World Champs - South Africa

The first downhill medals have been given out in South Africa! It was fantastic to see Australia on the podium twice.

What a day here in South Africa, the Juniors had their runs to determine who take the crown of Junior World Champ, if you were in Australia watching the UCI’s live timing we bet a white screen has never been so exciting! The atmosphere was slightly different in South Africa, there was a lot of nerves but being a Friday the crowd numbers weren’t as high as if it were a weekend.

It was the Junior Females who started proceedings off and Tahnee Seagrave followed up her silver medal from last year to take the win this year. For Australia it was Danielle Beecroft in second and Tegan Molloy in third.

After the Junior Female class it was time for Junior Males, there would be around 50 riders all trying to claim the stripes, with Australia fielding such a large team we had riders set off early and this saw the likes of Ben Hill taking the hot seat early on. Fortunately mechanicals or crashes didn’t factor into the results, all the Aussies got down without succumbing to anything other than dust and having to pedal flat out!

Luke Ellison powering on, a top 10 at the first split before finishing 26th by the end. Luke will be the first to admit fitness plays a definite part on this track as all the riders are experiencing!

As we got to the pointy end of proceedings it was Noel Niederberger from Switzerland in the hot seat, Noel had been riding well all year in the World Cups and looked to have put in the time to beat. Thomas Crimmins came down and just missed out on the top spot, finishing a super strong 8th place. Dean Lucas was on course andA�all the AustraliansA�really got nervous, Dean was just down at the first split, by less than half a second, we knew how bad Dean wanted this so there was no reason to be concerned about that time gap. As Dean powered to the line he went into second place, with a few riders still to come it was now no longer up to Dean to determine his final position. Three more riders would determine Dean’s position, on any given day any of these riders could take the victory, Michael Jones from Great Britain just bested Noels time. Fastest rider during timed practice Loris Vergier put nearly two seconds into Michael’s time, showing his fastest practice run was no fluke. There was only one rider left on the hill, Richie Rude Jr, all year Richie has been competing at the World Cups but in the Elite class so everyone knew he was going to be the one to watch our for. Last year he finished second to Loic Bruni but this year he put in an amazing run to take the victory. From the first split everyone knew it would take a mechanical or a crash to stop him, he went on to power home by over five and a half seconds! The track suiting the big powerhouse from the USA and pushing Dean into fifth place.

Dean Lucas was a blur! He has been riding fast all week, all year in fact and was rewarded with a solid 5th place.

Richie Rude has been on a mission since his second place last year, he is a big kid and used this to his advantage here in South Africa. The stars and stripes knock up there first gravity medal for the campaign, will they get anymore?

The top three juniors, not sure what is going on with the odd socks or the fact the winners' jersey looks a little small! — The top three juniors, not sure what is going on with the odd socks or the fact the winners’ jersey looks a little small!

Junior Female:

2. Danielle Beecroft + 7.512

3. Tegan Molloy + 19.448

Junior Male:

5. Dean Lucas + 8.908

8. Thomas Crimmins + 14.101

16. Aiden Varley

17. Peter Knott

24. Ben Hill

26. Luke Ellison

28. Brent Smith

Of course there was also practice for the Elite guys going on, the big news from South Africa is the weather has drastically changed, getting a lot cooler and the threat of rain now looks real.

You spin me right round... The Elite guys and gals were practicing in cooler conditions, with the possibility of rain overnight. — You spin me right round… The Elite guys and gals were practicing in cooler conditions, with the possibility of rain overnight.

There are two half an hour practice sessions (yes half an hour!) sessions left before finals on Sunday, the weather may have the biggest say in the results we will just have to wait and see!

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