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Round 3 of the 2022 UCI Downhill MTB World Cup season took place over the weekend in Leogang, Austria. Wet and muddy conditions played havoc during the practice and qualifying sessions, and come race day the track had dried out but the technical wood sections remained extremely tricky.
In the Elite Men’s race Amaury Pierron was looking to become the first man to win the first three races of a World Cup season and he weaved his way down the course to take an early lead. Unfortunately for him, Angel Suarez Alonso pipped him for the lead. Danny Hart was the next man down and he put together an excellent run to go green, but wasn’t able to bank his fifth World Cup win as compatriot Matt Walker went up at the second and fourth splits to claim the lead, and his first World Cup win.
Matt Walker
In the Elite Women’s race, Myriam Nicole was fourth last out of the gate and, despite coming off her bike, she did enough to get ahead of Eleonora Farina with Marine Cabirou unable to finish due to crashing out. Despite coming second in qualifying, Valentina Höll hit the deck early on after starting like a rocket and crashed again in the wooded section to ruin her chances. Camille Balanche held her nerve to win by a mammoth 11.368s over Nicole to keep her impressive Leogang win-streak run going.
Camille Balanche
Men’s Results (Top 10)
1st Matt Walker 3:28.816
2nd Danny Hart 3:29.141
3rd Angel Suarez Alonso 3:30.370
4th Amaury Pierron 3:30.530
5th Andreas Kolb 3:31.249
6th Finn Iles 3:31.547
7th Loris Vergier 3:31.944
8th Charlie Hatton 3:33.232
9th Dakotah Norton 3:33.638
10th Mark Wallace 3:34.549
Women’s Results (Top 10)
1st Camille Balanche 4:08.218
2nd Myriam Nicole 4:19.586
3rd Eleonora Farina 4:24.281
4th Louise-Anna Ferguson 4:29.876
5th Monika Hrastnik 4:30.258
6th Vali Höll 4:33.011
7th Mathilde Bernard 4:34.658
8th Mille Johnset 4:37.854
9th Nina Hoffmann 4:41.374
10th Siel van der Velden 4:42.469
Photos by Bartek Wolinski / Red Bull Content Pool.
