9-9-07 // Online Exclusive: World Championship Downhill

Fans lined the Ft. Bill course from top to bottom Morgan Meredith

The scenes were worlds apart, but the results were the same. Last year, Ironhorse/Monster Energy riders Sam Hill and Sabrina Jonnier won world championship gold at a small resort in Rotorua, New Zealand. This year, they repeated the feat in front of as many as 50,000 screaming fans lining the course and filling the finish arena at Fort William, Scotland.

Strong winds on the open slopes near the course’s top played havoc on many racers and sporadic rains made visibility difficult. But the harsh conditions could not quiet the massive crowd gathered in Fort William.

Jonnier struck first when she set a blistering pace on the women’s downhill course. With only four riders to start behind her, her time of 5:28.35 was nearly 20 seconds faster than the time set by previous race leader Fionn Griffiths.

Scotland is home to some of the most outrageous MTB fans on the planet Morgan Meredith

Tracey Hannah followed Jonnier and laid down a solid run that would earn her the bronze medal, but it was still 11.54 seconds off Jonnier’s pace. Neither Tracey Moseley nor Emmeline Ragot could unseat Jonnier, placing all the pressure on Rachel Atherton, who is British and fan favorite. With the crowd frantic, Atherton delivered a fast, smooth run. But even she fell 4 seconds off Jonnier’s time, finishing in second place.

“It was pretty hard out there and I was pretty nervous. I really wanted to keep that jersey on my back,” Jonnier said of her repeat world championship victory.

Things were a bit tighter for the men. Pasqual Canals Flix from Spain started first and set a time of 5:00.29, which would hold for the next 70 riders until Sam Hill entered the start gate. Hill had purposely soft-pedaled in his seeding run and started in seventy-first position. He would be the first legitimate contender down the course.

With a light rain falling, he railed throught the tight corners up high and flowed over the steep rock gardens lower down. He shattered Canals Flix’s time by more eight seconds, crossing the finish line in 4:52.01.

But there were more than 20 competitors left, including the major contenders. Among those were Greg Minnaar, who posted the fastest time in qualifying, two-time world champion Fabien Barel and local hero Steve Peat, who was still recovering from a badly dislocated ankle but had the support of an entire country behind him, as well as the expectations and hopes of an entire nation upon his shoulders.

The pressure on Peat began building as soon as DH practice began on Wednesday. It grew when he qualified in tenth on Thursday and continued to mount as more fans filled Fort William over the weekend waving Union Jack flags and buying bottles of commemorative Steve Peat scotch.

All that pressure finally found a release valve Sunday afternoon—in the form of Peaty’s seat. High on the Fort William course, Peat slipped coming off a wooden bridge and both his feet slid off his pedals. He landed hard on his seat, breaking it off. Even worse, he slammed his injured foot into the ground in the near-crash. Unable to put too much weight on the bad foot, and unable to sit, Peat limped into the finish.

“I’m absolutely gutted,” he said at the finish, where he was mobbed by autograph-seeking fans.