June 9/19 21:02 pm - Leffey Top Canadian at Leogang World Cup

Posted by Editoress on 06/9/19
 

The third round of the Downhill World Cup, in Leogang, Austria, on Sunday, saw Tracey Hannah (Polygon UR) take her first win of the season and move into the overall lead for the women, after Round 2 winner and Series leader Rachel Atherton (Atherton Bikes) crashed.  Atherton dropped to second in the standings.  Nina Hoffman of Germany was second and Kate Weatherly (Insync) third.  Weatherly became the first transgender athlete to appear on a DH World Cup podium; former Canadian DH champion Michelle Dumaresq was the first transgendered athlete to compete at the World Cup and world championship level in 2002 and 2003.

Hannah said, "I've won three World Cups, but none of the World Cups I've won Rachel has started in. I've finally had the chance to be strong enough and fit enough to give her a run for her money. That means more to me than the World Cup win alone; racing against her and being able to win."

In the Elite men's competition, Loic Bruni (Specialized Gravity) won his second World Cup of the season, ahead of Greg Minnaar (Santa Cruz Syndicate) and Troy Brosnan (Canyon Factory).  Brosnan remains in the lead overall, but only five points ahead of Bruni.

"I was struggling on the top section at the beginning of the weekend," siad Bruni, "then yesterday at the bottom, so maybe today I kind of found the balance. I started the run pretty committed and I couldn't really feel the grip. It was super-hard because it dried up a lot. I just held on, depended on everything I had - because every detail counts on this track - and it was enough."

Junior Patrick Leffey (Canadian National) was the top Canadian rider on the day, finishing fifth in Junior men.  Lucas Cruz (SRAM TLD) also made the top-10 in Junior men, finishing eighth.  Ethan Shandro (Trek Factory) was 17th on the day, while Elliot Jamieson (Norco Factory) did not qualify for the final.  Cruz drops to fourth in the overall standings from third, while Laffey moves up to fifth and Shandro dropped to eighth in the overall standings from fifth.

In the Junior women, Canada's lone competitor, Bailey Goldstone was tenth, after crashing on the final jump before the finish line.  Goldstone was in fourth place after the fourth split, and on her way to a top-5 result.  Goldstone was air lifted to hospital. Her dad says nothing is broken, but they did X-rays and ultrasounds, and are keeping her overnight for precautionary reasons.

In the Elite category, Mark Wallace (Canyon Factory) finished just outside the top-10 in 11th place, while Finn Iles (Specialized Gravity) struggled, finishing 34th.  Other Canadian results include Kirk McDowall (Unior/Devinci Factory) in 37th and Magnus Manson (Canyon Factory) in 60th.  Wallace remains in eighth overall, while Iles dropped to 12th from seventh.  McDowall moved into the top-50 at 48th.

Leogang DH World Cup, Final results