Balanche and Weber are the new Swiss downhill champions
First Weber ahead of Weber
Lutz Weber is once again the fastest at the Swiss Downhill Championships in Lenzerheide. And he did so despite being a little cautious in the qualifying run, as he explains: "I didn't put my cards on the table in qualifying, as I also wanted to save my strength a little. And that's why I knew that qualifying winner Jerome Caroli was also beatable." The latter cannot intervene in the title fight. The Frenchman rode the fastest in the upper section, but then suffered a puncture and dropped out of the decision
With his time of 2:58.00 minutes, he is the only rider under three minutes. Weber starts the race as the fourth-last rider and relegates his team-mate Basil Weber to second place. But the man from Flims is not disappointed: "I'm very happy with my run, even though I made two or three small mistakes. But they can happen when you give it your all. Lutz was simply much faster today."
Janis Lehmann won bronze and also expressed his satisfaction: "The course was great and I had a great run. The UCI points I've won will allow me to compete in the World Cup next year without a wildcard, so it's doubly cool!"
World champion wins with superiority
In the women's race, the first Swiss downhill world champion Camille Balanche is the top favorite at the start. And she already confirmed this status in the morning's qualifying race. However, things were not that easy for her ahead of the decisive race in the afternoon, as Balanche explains: "I was pretty nervous. I knew that I could win, but it definitely wasn't a given - after all, a lot can happen in a race."
However, she kept her nerves under control, found her flow and put in a confident ride. "My run felt a bit slow in places, but now I'm happy that I got down well and that it was enough to win the title. After the world championships, I was really lacking energy," Balanche reveals at the end. She wins with a lead of around nine seconds.
"I'm super happy with second place. I was third in qualifying, I was able to go one better in the main race and that's all I could get out of it here," says silver medal winner Carolin Gehrig. For the enduro specialist, being able to take part in downhill races during normal seasons is not a matter of course. However, the Flims native showed that she is also fast in this discipline two years ago at the World Championships in Lenzerheide.
And the bronze medal also goes to no stranger. Janine Hübscher surprised everyone with tenth place at the Downhill World Championships at the same venue. However, she cut back significantly during the stunted 2020 season, as she says: "Because of this strange season, I, like others, wasn't able to ride any races and was hardly on the downhill bike this summer. I had all the more fun this weekend and am very happy with how it turned out!"Gold after bronze
The Swiss junior champion title goes to Lino Lehmann. The man from Thurgau already won bronze a year ago. Now he crowns himself with the gold medal in his second junior year. Lehmann clearly beat Nicolas Bächler into second place by a good five seconds.
On the other hand, it was extremely close between Bächler and Liam Vonderach. Just under six tenths of a second separate the two.
In the Masters race, Billy Caroli takes the title once again. The Frenchman wins ahead of former Masters Swiss champion Martin Kägi and Dominik Widmer.
Lars Büngen wins the u17 race. However, no official title is awarded in this category.
Savior in the "championship emergency"The "Bike Kingdom" Lenzerheide will not be hosting the Swiss Downhill Championships at the start of the season. The Valais winter sports resort of Saint-Luc is announced as the organizer later than usual. However, on the weekend of the event, the snow puts a spanner in the works for the Swiss Championships.
A little later, Lenzerheide agrees to host the national downhill championships. The World Cup-experienced organizers offer the licensed riders a conciliatory end to the season on Sunday 25 October and the elite riders the opportunity to score important world ranking points. This effort is also greatly appreciated by the riders. "It's great that Lenzerheide made the Swiss Championships possible, and what's more, the course was also great," said Jérôme Caroli, the unlucky rider of the day, and silver medal winner Carolin Gehrig also had words of praise: "The fact that the Swiss Downhill Championships could be held at such short notice is mega cool, and we have the great efforts of the Lenzerheide organization team to thank for that!"www.bikekingdom.ch/Downhill-Schweizermeisterschaft
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