There are levels to every sport. There are also levels of dominance, and when it comes to the Crankworx Whistler Air DH, no one beats Jill Kintner. Gifted women from all corners of the globe have been trying for a decade to vanquish the Seattle native on A-Line, and as of right now: they still cannot.
Amy Morrison of Nevada got within four seconds (4:43.039), but that was only enough for silver. Local heroine Georgia Astle, fresh off her third Garbanzo DH triumph, walked away with bronze (4:46.901). Yet the coveted gold found itself around Kintner's neck for a 10th straight time (4:39.878).
That's, of course, to go with her four UCI World Championships, five Queen of Crankworx accolades, 15 World Cup titles and the 2008 Olympic BMX bronze medal. Dominance personified.
"You never know with these things," Kintner said. "Everyone keeps getting faster. The course was really tricky and slippery with big holes…but I was feeling pretty confident. My race run was smooth and calculated."
Solving the puzzle
As the final piece of Crankworx's high-velocity triple crown, Air DH is a unique fixture in the mountain biking landscape. It involves neither the Canadian Open DH's pure speed nor the grueling endurance of Garbanzo, but it does ask riders to go fast on a course littered—by design—with jumps.
You've got to understand what you're doing to have any chance at success.
"I know every little inch of where to put my tires and where to brake," remarked Kintner. "I've done enough laps of this trail. The process of racing is the most fun part, because [on a normal day]: once you jump the jumps, you've got it.
"But in racing, you have to not overshoot and pedal in certain sections and really piece a puzzle together. I enjoy racing A-Line more than just riding it."
Put 2024's Air DH next to its previous edition, and the difference is night and day. Last year's race was moist and messy, with rain churning up mud and obfuscating riders' goggles. Wednesday's contest was dusty and dry, though athletes and fans did embrace pleasant temperatures in the high-teens to low-20s.
Astle, for her part, dug deep to reach the podium.
"I'm proud because of how tired I felt after [the Garbo DH], so I'm happy that I could put the pedals down and manage third," she said. "But I was like: 'dang, maybe I shouldn't have sprinted quite as hard yesterday'…now I have a full-on black lung, as Zoolander would say."
"A-Line is definitely a track that I would love to win on at some point. It is where I learned how to jump and where I started my love for the bike park."
Meanwhile, Martha Gill reinforced her lead atop the Queen of Crankworx standings with a sixth-place effort for 952 total points. Jordy Scott cools her heels in second (847 points) and has yet to make the top 12 so far in Whistler. Shania Rawson was 10th on A-Line and is up to 792 points.
'An amazing feeling'
Immediately after prevailing in the U19 ladies' Air DH, Julia Lofqvist Traum put both hands on her helmet in obvious elation. She then fell to her knees as other riders moved to congratulate her.
"I knew I could do it today and I wanted to back up [my win] last year," gushed the young American, who finished in 4:49.629. "I broke my hand [earlier on] and I was just in the gym pedaling for a long time, so that helped."
When asked about her display of motion, Traum explained: "I heard [the commentators] say I'm going into the lead—that's an amazing feeling. This is such a stacked category, and it's like the best show in the world."
Traum did something no woman in her division has pulled off all week: dethrone Matilda Melton, who clinched silver this time around (4:50.217). Megan Bedard gave her fellow Whistlerites reason to applaud by earning bronze (5:01.947).
In U17 girls' action, Cami Bragg was pleased to notch her second victory of the festival (4:49.492) in a feisty duel with the speedy Aletha Ostgaard (4:51.788). Completing the top three was Indy Deavoll (4:54.516).
After a tough start to the week, Addison Rutherfurd got onto a podium with her golden effort among U15 girls (4:55.417). It wasn't easy, though, as runner-up Arleigh Kemp came within seven one-hundredths of a second of the Kiwi (4:55.486). Megan Pretorius swooped in for third (5:06.886).
Finally, Emilie Simeur returned to the victor's box as champion of the U13 girls' invitational (5:20.784). Indy Tomic was approximately 14.7 seconds back, and Zoe Knight a further 11 seconds behind.
Swing back to Pique Newsmagazine for a full recap of the 2024 men's Air DH, with Ryan Gilchrist on top. Full results are available here.
