If no rider appears in the live broadcast of a race after the camera switches to the next shot, then something unfortunate has happened. The rider the camera was expecting to see was the huge Romanian talent Vlad Dascalu. On this day he should have finally won his first elite race, on the final lap he had just broken away from the leading group. The TV footage does not show exactly what broke, but he had to climb the most brutal climb on the course in a gear ratio that was far too high.

The winner is once again Luca Braidot (ITA), who shook off the Spaniard David Valero Serrano to become a two-time World Cup winner within a week after his victory in Lenzerheide. He more than deserved it, as he gave up a sure victory in the short track race on Friday due to a chain incident. Nino Schurter also benefited from Dascalu's defect on Sunday, fighting his way up to third place with his last ounce of strength after riding outside the top 10 for a while. Vital Albin also delivers a brilliant result in sixth place - the best elite result for the Grisons rider. Mathias Flückiger did not start due to illness.

Results men

Keller collapses, Forchini turns up the heat

Alessandra Keller continues to ride in Vallnord in the same style as she won the short track race: aggressively oriented towards the front. Only Anne Terpstra is stronger. The Swiss rider leads the first chasing group for half of the race. But then she explodes in the brutal conditions of Vallnord, with over 30 degrees heat at 2000 meters above sea level and the ground as dry as a Christmas cookie in summer. Then there are the sharp slate slabs, which are always good for a flat tire. Rebecca McConnell (AUS) was caught out twice, staying at the front until the first puncture.

Anne Terpstra was undeterred by all of this and as the front runner-up, she didn't swallow any dust. She increases her lead over second-placed Mona Mitterwallner (AUT) to over a minute. Behind her, a Swiss woman suddenly appears who hardly anyone expected: Ramona Forchini. She calmly overtakes Pauline Ferrand Prévot and tackles the final lap in third place. Another Austrian, Laura Stigger, catches up with Forchini. Mona Mitterwallner rides safely into 2nd place and then Ramona Forchini actually appears next. Never before in the top ten of the elite, she rides to third place. Anne Terpstra recalls her first victory in Andorra 2020 in the winner's interview: "I couldn't enjoy my first victory here at all, I was so in it. That's why I resolved to savor my next victory."
Results women

Höll with an amazing run, Balanche flawed

The new downhill course in Vallnord is dry, dusty and fast, very fast. The jumps in the upper section are wide and, together with the wind, pose new problems for the athletes. The flow trail section suffers badly from the aggressive downhill pros and certainly needs a reshape afterwards. In the technical sections, the earth ground into powder and the countless sharp stones make life difficult for the riders. It rides as if it's wet and muddy, co-commentator Ines Thoma quotes one of the athletes. In short, the stage is set for a spectacular and exciting race in which it is even more crucial than usual to find the right mix of risk and attack.

On this day, the huge talent and problem child of the female downhillers shows how to do this: Vali Höll (AUT). She is struggling to get her runs down in her second elite season. Even the qualification and the training run before the final did not go to plan for her. "I tried to get as much out of the passages that suited me as I could and make as few mistakes as possible in the other sections," she explains at the finish. Together, this resulted in an amazing run and a clear new best time for the fourth-placed athlete after qualifying. Myriam Nicole seems to be attacking her time successfully until she falls in a steep section away from the TV cameras. That's still good enough for 5th place. Nina Hoffmann admits to having ridden a safety run. Nevertheless, she is very fast and finishes in 2nd place, 3.5 seconds behind Höll.

All that's left is Camille Balanche, who has managed almost everything this season. As expected, the technically strong Romande is not quite as fast as Höll in the upper section with the big jumps. Her terrain is the steep, technical lower half of the course. There, however, she makes mistake after mistake, only narrowly avoiding a fall twice and taking her foot out in a bend where none of the other top skiers did. But even with this messed-up run, she only lost a tenth of a second to Nina Hoffmann and finished third to complete a rare podium: Austria ahead of Germany and Switzerland.
Final women's results

Junior Jackson Goldstone is even faster than elite winner Vergier

The first riders in the men's final show that the speed is too high for the size of the jumps - if you don't push them, you ride too far. Fortunately, nothing bad happens. The course builders have built in another trap with the two bridges. Hitting their entrances is an art in itself on the slippery course and it gets very tight a few times. The decision is clearly made on the technical second half of the track, where the differences between the merciless attackers and the line artists are particularly clear.

