FINAL RESULTS - Snowshoe World Cup Downhill 9

The sun was out, the leaves were falling and the riders were pushing it for all they had during the finals of the 2023 UCI Mountain Bike World Cup Downhill race in Snowshoe, West Virginia. Following an intense semi-final a few hours earlier, the Top 10 Women and Top 30 Men challenged for the fastest times of the weekend on the unrelenting Snowshoe track. Full of technical, slippery rock gardens and flat, hard-pedaling sections, the course is a challenge of both skill and fitness.

The Elite Women's racing was one of the closest in recent memory with the Top 3 finishing within the same 3:41 time. Marine Cabirou, set the fastest time however, taking the win by just .344 over Nina Hoffmann. Vali Holl, last rider down ended up .660 behind Marine for 3rd. Marine earned her win in the last two sectors of the track where both Hoffmann and Holl lost time. Despite the 3rd place finish, Vali takes home the 2023 UCI Mountain Bike World Cup Downhill overall championship with one race to go.

The drying track played a huge factor in the results of the Men's race. And drying didn't mean it was easier as the day went on! Men's highlights include Richie Rude making the finals and having a decent run only to flat near the bottom. Greg Minnaar dropped in early due to a botched semi-final and was out of a chance for the win after Dylan Levesque set the first time in the 3:14's for the finals. Loic Bruni's winning semi-final time was a 3:10, so there was room to improve with 20 riders to go. Luca Shaw #USDH had huge, time-sucking washout in the high-speed corner before the field-goal-tree jump, yet managed to finish only 1.8 behind Levesque in the hotseat at the time. #USDH Chris Grice, washes out in the same corner as Luca Shaw. Locals start investigating interference by foreign governments (that's a joke). Max Hartenstern's unintentional double-rock nose-wheelie save was a sight to behold! Jordan Williams goes from being about 1.5 down at the top to smashing the rest of the run and taking the hotseat with a 3:10, 1.7 seconds ahead for the lead. Confusion about Troy Brosnan and his protected status. Brosnan placed 34th in semis but had a "P" next to his name. We were under the impression that only the Top 5 from previous season were protected to finals. Greenland slides off track and slams into a tree near the top of the course. He was ok and cruised to the finish. Jackson Goldstone...flat rear tire. Finn goes into third at the time with the old Demo staying on top...for now. Andreas Kolb was pinned, up by 1.5 through the middle, then slowly lost it through the end to come into second to Jordan Williams by just .05 seconds! 8 riders remain. Ethan Craik with a stellar run into 3rd at the time. Bernard puts one down! He's so fun to watch! Not a care given and up by 1.7 through the middle, he lost time through the end but holds on to break into the 3:09's, .8 ahead of Williams. Five remain. THEN DAK CAME DOWN! Well off the pace in the upper splits. Then after the rock exit, he's only .004 behind. Smashing the pedals with a roaring crowd, Dakotah went into the hotseat by .8 seconds breaking the 3:09 mark. Irish wildman, Ronan Dunne, no holds barred throughout the entire run. The kid puts every section together to take the lead, .8 ahead of Dakotah. THREE TO GO! Loris Vergier looked as flawless as he always does, but the clock wasn't lying and he rolled into 3rd across the line. Oisin O'Callaghan was green the entire way! He was well up through the top and middle of the track losing time toward the line but not enough to keep him out of the hotseat. Ireland sits 1 and 2 with Loic Bruni remaining. Loic was on point, just a few tenths back at the first two splits, then pulls ahead into the rocks, sparking bike parts off stones as he carried on. Then, out of nowhere, clips a tree and goes flipping over the bars, ripping his visor off. He slowly got up and finished his run. OISIN WINS, Ronan 2nd, Dak 3rd! Seven races with 7 different winners. Get on those TUES deals while they last, LOL.

Elite Women's Results

Elite Men's Results

Some Oisin radness from 2021!