Loic Bruni may have won the overall UCI downhill crown, but Saturday's golden moment belonged to Jackson Goldstone.
As last man down the track, the Squamolian (4:04.587) capped his inaugural elite campaign spectacular win to the delight of fans in Mont-Sainte-Anne, Que., crossing the line more than four seconds up on silver medallist Briton Ethan Craik (4:09.786). In so doing, he overtook Loris Vergier to clinch second overall in the season rankings.
Bruni himself ended up bronze in the season’s final race (4:09.840), but it was enough to push the Frenchman to his third career overall championship. Vergier dropped to third overall after his underwhelming 10th-place result in Quebec.
Just ahead of Vergier was Finn Iles in ninth.
"Eight years ago [Sunday] I filmed a video with Stevie Smith," Goldstone said on his Instagram account. "Then to go down and win on home soil for Stevie was one to remember, and will hold a special place in my heart for the rest of my life. Thank you guys."
Meanwhile, Valentina Höll cemented her claim to the women's overall title with a masterful win on a tricky course left slick by earlier rain. The Austrian champ's victory in Canada was her fourth of the 2023 season. She dominated from pillar to post by finishing first in qualifying, first in the semi-final and then first by more than 13 seconds in the final (4:40.133).
Nina Hoffmann (4:53.199) secured second place in the overall by finishing with silver despite crashing towards the bottom of the course and blowing her front tire off on the final jump.
That meant Marine Cabirou took third overall despite ninth in Saturday's contest. Italian Veronika Widmann earned her first podium of the season with bronze (4:54.301).
Junior results
Dane Jewett and Jake Polito rode to 12th and 13th respectively to lead the Sea to Sky in the junior men's event. Brock Hawes was top Canadian in seventh as three Frenchmen: Nathan Pontvianne, Mylann Falquet and Kimi Viardot went first, second and third respectively.
Ryan Pinkerton had secured the overall title in Snowshoe, W.Va., but was unfortunately sidelined in Mont-Sainte-Anne by a crash in practice. Bodhi Kuhn was also injured in training and forced to sit out the race.
Sophi Lawrence, the lone Canadian among junior women, found herself ninth. Valentina Roa Sanchez grabbed gold, followed by Sacha Earnest with silver and Lisa Bouladou with bronze.
Roa Sanchez also locked up the overall title in her age category.
Full results are available online.
