Double downhill podiums for Canada in Leogang

After a weather-affected qualifying round, Saturday’s downhill semi-finals and finals had much more consistent weather, making for fantastic racing. Also consistently fantastic were Canada’s Jackson Goldstone and Finn Iles. Both ended up on the elite men’s podium on a thrilling day of racing.

The day turned out even better for the Austrian crowd, though, who were treated to a double Austrian win. Vali Höll and Andreas Kolb dominated on home soil, taking the elite men’s and women’s wins.

Elite Men: two corners away from victories

Start order for the final was determined by Saturday’s semi-final. Finn Iles (Specialized Gravity) won that, putting him in the pressure seat as the last man on the mountain.

Before the Canadian could drop in, Andreas Kolb (Continental Atherton) laid down a heater of a run on his home course for the roaring Austrian crowd. That left the the top eight riders all chasing the European champion’s time.

Goldstone was the first Canadian to put pressure on Kolb. The Syndicate’s first-year elite was up at every intermediate timing split on course and looking fast until the final corner. With half a second to play with, Goldstone pushed just a bit too hard on the last corner before the finish line and washed out his back tire. The Squamish racer remarkably held it upright and pedaled hard enough to cross the line with a time still good enough for a podium finish.

Loic Bruni (Specialized Gravity) was the second last rider to drop in and, while his run looked incredible, it was not quite enough to unseat Kolb. Only Bruni’s Specialized teammate, Iles, remained in the start hut.

Iles looked fast and, with the help of some absolutely wild high-speed scrubs on the motorway, was briefly in the green. A close call just meters above where Goldstone’s run almost ended, this time on the second last corner, also took Iles out of contention for the win. The Specialized racer also recovered and crossed the line without touching the dirt, but still slid into fourth overall.

Andreas Kolb wins his first elite men’s downhill World Cup in front of a wildly appreciative…