While the focus was on the French at their home World Cup, it looks like there’s a strong Canadian streak spoiling the party.
Three Canadians would almost steal the show at the Lourdes World Cup, with Finn Iles just missing out on making it three from four victories at the opening round.
No Elite Male Canadian has won a World Cup since Stevie Smith won Leogang nine years ago, and Miranda Miller’s World Champs win was five years ago now.
Finn it seemed, finally found the space between pushing too hard only to crash his brains out well up on the splits, and riding too safe and finishing outside the top 15. His run in Lourdes was ballsy but precise, lacking the madness he has shown in the past and the rest of the field displayed on Sunday. Will we see Finn in the hunt for the overall at the end of the season after pipping his team mate Bruni on home turf?
Gracey Hemstreet needs a serious shout out. She’d appear to be off the pace in qualis, but with no points available here for the juniors, simply qualifying was enough. She’d be in touch too. Come finals, she’d put almost seven seconds into Izabela Yankova. More impressive though is that she would have slotted into 6th in Elite Women, just eleven seconds back on winner Camille Balanche.
Jackson Goldstone arguably has had the most limelight leading up to the opening round with his high profile move to the Syndicate, but he’s picked up where he left off, winning Junior Men comfortably, with a time that would have put him just outside the top 10 in Elite Men.
Bohdi Kuhn also finished inside the Junior Men’s top 10 in Lourdes, with Tristan Lemire rising through the ranks, and while Mark Wallace would find himself back in 40th, we know he’s capable of much more.
Where are all the Elite Canadian women though? We used to have a Canadian Downhill World Champion in the recent past…
Will this see a raft of fast, young Canadians seeing downhill racing as a viable option? Is this the beginning of a wave of Canadian pinners taking over World Cup downhill? We’ll watch with anticipation.