Typical for the race in Andorra: Finn Iles (CDN) finishes in second place, riding like hell and taking the hot seat despite a series of mistakes. It then takes one of the greatest steering artists of all, four-time world champion Loïc Bruni, to beat him with a squeaky-clean ride. In the end, everything was made clear by qualifying winner Loris Vergier, who combined the best of attack and control to take another World Cup victory. "Sometimes you feel fast and still lose time, so it's important to always push," he reveals his recipe at the finish. The fastest of the day, however, is eighteen-year-old junior (and YouTube star since childhood) Jackson Goldstone. He completed the high-speed course a good second faster than the elite winner.
Results of the men's final

Flückiger benefits from Braidot's defect

The drama continues: In Lenzerheide, Luca Braidot benefited from Math Flückiger's accidental overtaking attempt against Nino Schurter. In the short-track race in Vallnord, the Italian was well ahead of Flückiger when his chain jumped out shortly before the second-to-last finish. Flückiger accepts the gift and rides across the finish line as the winner ahead of Alan Heatherly (NZL), Vlad Dascalu (ROM) and the resurgent Thomas Litscher. Filippo Colombo takes the last starting position on the front row in eighth place. Nino Schurter has a weak day, but at least secures a place on the second row of the grid in 15th place.

The discussions following his over-motivated overtaking attempt in Lenzerheide have left their mark on the Bernese rider. He told SRF after the race: "It's very emotional, I just wanted to win here. It's a shame for Braidot, of course." Math Flückiger can choose his place on the front row on Sunday. Nino Schurter will line up in the second row when it is almost full. The Grisons native will have to overtake at least fourteen riders on the narrow Vallnord course if he wants to celebrate the 34th World Cup victory in Andorra he has been longing for.

Victory despite a crash

Alessandra Keller is obviously determined to win this short track race. With a lot of movement in her upper body, as you would expect from her when she is going full throttle, she leads the field for a large part of the race. For a while she has Linda Indergand on her tail, but she loses a few positions towards the end. On the last lap it seems as if Alessandra Keller is falling victim to her own pace, suddenly Anne Terpstra (NED) and Rebecca Mcconnell (AUS) are getting closer and closer. The rider from central Switzerland shows heart and beats the Dutchwoman Terpstra in the final sprint.

In the winner's interview, she explains why she lost her relatively comfortable lead: She had crashed in a section without cameras, which is why hardly anyone noticed. This was the only reason Terpstra and Mcconnell had caught up with her. "But they probably used more energy than I did, which is why I had a bit more power at the end."

The short track races take place at 32 degrees in the shade on a bone-dry course. Even the race leader leaves a trail of dust, and the field disappears completely in the swirling dirt on certain sections. Another challenge is the thin air at 2000 meters. Some weather forecasts predict rain on the course on Sunday. Others expect Friday's weather, perhaps a little hotter.

Results short track women
Results short track men

Camille Balanche fastest in qualifying, French dominate

The Frenchwoman sets the fastest time in the dust of Andorra and will be the last to start her final run this Saturday. Behind her are Nina Hoffmann (GER) and Myriam Nicole (FRA). The French team is qualifying for its national championships with international participation. Loris Vergier is the fastest, ahead of Lenzerheide winner Amaury Pierron and Loïc Bruni. The fastest non-Frenchman is the Canadian Finn Iles, followed by Aaron Gwinn (USA), then the next Frenchman is already on the sheet: Hugo Frixtalon. The women's downhill final (15-year-olds) starts at 12.25 pm. The first of 64 finalists will start at 1.30 pm.

Women's qualification results
Results of the men's qualification