The World Cup downhill race in Lenzerheide is once again a great party. Enthusiastic and disguised fans, literally equipped with drums and trumpets - including chainsaws and other noisy instruments, of course - create an atmosphere that makes your skin crawl, even in the hot summer temperatures.

Youngster Janis Lehmann, clearly the national surprise of the weekend, also made it onto the first page of the rankings in 31st place. "It's the first time I've qualified for the final. When you know the course, that's really something and the spectators push you too. That was awesome."

Felix Klee finished in 46th place: "That was a good run, I couldn't have ridden any faster. It's a very good result for me. I've never been in a final before. I wouldn't call it home advantage, you put yourself under more pressure at home." His team colleague Basil Weber also finished his first final run in a respectable 53rd place. "I had two or three bad mistakes, stupid driving errors, but luckily I didn't lose much time. I'm pretty happy for my first World Cup final."

With 68th place, Constantin Ruetsch also recorded a significant improvement compared to qualifying. "It went better than yesterday. I slowed down a bit too much on Tschäff's Plunge, but otherwise it was good. It's my first Elite World Cup, the fans were pushing me, you can hear that and it's motivating."

The Swiss downhill racers have thus achieved something that has been missing for many years: more than three racers in the final and some of them not so far from the top 10!"

Minnaar with a great run and a bit of luck

In the men's race, Britain's Phil Atwill surprisingly takes the hotseat and sits on it for a while. Then it's his compatriot Danny Hart who tops Atwill's time. South African Greg Minnaar starts and soon rides the best time on all sections to the finish and immediately turns the tables. Vallnord winner Troy Brosnan is unable to match the winning time and finishes second. Then a murmur goes through the crowd, as qualifying winner Aaron Gwin clearly sets the best section times and it looks like his second win of the season. Too early to rejoice: a tire defect prevents the American's luck.

Siegenthaler with best run

"I was so nervous before the race, but I had such a good feeling the whole weekend. Even a bad crash in training didn't affect me. I made a small mistake in the race, but it wasn't decisive when I was 2.5 seconds behind first place. I'm so happy to be on the podium here in front of my own fans. Family, friends, everyone is here. It was the best race of my career so far."

Siegenthaler also came third in Fort William, but she points out that world champion Rachel Atherton was unable to compete due to injury. This makes the result in Lenzerheide all the better. "This result is also important for my head, especially because of next year's world championships," adds Siegenthaler.

Carina Cappellari also had a good run, but was unable to match her best results: "In general, it went well, but I didn't get a good turn on the "Tschäffs Plunge" and clicked off. I lost too much time there. Too bad, top ten would have been nice."

Reigning Swiss champion Lea Rutz was the second starter in the race. "It went well, but it wasn't really good. It was still slippery this morning, but now it was very slippery. That's why I was too cautious at times." However, 15th place is her best World Cup result to date and therefore also a small success for the young Swiss athlete.

Michellod with an exploit

Swiss junior rider Loris Michellod records his best international result in Lenzerheide. He finishes in tenth place! "This is my best World Cup result so far. That could be enough to qualify for the World Championships. I didn't make any big mistakes, just a few minor ones. The course is very physically demanding, but the grip was better after the rain yesterday."