World Championships – Day 3 – Leogang

Day 3 here in Leogang had a practice session for the riders in the morning followed by a timed practice session afterwards. Conditions were much the same in the morning but fortunately towards the end of the day they had improved.

This morning’s practice sessionA�finished without a hitch, the odd flat tyre or crash but no notable events.A�By this stage most riders should have a fair idea on their lines and the timed practice session is the first true indication of rider’s speed. For the juniors their time determines the starting order with the fastest time being the last person down the hill for finals. In Elite men the time does not play a part in the start order, this is determined by rank.

All that stands between the riders and glory! Add mother nature into the mix and you have the ingredients for an awesome race.

With timed practice out of the way it was time for the timed run. The first riders down the hill were the junior females and Australia’s Danielle Beecroft proved she is a real chance of a medalA�by coming in third place.

Third place in timed practice for Danielle Beecroft puts her in a strong position for finals.

The junior mens field was made up of 76 riders with Australia looking to feature heavily at the pointy end. For their timed runs we sat in the one spot to get an idea of how each rider negotiated that section of track. It was interesting to note that the Australian riders all took the A-line (as shown in the photos below) whereas many of the other top junior riders didn’t.

Junior Men

1. Loic Bruni 3.34.17

2. Noel Niederberger 3.38.96 + 4.80

3. Fraser McGlone 3.40.79 + 6.62

4. Connor Fearon 3.41.10 + 6.93

5. Jan Cepelak 3.41.71 + 7.54

…

10. Jack Moir 3.43.85 + 9.68

20. Dean Lucas 3.45.71 + 11.54

22. David McMillan 3.45.77 + 11.61

29. Joe Vejvoda 3.48.95 + 14.79

36. Tom Crimmins 3.51.70 + 17.53

47. Luke Ellison 3.55.16 + 20.99

 

Connor Fearon was the top placed Aussie junior in fourth place 6.93 seconds off first, Connor has stated his goal is to at least claim a medal here at Leogang.
Jack Moir finished tenth, an excellent result considering this is his first World Championships campaign.
Dean Lucas was sporting a new paint job on his helmet, as were many of the juniors, that was finalised earlier in the day!
David McMillan will be looking for a solid result tomorrow, after finishing 22nd in timed practice a top 20 is definitely on the cards.
This is Joey Vejvodas second junior World Championships, 29th in timed practice.
Tom Crimmins was hot property in the pits here at Leogang, he has been having his photo taken everywhere. It didn’t affect him out on the track, 36th place.
Luke Ellison at his first World Championships came home in 47th.

After the junior men elite women started off the proceedings for the elite riders. With Tracey Hannah out injured the closest Australia had to a representative was Claire Buchar who finished tenth but is here representing Canada. Elite men is what a lot of the fans really come to see but with the timed run not having any bearing on Sundaya��s start order, it is hard to know just how much the riders were pushing. Either way it was Sic Mic Hannah who topped the time sheets half a second ahead of Steve Smith. Talking to Mic before his run he was calm and with a solid year of racing under his belt his confidence should be high, leta��s hope tomorrow pays off for him. Three of the big contenders, Greg Minnar, Aaron Gwin and Gee Atherton took out third through fifth respectively.

Elite Men

1. Mic Hannah 3.26.63

2. Steve Smith 3.27.16 + 0.52

3. Greg Minnaar 3.27.94 + 1.30

4. Aaron Gwin 3.28.79 + 2.16

5. Gee Atherton 3.29.06 + 2.39

a��

16. Bryn Atkinson 3.36.05 + 9.42

20. Troy Brosnan 3.37.14 + 10.51

29. Jared Graves 3.38.74 + 12.11

32. Sam Hill 3.39.92 + 12.76

43. Mitch Delfs 3.42.30 + 15.66

107. Josh Button 4.20.13 + 53.50

Mic Hannah had a flier of a practice run and took out the top spot on the time sheet, Mic has been looking fast all week.
Steve Smith always looks fast, just over half a second behind Mic.
Greg Minnaar appeared to be really pushing when he flew past us in the woods.
Aaron Gwin was definitely cruising in his practice run, not hitting all the lines we expected him to.
Gee Atherton rounded out the top five 2.39 seconds back.
Bryn Atkinson has been looking fast all week, he has been going big over this step down/roll in every run.
You have to think Troy Brosnan has more in the bag for finals.
Jared Graves, solid in the top 30.
Sam Hill cruised his practice run, not jumping all the jumps on the course.
Mitch Delfs has had a good year, a solid result at Champs would seal this for him.
Josh Button crashed in front of us, nothing major but good he got it out of the way before tomorrow!

Tomorrow is the big day, finals! We cana��t waita��

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