Final day of the Worlds, plenty of DH racing and hopes were high that Britain was in for a huge medal haul, with strong contenders in every category. Conditions for the day were pretty dire. It's a tough track at the best of times - a bit of rain is quite welcome just to dampen the surface to make it extra grippy, but today it was grim, even for the hardened riders. A strong gusting wind coupled with freezing rain made for a hard day.
Still the crowds poured in eager to witness one of the greatest spectacles in the muntain bike calendar and to cheer on our lads and lasses, hopefully to glory!
Katy Curd scored a blinder in her first full year of downhilling picking up silver in the junior women, but the biggest story of the day was our first gold medal courtesy of Scots boy Ruaridh Cunningham, who despite an incident with a photographer grabbed the World Junior DH title. Not just the first British gold medal of this event, either, but the first MTB Worlds gold won by a male rider ever.
Tracy Moseley's determined focus on this event all year unfortunately came to nothing when a mechanical put paid to her challenge. Rachel Atherton carried the GB flag to a fine silver medal but the gold went to Sabrina Jonnier.
On to the Elite men and Spaniard Pasqual Canals Flix, first man down, posted a time that looked hard to beat for well over an hour. It wasn't until the big hitters came down the hill that the Spaniard was unseated. And the next man in the seat? Aussie Sam Hill, who just blasted the course throwing down the gauntlet.
Peaty was not far behind and the crowd went wild hoping that today would be his. But alas, it was not to be - he ended up cruising half the course with a missing saddle. His race was over but he still got the biggest cheer of the day.
All hopes of GB victory were now pinned on Gee Atherton. He rode like a man possessed, but he couldn't quite match the Aussie or the French two-time World Champ Fabien Barel and came home in bronze position.
So it was the Aussie's day - Sam Hill took the gold on a wet a dreary day in Scotland, but the Brits rode their hearts out in front of a home crowd, whose shouts and cheers apparently caused a landslide in Laggan. That's one more day in Fort William then, as the roads out are blocked. But rumour has it that the sun will be out tomorrow...
PS
