The downhill course in Fort William is the longest in the World Cup and challenges the riders not only physically, but also with a mix of technical, unpaved and bike park passages. Now the participants also have to deal with increasing rain and wind.

With an "almost perfect run" to victory

As eighth in Saturday's qualifying run, Nina Hoffmann starts in midfield. Unlike the day before, when the German lost a relatively large amount of time, she put in a super run in the race and showed hardly any signs of fatigue even in the lower section. It is the best time and a clear one at that, as she is over 15 seconds ahead of the previous leader Veronika Widmann (ITA). No skier comes close to Hoffmann's best time until Austria's Valentina Höll starts the race. She was second in qualifying and is now virtually in the lead. However, a small riding mistake takes its revenge and she goes down, ending up in fifth place.

Talking about the difficult conditions, winner Nina Hoffmann explains her tactics: "There's no point thinking about difficult conditions if you have to ski down there anyway. You just have to go full throttle and trust in your ability and your equipment." However, she probably didn't expect it to work out so well: "I had an almost perfect run and here in Fort William - it's incredible," said Hoffmann, delighted with her victory at the World Cup in Fort William, the downhill classic par excellence.

In the junior races, Briton Jordan Williams took victory ahead of Canadian Jackson Goldstone and Australian Remy Meier-Smith. Gracey Hemstreet turned the national rankings around in the junior women's race compared to her male colleagues. The Canadian wins ahead of Great Britain's Phoebe Gale and Aimi Kenyon. Switzerland's Delia da Mocogno is still in the top 5 in the first half, but loses some ground on the long course and finishes eighth - a good debut after not being able to train properly for a long time due to illness.

French deny Great Britain a home win

It is Thibaut Daprela who sets the first serious time on the track in Fort William. The Frenchman, who often overcooks in his race runs, delivers a clean ride and undercuts Laurie Greenland's qualifying best time by four tenths of a second. But after that, the battle for the top spot remained quiet again, as none of his rivals managed to get close to him. Only his French compatriot Benoit Coulanges tickles the 37 mark and then remains just behind it.

Now the conditions become more awkward with increasing rain and wind. But just as everyone was wondering whether top times were still possible, the next Frenchman tickled the top mark. It's World Cup leader Amaury Pierron, who is still behind his team-mate Daprela, but then takes the lead and holds it until the finish. Greg Minnaar (RSA) in third place and Britain's Charlie Hatton in second last place were again unable to match Pierron's time.

Eyes on Laurie Greenland, who was fastest in both timed practice and qualifying, leads in the upper section and fuels hopes of a British victory at the Fort. However, he lost ground in the middle section and was unable to make up the deficit in the lower section and remained behind Daprela, while Pierron won his second World Cup this year. "I had to cheer myself on internally to get even more out of myself. It was more difficult than ever in Fort William and the wind didn't make it any easier at the top. It was simply amazing to win here again," says Pierron, who is celebrating his third Fort William victory in a row (no races at the Fort in 2020 and 2021).

Nevertheless, Laurie Greenland is not disappointed that nothing came of the victory: "I definitely can't complain. I had a great weekend with my team, and also thanks to all the British fans and my family at the side of the track. I'm happy with third place, although I'm annoyed that it wasn't quite enough to win, but the French were simply too strong."

Amaury Pierron leads the overall standings with 166 points each ahead of Laurie Greenland and Benoit Coulanges, while Camille Balanche is 65 points ahead of Myriam Nicole and 110 points ahead of Valentina Höll in the women's race.

Results elite men