Hill Wins Worlds, Delfs and Bain in top 5!
Sorry for the late notice but most of you will already know that WA's Sam Hill has won his 2nd World Downhil championship. We also had two other great results. Mitch Delfs from Cowarumup and Joel Bain from Perth came 4th and 5th respectively in the Junior Dwonhill race.
Well down to these three on there great results. Best of all is that we should have all three back in Perth for the State Championships in October! No other race in the country will have such highly ranking athletes at it this year!
Below is the official press release from MTBA and a video of Sam's run. If you only download one thing this week download that video.
'Play it again Sam' - Hill wins second straight downhill crown at UCI MTB World Championships
12th September, 2007
West Australian Sam Hill has claimed his second successive Elite Men's Downhill World Championship after successfully defending his title at the 2007 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships in Fort William, Scotland.
Hill posted a time of 4m52.01s for the 2820m course down the slopes of Ben Nevis, the UK's highest mountain. Silver medallist Fabien Barel of France was 0.64s slower in 4m52.65s while Great Britain's Gee Atherton was more than four seconds off Hill's pace with his bronze medal time of 4m56.38s.
22 year old Hill, the world ranked number one, went into the final as the 24th seeded rider after posting a time more than 15 seconds slower than his finals ride but his slow qualifying round proved to be a tactical advantage.
"Everyone has their cameras out there and they're filming each other's lines so I take different lines (in qualifying) and they're a lot sneakier," said Hill who despite his seeding run time had gone into the event as the hot favourite. "I wanted to keep them to myself for the race and I didn't want the pressure of being the last rider to start".
The Scottish HIghlands delivered rain, mist and wind for the final turning the course into a slippery slope of mud and rocks.
"I had a good run," said Hill who had to sit in the leader's hot seat and wait for 23 other riders to tackle the Ben Nevis course before knowing he had won. "I think it worked out (for me) with the wind because it got stronger towards the end so the last few guys had a bit of a disadvantage but that's the way worlds go.
"Maybe because I don't know what it's like (riding in the rain) I go out and try and ride it like it's dry and it worked for me," said Hill after local media asked how the Australian rider could be so dominant in the wet when West Australia is renowned for hot, dry and sunny weather.
Australia placed four other riders in the top 20 with fourth fastest qualifier Michael Hannah finishing in 11th position in a time of 5m02.37s and 2006 bronze medallist Nathan Rennie placing in 12th 5m03.19s.
The riders now head to Slovenia for the final round of the UCI Nissan MTB World Cup Series being raced in Maribor this weekend. Hill, who has won two of the four rounds contested so far, is tipped to be crowned World Cup Series Champion after being the runner up for the past three years.
In the women's downhill 2006 Junior World Champion Tracey Hannah (5m39.89s) performed strongly in her first year at elite level to claim the bronze medal. French defending champion Sabrina Jonnier won gold with her time of 5m28.35s and Great Britain's Rachel Atherton posted a time of 5m32.36 to finish in second place.
Queensland's Hannah, 19, has, despite her youth, risen to number three on the world rankings this year and claimed victory in the Austrian round of the World Cup Series.
“I was happy with the time,” said the petite Hannah who acknowledges the course was more suited to stronger women. “It was better than I expected it would be and at world titles you’ve always got to pedal anyway so it was no surprise."
In the junior men's downhill three Australians finished in the top six with West Australian teenager Mitchell Delfs closest to the mark with his time of 5m09.63s just 0.36s off the bronze medal pace. Joel Bain and James Maltman finished fifth and sixth respectively.
In the 4X (Four Cross) competition Australia's medal hopes were dashed when Toowoomba's Jared Graves suffered a mishap whilst leading his semi-final heat. The tyre on his rear wheel came off the rim relegating him to the minor final for 5th to 8th place. Unfortunately his bike could not be repaired in time for the next race and he was awarded eighth place. Graves was also unlucky in the men's downhill finals where a crash into the banking put him out of contention.
Reigning 4X Australian Champion, Caroline Buchanan, 16, ended her World Championships with a 24 hour stay in hospital under observation after suffering grazes and concussion in a crash during her semi-finals ride. It was her second crash of the Championships but, unlike in the quarter finals where she recovered to finish second and earn a place in the next round, her crash in the semi-finals sent her to the hospital. She was released after observation.
In the XCO (Cross Country Olympic) competition Australia's best results came in the U23 men's event where Daniel McConnell placed tenth, 5m46s off the time of Danish winner Jakob Fuglsang.
For detailed results visit: www.uci.ch
Watch Sam Hill's winning ride on the official event website www.fortwilliamworldchamps.co.uk
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