World Mountain Bike Championships Day 6

 

Sunday 9 September

Downhill

Report & Images: Joolze Dymond

Scottish Gold! - Ruaridh Cunningham, centre, the first Brit male to win a Downhill World title

 

There were medals for GB in all four Downhill events, to cap off a great week for Mountain Biking at Fort William. There was a bronze for Gee Atherton in the Elite Men, a silver for his sister Rachel in the Women'e event, a silver for Katy Curd in the Junior Women and to cap it all, a gold for Scotland's own Ruaridh Cunningham in the Junior Men.

 

Approximately 10,000 spectators watched as eighteen year old Scot Ruaridh Cunningham became the first British man ever to win a World Championship Downhill title at the UCI Mountain Bike & Trials World Championships at the Nevis Range and Forestry Commission's Leanachan Forest in Fort William. The crowds roared as Cunningham hit the finish line ahead of closest rival and silver medal winner John Swanguen (USA) and Matthew Scoles (NZ) in third place.

In the women's junior downhill, British rider Katy Curd scooped the silver medal in what was only her second professional outing. French riders, Floriane Pugin and Myriam Nicole took the gold and bronze positions.

Joolze Dymond's Report

 

Day 6 and hopes in the GB camp were high that this would be the day that the Brits would take over the World - or at least the World Championships! With strong contenders in every category, it seemed inevitable that the team would pick up more medals to add to the cracking Bronze won by XC junior Dave Fletcher on Thursday. As ever, with such a high-risk discipline, it was a day of dashed hopes as well as glory.

Conditions were damp, to say the least, and at the top of the downhill course, it was a least ten times worse with a serious strong gusting wind: this was gonna be one hard day, on the toughest course in the World. Any contender riding this and getting down in one piece would be a champion.

Marcus Williams, before his crash

GB took it's first medal of the day, when Ruaridh Cunningham posted the fastest time in the Junior Men's event, despite an incident with a photographer on the way down. His best mate and closest rival Josh Bryceland suffered a puncture on the way down, shattering his hopes of a podium at his first World Champs as a junior.

Unfortunately for another British Junior, Marcus Williams, medal dreams were dashed when a jump when wrong, chucking to the ground, leaving him with a separated shoulder. Joe Smith and Chris Hutchens scored top ten places and Scott Mears just missed out on being in the top 20 by 1 place.

Katy Curd - a new name to many

In the junior women's race, relative rookie Katy Curd stunned everybody who hasn't seen her ride before with a cracking silver medal, despite having to stop at one point for a downed rider. French woman Floraine Pugin took the Gold.

Sabrin Jonnier, world champion again

In the Elite Women's race, hopes were high that Tracy Moseley would at last take the honours as Champion of the World, something she would dearly like to take home and complete the set at last - she's won everything else. However once again it wasn't to be her day. She looked super calm and well in control as she blasted down the hill, with the Gold set firmly in her sights, however a disastrous incident when she landed heavily on a corner left her with a damaged wheel and knackered gears and unable to put her power into action. She came home in a very disappointed 4th. She was inconsolable that all her hard work and focus for this one event had come to nothing.

Contrasting fortunes: Tracy Moseley, top, and Rachel Atherton

 

However, team-mate Rachel Atherton went one better than last year and added to the GB haul by taking the Silver behind reigning World Champion Sabrina Jonnier. How long will it be before she adds the senior title to the Junior title she won back in 2005?

 

Fionn Griffiths and Helen Gaskell in seventh made if four brits in the top seven - an amazing achievement by the women.

Dan Atherton and Brandan Fairclough, two to miss out on the day

Then onto the Elite men and the anticipation was electric. The atmosphere was fantastic as thousands lined the course and crammed into the arena to watch what is always a highlight of the championships. Would Peaty's ankle hold up? Would the smooth and consistent Beaumont do the business or would it be the Athertons who would deliver the dream?

The weather once more took a turn for the worse. Fort William is a tough course at the best of times, but riders prefer a bit of dampness, when riding there as it makes it a bit grippier. However today it was extreme wetness that just didn't work in their favour.
First man off Spaniard Pasqual Canals Flix, rode like a demon to post 5mins 29secs. Delightedly he had control of he hot seat for well over an hour and with crashes and less than perfect runs it was looking like he might be the big upset of the day. Then super Aussie Sam Hill came down and blew Canals Flix's time well and truly out of the water, to take control of the coveted hot seat. Now all he had to do was sit tight and watch all his rivals come in for the kill.

Great pic of Sam Hill coming into the finish

Peaty was next down with his dodgy ankle strapped up good and proper, he looked like a man on a mission and was well on course until a heavy landing saw him snap his saddle clean off the rails, his race was over and as he came into view he gave the crowds something to cheer for as he jumped high through the banners. If the race could have been won by the will and noise of the crowd than undoubtedly Peaty would have been champion. Still the crows held out hope - there was Marc Beaumont, and Gee Atherton yet to come.

