Blowing snow at the start and a knee-deep mud pool in the lower part of the course: the World Championship race in Leogang will go down in history not only because it took place without spectators, but also because of the extreme conditions. None of the riders made it down the "Speedster" piste in the Leogang bike park without crashing and sliding around with unclipped shoes. The new section in the lower part of the track in particular was sometimes unrideable and more like sliding and skidding than controlled riding.
First downhill gold medal in history for Switzerland
Four years ago, world champion Camille Balanche (30) raced her first ever Downhill World Cup in Leogang. "I like riding in the mud. But I didn't want these conditions." Myriam Nicole was a little annoyed at the finish despite second place: "I'm not happy. I knew I had to stay on the bike. But I lost gold today because I crashed." And Vali Höll? The exceptional downhill racer comes from Saalbach and knows the course here like the back of her hand. She was considered the top favourite and also won the qualification. But a serious crash in one of the final training runs dashed all her hopes of a home win. She jumped a road gap too short and seriously injured her ankle. Race over. "Well F***" she wrote under a picture of the demolished foot on Instagram.
Three Germans in the top 10
With Raphaela Richter in sixth, German champion Nina Hoffmann in seventh and Sandra Rübesam in tenth, three riders in the black, red and gold jersey finished in the top 10. "It had nothing to do with cycling today," commented Hoffmann, who was second in last year's Worlcup in Leogang. Raphaela Richter was able to repeat her good result from last year's World Cup on her Santa Cruz bike and finished in sixth place. Richter and Hoffmann were separated by just 0.4 seconds, with the gap to the winner a whopping 31 seconds.
