Qualification Day at Mona Yongpyong

Today is an important day in Mona Yongpyong. Pedal to the metal for medals—at least for the Short Track event! But also for DHI, because if you don’t make it into the finals, there’s no chance for medals anyway.

Kang Hajoon from South Korea could not make it into the finals

But first, we at mtbmagasia were wondering: how many riders from Asia are at the start gate? We’ll go more into detail next week, when the online magazine goes live with a full race report about what happened here in South Korea.

Tilly Boadle on her way to the 3rd place in qualifying

Same jump but 1st place for Sacha Brizin in qualifying

Winner of the women elite qualification: Harriet Harnden

In total, 13 DHI riders and 8 XC Short Track riders (the XCO list is not out yet) are from Asia!

Downhill qualification went first down the hill. Riders still had to adapt to the “new” course with every run—but not as much as yesterday. The trail has seen many runs now and has formed into something really interesting!

Valentina Sanchez from Colombia on her way to 2nd place in qualifying in the women elite category

Asa Vermette from the USA, in his first year racing in the elite category, said yesterday that he didn’t like the trail. Maybe that’s why he thought—let’s get this done quickly and not even need a second qualifying run! Well, he went down fastest: 2:47.859, more than 10 seconds faster than yesterday’s best time!

2nd place for the women junior Rosa Jensen

Also 2nd place for Jonty Williamson in the men junior category

Harriet Harnden from Great Britain set the fastest time in the elite women’s category with a 3:23.348.

In the junior men’s category, Sacha Brizin from France clocked a 2:55.645. Rosa Zierl from Austria took the top spot in the junior women’s category with a time of 3:26.438. Both riders were so fast that while I was still moving between shooting spots, they passed me—so unfortunately, I didn’t get a photo of either of them. Tomorrow, one more chance!

Tomorrow is finals—and unfortunately, we won’t see any Asian riders taking part. More details on their qualification results will follow next week in the full online magazine report.

We’re really looking forward to seeing if the times will drop another 5 to 10 seconds compared to today!

Here some pictures from Riders they also made it into the final tomorrow

Amaury Pierron (2nd)

Aaron Gwin (made it in the 2nd qualifying)

Finn Iles (12nd)

Gianna Nef (4th women junior)

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