, I was hoping for more, but that's how it goes sometimes," said Hemstreet. "The track dried a lot [after rain a day earlier] and I was braking too much. Basically on all the steep bits I braked too much, but it's okay. I'm stoked for Jenna."
The Junior men's race was expected to be a continuation of the season long battle between Canada's Jackson Goldstone, the defending world champion and World Cup leader, and his rival Jordan Williams of Great Britain. Kuhn set the early fast time, but Williams, second last to race obliterated all earlier times with the first sub-3:30, so it was up to Goldstone, the final starter and second fastest qualifier. Goldstone was just over half a second down on the first two splits, but then disaster happened, with the Canadian crashing twice, to finish a distant 14th. Marcus Goguen finished 13th, putting three Canadians in the top-15.
Jackson Goldstone finishing after crashing
The Elite women's time came down gradually, with Nina Hoffman of Germany setting the fastest time, ahead of defending world champion Myriam Nicole of France. However, Valentina Holl of Austria, the second to last starter, knocked nearly a second off Hoffman's time, and the final rider, Camille Balanche of Switzerland, who is still recovering from surgery on her collarbone two weeks ago, managed fourth. Canada's best finisher was Bailey Goldstone in 23rd place.
"I have no idea what just happened," said Holl. "I didn't feel up to speed the whole week and was struggling so hard with my bike, with the track ... when I was dropping into the finish, I thought if I got a medal it would be great, but I never expected to win."
The Elite men's race had four of the last five starters from France, with only Canada's Finn Iles breaking the French stranglehold on the final starters. However, Iles was injured in a morning training run and did not race, leaving the door open for a French sweep. Led by Loic Bruni, Amaury Pierron took silver and Loris Vergier bronze, sending the huge crowd into delirium. The six French police officers present had no chance of controlling the crowd that pushed past them and climbed over barriers to get into the finish bowl. The police eventually surrounded the riders and moved them out, as hundreds of spectators set off smoke bombs and overwhelmed all security, climbing on platforms and tearing down fencing. The top Canadian, in the absence of Iles, was Jakob Jewett in 33rd place.
"I did really believe with the season I've had," admitted Bruni, "it has not been the best one. I tried my best to be ready and everything was clicking slowly. I just enjoyed the ride and made the most of it; I couldn't do much better. It's unbelievable ... I've never won in France, and it's the world champs! It's insane, I'm so happy. It's 1-2-3 for France, and we couldn't have hoped for anything better."
MTB World Championships: DH Final results
MTB World Championships: DH Qualification results
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