Sunday July 8, 2007
Schladming, Austria

Sam Hill proved without a shadow of a doubt that he is the man to beat on the UCI Downhill World Cup circuit. Hill dominated this weekend in Schladming, Austria, winning by over 5.14 seconds and putting a little breathing room between himself and Steve Peat in the World Cup Series overall title chase. The win comes on the heels of a win at the Mont Ste Anne, Quebec round and an incredible third place finish in horrendous conditions at the Champery, Switzerland stop.

Hill qualified first, after making some mistakes, and then went on to shave 6 seconds off of his qualifying time in the finals. “The track has just gotten a lot rougher, much rougher than previous years. It keeps you looking for new smoother lines.”

Hill tried to explain where he managed to find 5 seconds on this sub 4 minute course, a huge feat in this sport of split second margins; “I don't know how, I stayed smooth, hit all my lines, and taught the turns a lesson. I just picked up all the seconds people were leaving behind on the track. I didn't get ahead of myself too much and just had lots of fun.”

With the win, Sam extends his overall World Cup Series lead over Steve Peat to 168 points.

Teammate Sabrina Jonnier took it easy in qualifying and was seeded third. “I thought I would just cruise most of the track without pushing too hard, and see what happened” she said after morning qualifiers.

Jonnier made up some time in the finals, but it just wasn’t enough to catch Australian rider Tracey Hannah who took the victory. "I didn't have a great run, I wasn't feeling it today. I made a couple of big mistakes but I am happy that Tracey Hannah got her first World Cup win and am happy to keep the series overall lead." Jonnier commented.

Sabrina maintains her World Cup Series points chase lead with a 225 point margin over second place.