The heavy rainfall over the last few days has turned the course first into a slide and then, with the sun coming out, into a tough and slippery track. This makes the technical sections even more difficult and the flat sections a real treadmill. Briton Gee Atherton copes best with these less than ideal conditions. He smashed the previous best time of his compatriot Josh Bryceland by a good four seconds. American Neko Mulally finished third, possibly missing out on his first World Cup victory with his crash. Greg Minnaar also has his difficulties with the course. On course for the podium, the world champion hurtles through the barriers and then takes the direct route back onto the track. However, as he does not return to the track where he came from, Minnaar is disqualified.

The two qualified Swiss riders Nick Beer and Dominik Gspan are unable to do anything in the front classification. Beer crashed in the qualifying run and rode rather defensively to 24th place in the race. "I wanted to get a result and therefore tried to ride smoothly. The conditions would not have allowed an aggressive riding style anyway. Unfortunately, I lost my line two or three times," explains Nick Beer. Dominik Gspan finishes 57th with a rollover in the Steinfeld and says: "With this crash, the momentum was gone and the flow was lost. After not riding a World Cup for a year, my top 50 result in qualifying gave me a lot of confidence. It's a shame that I crashed, but that's just part of it."

British double victory in the women's race too
Rachel Atherton and Manon Carpenter finished in exactly the opposite order to Pietermaritzbourg. The latter was the fastest in both the qualification and the race at the first World Cup. World champion Atherton achieves the same feat and earns full points in Cairns, Australia. Although she is now tied on points, thanks to today's victory she is ahead of her compatriot Carpenter in the overall standings. France's Myriam Nicole is already well behind in third place.

Emilie Siegenthaler makes a visibly good start to the race. At the entrance to the first stone field, however, her front wheel gets stuck, causing the Swiss champion to roll over and land on her back. Siegenthaler then leaves the track but, according to Gstaas-Scott team manager Claudio Caluori, fortunately did not suffer any major injuries.

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Ranking #2 World Cup 2014, Cairns AUS, Downhill Men:
1. Gee Atherton (GBR)	0.04.00	+00.00
2. Josh Bryceland (GBR)	0.04.04	+00.04
3rd Neko Mulally (USA)	0.04.07	+00.07
4. Aaron Gwin (USA)	0.03.07	+-00.53
5th Sam Hill (AUS)	0.04.07	+00.07
6th Sam Blenkinsop (NZL)	0.04.08	+00.08
7th Steve Peat (GBR)	0.04.10	+00.10
8th Sam Dale (GBR)	0.04.10	+00.10
9th Troy Brosnan (AUS)	0.04.10	+00.10
10. Marcelo Guttierez Villegaz (COL)	0.04.10	+00.10
24th Nick Beer (SUI)	0.04.17	+00.17
57th Dominik Gspan (SUI)	0.04.43	+00.43

Ranking #2 World Cup 2014, Cairns AUS, Downhill Women:
1. Rachel Atherton (GBR)	0.04.50	+00.00
2. Manon Carpenter (GBR)	0.05.02	+00.12
3rd Myriam Nicole (FRA)	0.05.16	+00.26
4. Emmeline Ragot (FRA)	0.05.18	+00.28
5th Tracey Hannah (AUS)	0.05.20	+00.30
6th Charre Morgane (FRA)	0.05.22	+00.32
7th Fionn Griffith (GBR)	0.05.26	+00.36
8th Tahnee Seagrave (GBR)	0.05.29	+00.39
9th Micayla Gatto (CAN)	0.05.37	+00.47
10th Claire Buchar (CAN)	0.05.48	+00.58
DNF. Emilie Siegenthaler (SUI)	0.00.00	+-04.50