Mountain biking

iXS European Downhill Cup – Event Recap & Photo Gallery

After its successful debut last year, the sequel of the Gravity Games took place from June 19th – 21st. Alongside the Planai Pump Masters, a Dual Eliminator Race and the Austrian Whip-Offs, the iXS European Downhill Cup was the absolute highlight of the event. It was far from easy to make it down the track in one piece for more than 430 riders from 27 different nations. In the end it was the former world champion Danny Hart as well as last year’s winner Emmeline Ragot, who won the spectacular competition and enjoyed their victory in front of the eyes of 2.000 spectators on site.

30. 6. 2015

Since last year, Schladming is once again a part of the iXS agenda and finally plays host again to international downhill events after three years of absence from the scene. And it seems like the track at the Planai even increased in popularity among the riders. Together with another race of the iXS European Downhill Cup, some real big names of the downhill scene once again returned to the legendary course, ready for some hot fights.

20 participants in total faced the challenge to demonstrate their style in Austrian Whip-Offs 2015

And the best "whiper" was Fabio Wibmer from Austria. He took the lead, in front of Marian Škuléty from Slovakia and Kuba Zbikowski from Poland.

The third and last day of the Gravity Games 2015, the game was on - finals of the iXS European Downhill Cup. The weather was a mixture of rain and sunshine – no easy job for the riders to master the challenging track at maximum speed without making mistakes. The numerous fans in the finishing area and along the track weren’t bothered by the changing weather conditions and cheered for their favorites in the thrilling finals.

One of the highlights of the 2.5 km long track with more than 600 meters in altitude is the finish area, which has been rebuilt for the Alpine Ski World Championships and now offers an incredible setting for a high class downhill race.

Pro Masters & Pro Youth

As usually, the "Seniors" kicked off the finals with no fear, wrecking their bikes down the 2.5km long downhill track fighting hard until the very end. Eventually, it was Michal Sliwa from Poland who took the lead with time of 04:25.557, in front of the Dane Mads Weidemann and the German Benjamin Herold. Next up were the young guns in the category Pro Youth U17. Here it was the young Brit Joe Parfitt who performed better than all other riders, winning with a time of 04:26.799. Behind him: Andrea Bianciotto from Italy and Moritz Ribarich from Austria. The second category in the rookie competition was the “Pro Juniors U19”. Here we had a very tight race between the first two riders. In the end, however, it was Laurie Greenland from Great Britain taking the lead with a time of 04:14.206 – beating the young Australian Max Warshawksy and the Canadian Henry Fitzgerald.

Elite Women

And then it got really exciting, as it was time for the ladies competing in the category “Elite Women”. Last year’s winner Emmeline Ragot from France was already in the Seeding Runs on Saturday faster than all the other girls – and also in the big finals, nobody was able to beat her. The rider from the Team MS Mondraker hence wins the iXS European Downhill Cup in Schladmingfor the second time in a row, this year with a time of 04:37.755. Coming in second, there was Tahnée Seagrave from Great Britain, just ahead of Tracey Hannah from Australia.

Emmeline Ragot

Tracey Hannah

Elite Men

Shortly after 3pm, it was time for the ultimate showdown of the Gravity Games 2015 – the Superfinals of the iXS Downhill Cup in the category Elite Men. The spectators in the finishing area of the Planai were screaming their lungs out, when the top 30 riders came down the steep hill, battling for the best time. After the results from the Seeding Runs, it was clear that among those riders, everyone is able to come in first. And in the end it was a true dramatic finish. For a long time it looked like the young Kiwi George Brannigan was unable to get beaten today, with his fantastic time of 04:03.931. However, as last rider, the Danny Hart show started. Danny fought until the very last meter of the track and eventually was able to beat Brannigan with a time of 04:03.573 – not even half a second faster than George! Right after the race, Danny couldn’t hold back his feelings: “Wow, what a feeling! Today everybody was going so super fast! What an amazing track! Thank you Schladming for having me, it’s been a pleasure!”

Danny Hart

George Brannigan

Loic Bruni

Behind Brannigan on place 3 there was last year’s winner Loic Bruni from the Lapierre Gravity Team, in front of Ruaridh Cunningham on place 4. The fifth place was another surprise: Austrian and Schladming local Markus Pekoll demonstrated impressively that he is back after his heavy injury a few months ago. Accordingly he was also super happy after the race: “Trust me, this fifth place today feels like an absolute victory to me – what a great day!”