Schladming 4x Final
Last night saw some new faces on the top of the podium. Cangrats to Kamil Tatarkovic and Fionn Griffiths!! Such happy faces, it was epic to see a couple of first timers win a 4x World Cup (Fionn has won 2 Downhill World Cups). Kamil came across the line both hands up, so stoked, ditched his bike, hands back up and was then tackled by his friends.
In the men's racing, Prokop and Roger R. had flown in from a bmx race in America hours before the race, they missed qualifying which forfeited their lane choice. Getting through the first turn from lane 4 was tough, but Prokop managed to make it to the final regardless. Roger was not as lucky, he went out in the first round. Probably could have used a powernap:) Kovarik, the top qualifier, sat out to save energy for the downhill, but Bryn, Gee and Dan Atherton, Mic Hannah, and Gracia, among others, represented the dh guys.
Rough day for the Athertons. Dan was riding strong, till the semi when he and another guy flew over the second turn both in qualifying position, which allowed the guy in 4th and Prokop to make the final.
In the other semi, Gee was in qualifying position, took the outside in the last turn, maybe crashed or slid out?? but the guy in 3rd went through instead of him. Mic was close to making the final, made some solid passes out there to be in the small final. Bryn won his first heat no worries, then was on the inside of Joost, and got shut down in the first straight.
Final was Kamil 1, Joost 2, a local Austrian 3, and Prokop 4. Kamil took the lead, Prokop was railing and had a crash at the exit of the first turn.
Women's racing was extra exciting. Final was looking like this...Anneke had qualified the fastest, this was Tara's last race before retirement and she has never won a World Cup, Fionn had the Dh skills for the corners, and Joey was the wild card. Anneke and Fionn had good starts. Tara got kinda squeezed between them , held back and went low, pushing Anneke high in the turn, and eventually off the track. Tara was out front, but Fionn had some good momentum going into the off camber section. In the 4th turn Tara got off line a bit and was riding on the tape which cost her time, and Fionn Charged right past her!!! Unbelievable. 3 different leaders in one round!! I was happy for them, pretty cool to see a battle.
Katrina retired early. She hiked up the hill once for practice on thursday and called it then. I think after worlds and the Jeep round last week that a lot of people are really tired from all the travel and other stuff. She is so much fun, I am going to really really miss her as a competitor and a friend on the tour. No one has pushed me as much as she has:) Champion booster.
Podium was emotional. Tara and Katrina's last world cup. I let them open the Champaign for the overall. I had a red bull opening instead:) One arm mad it kinda tricky.
Sweetest victory is the overall. World cup Champion!! Hell yeah. Bit bummed I couldn't race the final, makes it a little less eventful, but it is all part of the game. I had a blast watching!! No butterflies in the stomache or prerace warmups.
Overall World Cup Standings:
WOMEN
1. Jill :)
2. Katrina Miller
3. Tara Llanes
4. Anneke Beerten
5. Fionn Griffiths
6. Buhly
7. Joey Gough
8 Jana Horakova
9. Sabrina Jonnier
10. Anita Molcik
MEN
1. Prokop
2. Jared Graves
3. Kamil Tartarkovic
4. Roger Rinderknect
5. Joost Winchman
6. Chris Powell :)
7. Gee Atherton
8. Cedric Gracia
9. Jurg Meijer
10. Dan Atherton
11. Brian Lopes (with one score from Scotland)