Our chances of a medal were swiftly halved as Beaumont didn't have the ride he wanted and came in outside the top ten. Then it was Gee's turn. The crowd went wild once more as the red, white and blue of the GB team came flying into view. He couldn't match Hill and found himself in a potential bronze position, behind Fabien Barel. Now only one man could change that, former world champion Greg Minnaar, last man down.

The crowd held their breath and then slowly but surely as they saw the time splits started to exhale as they realised GB were on to a winner and another medal was in the bag. So at the end of the day with the rain coming in hard and news that we were trapped in Scotland, due to landslides and crashes, for another night, we retired happy in the knowledge that the team had scored some cracking results all round.

Brit medal winners, L to R: Rachel, Ruaridh, Katy and Gee

Sure we had some disappointments but we also had some cracking rides in all categories and as a nation we should be proud. Proud too for putting on such an amazing event and supporting it like we did. The GB boys and girls did well with the roar from the crowds making it an experience of a lifetime. Can't wait for 2012?

Results

Elite Women

1. JONNIER Sabrina FRA 5:28.35
2. ATHERTON Rachel GBR 5:32.36 +4.01
3. HANNAH Tracey AUS 5:39.89 + 11.54
4. MOSELEY Tracy GBR 5:47.76 + 19.41
5. GRIFFITHS Fionn GBR 5:48.21 + 19.86
6. SUEMASA Mio JPN 5:48.62 + 20.27
7. GASKELL Helen GBR 5:50.43 + 22.08
8. GROS Celine FRA 5:52.06 + 23.71
9. PRUITT Kathleen USA 5:52.95 + 24.60
10. SANER Marielle SUI 5:54.22 + 25.87
other
20. REES JONES Anja GBR 6:10.69 + 42.34
37 riders

Elite Men
1. HILL Samuel AUS 4:52.01
2. BAREL Fabien FRA 4:52.65 +0.64
3. ATHERTON Gee GBR 4:56.38 +4.37
4. MINNAAR Greg RSA 4:59.96 +7.95
5. CANALS FLIX Pasqual ESP 5:00.29 +8.28
6. LEHIKOINEN Matti FIN 5:00.93 +8.92
7. CAMELLINI Julien FRA 5:01.11 +9.10
8. PAYET Florent FRA 5:01.51 +9.50
9. BLENKINSOP Samuel NZL 5:01.77 +9.76
10. ATHERTON Dan GBR 5:01.99 +9.98
11. HANNAH Michael AUS 5:02.37 + 10.36
12. RENNIE Nathan AUS 5:03.19 + 11.18
13. BEAUMONT Marc GBR 5:03.37 + 11.36
14. REID Ben IRL 5:05.44 + 13.43
15. PEDEMANAUD Fabien FRA 5:06.34 + 14.33
16. POLC Filip SVK 5:06.65 + 14.64
17. CAVALIER Amiel AUS 5:06.93 + 14.92
18. RANDO Jared AUS 5:07.45 + 15.44
19. SPAGNOLO Damien FRA 5:07.59 + 15.58
20. STROBEL Luke USA 5:08.34 + 16.33
other
26. FAIRCLOUGH Brendan GBR 5:12.67 + 20.66
33. DONOGHUE Neil GBR 5:15.63 + 23.62
67. PEAT Steve GBR 5:39.56 + 47.55
87. STANBRIDGE Dan GBR 9:17.55 +4:25.54
81 riders

Junior Women
1. PUGIN Floriane FRA 5:50.18
2. CURD Katy GBR 6:17.30 + 27.12
3. NICOLE Myriam FRA 6:41.48 + 51.30
4. AGOSTINHO Aurea POR 6:44.33 + 54.15
5. KERNOHAN-SMITH Holly NZL 6:53.46 +1:03.28
6. LAPLANTE Anne CAN 7:01.95 +1:11.77
7. PINNEY Christina USA 9:19.59 +3:29.41

Junior Men
1. CUNNINGHAM Ruaridh GBR 5:06.82
2. SWANGUEN John USA 5:08.89 +2.07
3. SCOLES Matthew NZL 5:09.27 +2.45
4. DELFS Mitchell AUS 5:09.63 +2.81
5. BAIN Joel AUS 5:13.24 +6.42
6. MALTMAN James AUS 5:14.72 +7.90
7. 7 LAMBERT Hans CAN 5:16.03 +9.21
8. SMITH Joseph GBR 5:16.15 +9.33
9. HUTCHENS Chris GBR 5:16.44 +9.62
10. HETHERINGTON David AUS 5:19.68 + 12.86
11. SMITH Steve CAN 5:19.78 + 12.96
12. GUTIERREZ Marcelo COL 5:20.34 + 13.52
13. THIRION RôŽ FRA 5:21.85 + 15.03
14. O'RIORDAN Seanan IRL 5:23.09 + 16.27
15. SIEDER Georg AUT 5:23.70 + 16.88
other
21. MEARS Scott GBR 5:26.01 + 19.19
34. BRYCELAND Josh GBR 5:40.19 + 33.37
WILLIAMS Marcus GBR DNF