Follow Manon Carpenter on her way to the Gold Medal in Downhill....
The good weather that has blessed these Championships continued, but the dry conditions made the Downhill track rough and full of loose gravel sections, with many riders flatting or crashing.
American Jill Kintner set the first sub-four minute time for the women, which would be good enough for fifth. Kintner's time stood up through one rider before Tahnee Seagrave (Great Britain) knocked four seconds off it to take the Hot Seat. Seagrave held the lead until Manon Carpenter came down second from last and took the lead below 3:50. However, the defending champion, Rachel Atherton (Great Britain) was setting new fast times at each split and looked to be on her way to another win, until a mistake near the bottom of the course cost her the win by a mere 88-thousandths of a second.
"I didn't expect this win," said Carpenter, "I was struggling to go fast on this track. But I wanted to do my best, and I expected it to be a close race. I had an almost perfect run, so I knew that I had done the best that I could. It was really close, and I had resigned myself to being second, even as Rachel was crossing the line, so it's pretty bonkers to win."
29 сен 2024
