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DATE: 30 September 2023
LOCATION: Snowshoe, West Virginia, USA
LANGUAGES: English | French | German
SCRIPT: Young Irish riders Oisin O’Callaghan and Ronan Dunne stunned Snowshoe with an historic 1-2 finish to deny American rider Dakotah Norton a home victory. On a thrilling Saturday of Downhill racing Marine Cabirou of France won the women’s race while Austrian Valentina Höll clinched the World Series title to add to her World Championship title.
O’Callaghan and Dunne are the first Irish riders to take the top two places on the podium. O’Callaghan was fastest in every section with a time of 3:07.624, just under half a second quicker than Dunne. The YT Mob rider called the day “surreal”:
“I think I’m going to have a heart attack!” said O’Callaghan after his victory. “The crowd were amazing and roaring the whole way down. About halfway down I was feeling it but I kept going and pushed through.” Rankings leader Loic Bruni was last man out but crashed as he tried in vain to keep up with the pace of the Irish boys.
In the women’s event Valentina Höll was confirmed as 2023 UCI World Cup Downhill Champion, though Marine Cabirou continued her red hot form to win the race. Cabirou (Scott Downhill Factory) made up time in the second half of her run to win 3:41.042.
“It’s just amazing, I had a really good run,” said the French rider. “It was a really hard week because the track and conditions changed a lot. If you told me this morning that we’d win I wouldn’t believe you.” Germany’s Nina Hoffman finished second in the race and stays second in the overall season’s rankings.
21-year-old Höll (Rockshox Trek Race Team) has been immense throughout the season, but went for a safety-first approach in this penultimate race to ensure she clinched the overall title, finishing third on the day.
“I changed my thinking a bit for the final run - I didn’t want to risk doing anything stupid so I played it safe. I can push next week because it doesn’t matter! To be able to win the World Champs and overall World Cup is incredible, before the season I could not imagine it.”
In Friday’s Short-Track races there were wins for Frenchman Victor Koretzky and Britain’s Evie Richards. The action continues in Snowshoe with Sunday’s Cross-country Olympic races before the last event of the season next week in Mont-Sainte-Anne, Canada.
Video content includes;
FOOTAGE: Men’s World Cup Downhill event action, celebration and podium
SOUNDBITE: Oisin O’Callaghan (IRL) Men’s Downhill World Cup winner (English)
FOOTAGE: Women’s World Cup Downhill event action, celebration and podium
SOUNDBITES: Marine Cabirou (FRA), Women’s Downhill World Cup winner (English & French)
SOUNDBITES: Valentina HÖLL (AUT), 2023 Women’s UCI Mountain Bike World Cup Series winner. (English & German)
CLICK HERE for full details on all UCI Mountain Bike World Cup races.
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