Saturday’s elite downhill World Cup in Val di Sole, Italy was phenomenal no matter who you were cheering for but, for Canadians, it was extra special. Jackson Goldstone earning his first elite World Cup win, in just his third start, is a wildly impressive feat.
Fellow Canadian Finn Iles finished in second place. With Iles the podium beside Goldstone, it is the best-ever Canadian result in an elite World Cup. While the race was in Italy, all of this happened on Canada Day, making it an thrilling day for fans watching back home.
A historic Canada Day in Italy
It wasn’t long ago that having two Canadians on an elite World Cup downhill podium was a notable and historic moment. While the first time it happened neither Canuck was on the top step, it was still a huge marker of just how far Canada’s downhill program had progressed. With a 1-2 finish in Val di Sole, Goldstone (Syndicate) and Iles (Specialized) land the best-ever Canadian downhill result.
They weren’t the only Canadians on form, either. In the elite women’s race, first-year-elite Gracey Hemstreet finished seventh. Her Norco Factory teammate Mark Wallace finished 25th in the elite men’s race. Jakob Jewett (Pivot Factory Racing) followed less than one second behind in 26th.
The result also comes one day after Bodhi Kuhn won his first junior men’s downhill World Cup in Val di Sole, also moving into the leader’s jersey in that series.
Jackson Golstone versus the Black Snake of Val di Sole
It was a historic run for Goldstone but also one that nearly went off the rails in the first corner. With changing weather conditions keeping riders guessing all day, Goldstone nearly went down in the first and third corners of the infamously rough “Black Snake” track in Val di Sole.
“The rain kinda scared me a little bit, but I thought no, I have to go for something special,” Goldstone siad of the weather, adding that his Syndicate teammates helped him with his win. “I was washing quite a bit, I didn’t find the grip the whole way down. But I had Greg and Laurie down before me, telling me what was wet and what wasn’t.
The Syndicate’s young prodigy collected himself and looked calm and in control the rest of the way down, finding creative lines including one sneaky highline in the lower woods that looked…
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