Camille Balanche is not really satisfied with herself and her run over the two-kilometre course. "I'm okay," she says and purses her lips. "Although the feeling was better than in qualifying."
The European champion had finished in fifth place, which raised hopes of a podium finish.
"I messed up in a root passage," she says self-critically. And then there's the last jump before the finish. It's much criticized because you practically land on the flat.

For world champion Rachel Atherton (GBR), this passage will almost certainly mean the end of the season. Although she landed the jump well in training, she ruptured her Achilles tendon on impact. The German Nina Hoffmann also falls heavily after an actually correct landing in the qualification.

However, Hoffmann, the current shooting star of the scene, has the confidence to jump again in training on Saturday morning. In contrast to Camille Balanche, who generally refrains from doing so and, like some others, teeters down over the crest. "I didn't want to injure myself," says Balanche. "It's a shame that it wasn't enough for the podium, this fast course is certainly one of the best tracks for me."
She was actually less than two seconds down on Hoffmann in seventh place (+8.334), who ultimately finished fifth.

Emilie Siegenthaler was unable to build on her performance in Andorra, where she came fourth. "It's just not my course," she says, shaking her head. "I tried to stay positive, but I was always behind in the training sessions and in qualifying, even though I had a clean ride."
She simply has "too much respect for the speed" and stands on the brakes for too long.

The injury from the World Cup in Maribor, which has not yet healed, also plays a role. She is also not daring to take the neuralgic jump, "not for a mediocre result", as Siegenthaler says.
In twelfth place, she is 15.411 seconds behind Australia's Tracey Hannah (3:27.600), who wins by 0.677 seconds ahead of France's Marine Caribou and 2.171 seconds ahead of Mariana Salazar from El Salvador and extends her lead in the overall standings.

Enduro specialist Carolin Gehrig finishes 14th (+22.773). "I'm flashed that I made it to the final as an enduro rider, that's mega cool," said Gehrig. She enjoys being among the world-class downhill riders and being at the front in a second discipline.

Men: Weber crashes after good intermediate times

Two Swiss athletes make it into the final of the top 60 men in France. But Noel Niederberger crashes in the morning during training, flies onto his shoulder and has to miss the start. "According to the local doctors, nothing is broken," he says on the sidelines of the race in the afternoon. The shoulder was probably dislocated inwards. "I'll have it checked out again in Zurich and hope that I can start again straight away," said Niederberger, who was quite satisfied with his qualification after breaking the barrier in Andorra following a crash.

Lutz Weber rides a good run for the first two minutes, the first intermediate times are promising. But then he crashes. "I slipped on a jump," explained Weber angrily, who still made it to the finish line in 57th place with a time of 50.455 seconds.

Meanwhile, the French celebrate a double victory in front of a frenetic home crowd. Amaury Pierron, World Cup winner in 2018, distanced his compatriot and world champion Loic Bruni by 2.352 seconds and Brit Laurie Greenland by 3.45 seconds.
Bruni thus defends his overall lead ahead of Pierron and Australian Troy Brosnan, who finishes fourth.
A small surprise in the men's race was delivered by Briton Brendan Fairclough. After a long dry spell, he is back among the world's best downhill skiers.

Full results