Downhill MTB World Champs 2022 - the Jumbo Gallery

Saturday was all about Downhill at the 2022 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships in Les Gets. The course was dry, the crowds were huge, and the vibe was all time. Most riders would need to find their focus to complete their finals run – although some would likely thrive on the atmosphere on a course lined deep with fans.

Junior women were first up, with the top 15 from qualifying taking the the course. Elise Empey was one of the first riders down and her time would end up putting her in 6th place, with Elle de Nooyer 9th and Connor Mielke 14th. New Zealander Jenna Hastings won Gold!

In the Junior men, Australia had 6 riders in the 60 qualified racers – that's 10% of the field! Not bad.

Mario Baldwin was 35th and Kael Foale was 34th. Trent Baeshel posted fast splits,  but came unstuck and finished 53rd.

Oli Davis was 26th, and Sascha Kim flew into a huge 6th!

Remy Meier-Smith was a favourite for the podium and didn't disappoint, with a Silver medal, behind Jordan Williams who took home the World Title.

Elite Women Downhill

As the elite riders ascended on the chair, the crowds below continued to build. Times were tumbling and the hot seat saw plenty of riders on it.

Ellie Smith posted a time to put her in 3rd, with the top 10 ready to attack the track in Les Gets.

For those who watched the coverage, we got to see far more of the track for the top 10. From riders taking steep inside lines to sailing over the Swan Dive gap, and hitting the triple before the final corner.

Myriam Nicole put down her run but it wasn't enough, and it was off the pace of her qualifying time. Nina Hoffman remained in the hot seat and Valentina Hoell was next on course. The Austrian nailed the run and moved into the top spot. Could the injured Camille Balanche unseat her?

With surgery, bolts and plates fitted just over two weeks earlier, the Swiss admitted that pain was constant. She would not trouble Hoell's time but she still finished 4th! Vali Hoell was the winner with Hoffman second and Myriam Nicole 3rd. Ellie Smith ended up in 17th.

Elite Men Downhill

Ask anyone who the race favourite was, and you were likely to have riders like Amaury PIerron, Thibault Daprela, Loris Vergier, Benoit Coulanges or even (super) Loic Bruni. Sure, others picked Troy Brosnan or Bernard Kerr, or Finn Iles. But French dominance was predicted.

But that didn't mean it would play it like it did…

Oliver Zwar was in the hot seat for ages – the Zwar brothers moved to Sweden to follow more opportunities via family heritage. And it's paying off, the federation has supported their talent more than Australia could.

Angel Suarez was storming but had a huge crash in the trees. The course was getting super blown out – it looks great but the risk is very real. 

Laurie Greenland moved Olilver out of the hot seat with his run, but then Troy Brosnan did the same. Andreas Kolb found time to  have some fun after a crash into a tree.

When Loic Bruni came down he put 4 seconds into Troy. He was so smooth, and despite a pedal clip in one of the first corners he just made it all look magic. Smooth is fast.

Now it was Benoit Coulanges, Loris Vergier and Amaury Pierron to come. Benoit was pushing but losing time. Loris had a good run to move into 2nd. But Pierron's run put him in 2nd and Loris moved to 3rd. The crowd went wild, it was an all-French podium!

Full results are online. Troy was 4th, Kye A'Hearn was 17th, Luke Meier-Smith 19th, Dean Lucas was 27th, Jackson Frew 32nd, Dan Booker 47th and Hayden Stead 58th.