Such a shame that Cami Balanche is stepping away from racing after her brief but spectacular career. How amazing that As a latecomer to the sport she achieved more than so many others have as she joins Rachel and Tracy on the list of recent retirees from the sport which may soon include Miriam as well
When Vali stepped up to elites I was fearing domination by her . Though successful She definitely hasn't dominated. I definitely underestimated the strength and resilience of riders like Tahnee and Marine to bounce back from their horrible injuries.
As new riders came into the Elite women's in the last few years that could compete for a podium they were never close to taking wins.
That's why I think Gracy is an amazing addition to the women's field. Shes probably lucky she didn't have to deal with the enormous pressure that was put on Valis shoulders but her success this season has been a breath of fresh air for downhill as I see it.
Because I actually love watching her ride. It's great seeing her actually attack the course .
For me, There's nothing better as a spectator than seeing someone claw back time every split as they gather momentum through a run like how she lost the race in la thuile was just devastating to watch but she has just bounced right back
and like how ronan dunne has bounced back from his awful crashes recently to win at the weekend this new generation of riders coming through look like the future of downhill is not as bleak as I thought it would be when folks like Gwin and Danny disappear.
Because disappearing they are. Disappearing from Q1 . And this is racing. And only the fastest win. Legends like Loic and Tahnee must be getting nervous and super riders like Dak chasing their first win are going to have to push like never before to stand on the top step.
But we need Rob Warner back or someone like Wyn or Eddie Masters in the commentary booth to bring the fun and excitement back becauee as a TV viewer the commentary is half the race.
I agree with everything you've said there. When I hear people predicting Jackson's domination for the foreseeable future I think back to people making the same comments about Vali a couple of years ago. The fact that you've got up and coming rippers and riders like Cami and Ronan who seem to appear from nowhere (not quite, but it sorta feels like it) is one of the things I love about this sport.
One of the things I hate about this sport is WBD's involvement. Q2 has worked from the point of view of making qualifying more exciting, but is the race more exciting when top riders aren't in the mix (look at how close Jackson was to missing the big show this weekend)? For me the jury's still out on that one. Outside of that their involvement has been overwhelmingly negative from my point of view. You're spot on about the commentary being part of the coverage, if I mute it I miss so much of the bike noise and the crowd and it's pretty dull. If I don't I'm in constant danger of putting my foot through the screen.
"Q2 has worked from the point of view of making qualifying more exciting, but is the race more exciting when top riders aren't in the mix (look at how close Jackson was to missing the big show this weekend)? For me the jury's still out on that one"
I want to see the fastest 30/15 riders on a given track compete for the win on equal (or as equal as possible) footing. As soon as you start giving out protected status, qualifying becomes a two tier system.
This may sound harsh but I want at least 1 potential winner to get eliminated in qualifying each race - thats what makes qualifying a challenge rather than the near pointless formality for the top guys that it used to be. This week we had Myriam not make the cut for the women, and 5 previous winners not get through in the mens.
And also means when a newer or up and coming rider (or to go the other way, someone like Phil Atwill) does make finals I am so much more stoked for them because they have already proved themselves to have beaten some of the worlds best in quali.
Fair comment. As I said I have mixed feelings.
I honestly feel I could forgive the poor commentary if we could see the qualifiers the day before. We're missing out on pretty exciting racing in what are quite often very different conditions to race day.
Especially in 2025, there's no excuse.
Are we implying there's NO way to get a single person on the course for qualifying... With literally just an iphone, maybe give him a battery pack. Film raw clips of qualifying. Get near the bottom of the track by last rider down. Catch the scenes a bit, no interviews needed. Just an overall gist of what happened.
And post that. And we of course all know they can, because they've done similar things in the past. Namely for practice. There's no need to dance on decorum and waffle about standards in the modern camera era. If anything we have seen, quite clearly, that fans enjoy the raw clips from Ed and Vital and Sleeper more than they enjoy the broadcast with mandatory commentary.
I'd love to hear the reason for a super simple Q1+Q2 production not being in the cards. A single human with an iphone is more than enough in 2025.
I just feel like now that wbd has abandoned the every rider gets a full run model (a decision I agree with) I see no reason for the field to be smaller on race day. If you took 60 riders from last weeks q1 Jackson and Troy make it despite crashing. All the q2 guys are in unless I missed someone. Bunch of good riders are in that just missed out on q2. Some of which looking at split times were much more competitive but had mistakes.
I feel like semis was a means to cut riders to 30 full runs and have a free product on YouTube. Q2 is a means to have a more entertaining semis and I guess sometimes we get to see some of it. But none of it seems necessary at this point if the goal is just to have a good broadcast. And I’ll happily give eso props for improving the flow of the broadcasts. They did a good job in Les gets getting people on screen and giving more time for the more consequential runs. But if they are only going to deliver a race day broadcast and have abandoned the full run philosophy then why be trimming so much of the field in qualifying that nobody gets to see.
ultimately I’m much more worried about whatever it is the plan is for juniors that’s rumored. Maybe it goes u23. Maybe they go the 250/450 route. Maybe some convoluted mess only eso could dream up. Maybe it’s just gone all together. Maybe no changes at all? Hopefully they announce it before December like they did the continental series.
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