Martha Gill was home free.
Gill had opened up a commanding six-tenths of a second lead on fellow Brit Ella Conolly in their first matchup of the Whistler women's final (in spite of nearly taking a spill moments out of the gate). In dual slalom, that kind of margin is daunting—nearly impossible to overcome unless your rival commits an error.
Then Gill proceeded to do just that, overcooking an early turn in her second attempt. Conolly pounced and blew away the Queen of Crankworx frontwoman by more than five-tenths of a second.
It just wasn't enough.
"I think I came into that second round a bit too complacent and just started making mistakes from the top," Gill remarked about nearly snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. "I was like: oh my God, oh my God.' I thought Ella had gotten it.
"It was kind of hard to stay super focused because one part of me was like: 'yeah, you've got it.' The other part of me says 'obviously, you still haven't finished.' I started panicking at the bottom, but just about held it together. This is my first ever Whistler gold medal, so I'm super stoked."
Conolly walked off with hard-earned silver around her neck, and Erice van Leuven backed up with bronze.
Survive and advance
The 2024 ladies' dual slalom, just like turned out to be Upset City.
Jordy Scott has been second in the Queen of Crankworx rankings for some time, but that didn't prevent her from crashing in the round of 16. Though uninjured, the event's no. 6 seed was forced to settle for 10th overall.
Second-seeded Jill Kintner appeared to be a safe bet for the podium after grabbing her the day before. The five-time Queen cruised past Elly Hoskin in the round of 16 and was also heavily favoured against quarterfinal opponent Janelle Soukup.
Kintner took their first race easily and was en route to another comfortable win before things got, well, very uncomfortable. She lost balance and laid her bike down just in front of the last gate, ensuring that she would do no better than fifth.
Soukup and hundreds of viewers looked on, concerned, but Kintner was able to walk off course under her own power.
On the other end of the spectrum was van Leuven, a 12-seed in qualifying who was not necessarily expected to go far. Yet go far she did, outrunning incumbent Whistler pump track champ and Squamolian Ainhoa Ijurko on her way to an eventual small final breakthrough.
At just 17 years old, the diminutive van Leuven continues to put herself on the mountain biking map.
Conolly, meanwhile, was among a small number of riders who did not look overly flustered at any point during Thursday's festivities—rather ironic given that her usual cup of tea is enduro. The Scottish athlete did her business in workmanlike fashion, eliminating Dani Johnson, Sophie Allen and fourth-placer Soukup.
"It means a lot to do pretty well in a discipline [other than enduro]," said Conolly. "I just had to ease into it during practice. I was definitely trying to be smooth. The track was so gravelly that I feel like if you tried to push too much, you just slid out."
When asked about her state of mind when racing Gill, Conolly added: "I think I got out the gate a little better in the second run. I've not done many gate starts before, so the first one was definitely a little bit wobbly. Had nothing to lose in the second run, so I just pushed as hard as I could and made up time in the last flat corners."
Overall update
The Queen of Crankworx race is never over until the fat lady sings, or in this case until the very last contest wraps.
Gill's fingers appear to be closing around the crown, however. At 1052 points, the former enduro rider bolsters her lead over Scott—who continues to be stuck in neutral. It's an unexpected development, given how Scott had put together a six-medal streak going into Whistler.
Meanwhile, a seventh-place dual slalom outing grants Shania Rawson a total of 822 points. The Kiwi still doesn't have any Crankworx victories this season, but she's now only 40 points behind Scott.
Full results from a wild and wacky day of competition are viewable
