An all-new venue welcomed, and animated Enduro World Cup racing over the weekend. Along with alpine trails and extreme weather warnings, Aletsch Arena, Switzerland delivered two Canadians to the top of the under-21 women’s podium.
Elly Hoskin took the top step, winning her career-first Enduro World Cup. The win comes after a string of successes – and podiums – already this season. Joining her on the podium in second place: Vancouver Island’s Emmy Lan (Forbidden Synthesis). Simona Kruchynkova, the current U21 women’s series leader, defended her points lead with a third place in Switzerland. Lily Boucher (Rocky Mountain) finished 10th in Aletsch Arena.
“It feels exceptional, that was such a hard day, and I wasn’t expecting it to be my day at all! Everything came together from a crash in the first corner of the first stage, I was like, I guess I’m shooting for stage wins now,” Hoskin said after the race. “Priorities shifted but it was a good day. Stage 2, I wasn’t expecting to enjoy that stage as much, but it came together really well in the race. That’s when I was like, maybe this is a good day.”
With one round of racing remaining, Hoskin and Lan sit second and fourth in the overall standings.
Elite Men: Melamed leads crowd of Canucks in sixth
The return to alpine racing was also very good for Canada’s pro men. While none quite made it onto the podium, they again swarmed the top 10, 15 and 20 in numbers disproportional to the field.
Jesse Melamed led, finishing sixth despite a sizeable crash on Stage 4 (see above). But there were three Canadians in the top 10, five in the top 15 and seven in the top 20. That’s sensational. That’s five more Canadians in the top 20 than any other country had, by way of comparison.
Elliot Jamieson, of the new Commencal 7Mesh team, was one spot behind Melamed for his best result of the year. Jack Menzies, Melamed’s Canyon Cllctv teammate, joined them in the top 10 in ninth. Rhys Verner (Forbidden Synthesis) and Kasper Woolley (YT Mob) were 12th and 13th. Remi Gauvin (Rocky Mountain Gravity Racing) and Carter Krasny were 18th and 20th, the latter being Krasny’s best European EDR result to date. Lief Rodgers was 36th, rounding out the Canadian effort, of 91 pro men’s starters in Aletsch Arena.
At the top of the heap, though, was YT Mob’s Jack Moir. The win ends a two-year dry spell for the 2021 Enduro World Series champion. Slawomir Lukasik and Richie Rude finished second and…
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