Four titles of UCI World Champion for downhill will be awarded in the Swiss resort of Champéry this weekend.
The downhill competitions of the 2025 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships – being held in Valais, Switzerland from 1 to 14 September – will take place on Saturday 6 September (Women and Men Junior) and Sunday 7 September (Women and Men Elite).
The Champéry track starts at 1,647m altitude and drops 582m on a steep, fast and technical natural course with roots and rocks, jumps, drops and berms. It’s 1.72km long and takes the Elite riders around 3 and a half minutes to complete.
Join Swiss Champion Camille Balanche for a track preview:
The Elite 2024 UCI World Champions from Pal Arinsal, Andorra, are on the entry list to defend their titles: Loris Vergier (FRA) and Valentina Höll (AUT). This year’s performances from the UCI Downhill World Cup give a gauge of their, and other contenders’, form.
Men Elite: star-studded entry list
Vergier was also on the 2022 UCI World Championships podium in Les Gets (France), when he was part of the host country’s clean sweep with Loïc Bruni (who won his most recent title of UCI World Champion) and Amaury Pierron. All three are on the entry list, and any of them could win this weekend.
As well as his five UCI World Champion titles across 10 years, Bruni has been the UCI Downhill World Cup overall winner for four of the last six seasons, and is battling this year with Jackson Goldstone: the young Canadian holds the upper hand since the campaign’s halfway point.
Goldstone put together four victories in his third Elite season, the first time that’s been achieved since Aaron Gwin (who is on the entry list) dominated the scene in 2012. Bruni has two UCI World Cup wins so far this season, and the only other winner is Ireland’s Ronan Dunne, who took his second victory at the most recent meeting in the mud at Les Gets.
The silver and bronze medallists from the 2024 UCI World Championships Benoît Coulanges (FRA) and Finn Iles (CAN) are both capable of a perfect run, as is Troy Brosnan (AUS), Andreas Kolb (AUT), Thibaut Dapréla (FRA), 2023 UCI Downhill World Champion Charlie Hatton (GBR)... unless the new 2025 Enduro UCI World Champion Richie Rude springs an unprecedented double?!
Women Elite: top contenders
Along with her three consecutive Elite UCI World Champion titles, Höll has been the UCI World Cup overall winner for three of the last four years, other recent winners being Camille Balanche in 2022 and France’s Marine Cabirou in 2020.
And while fans have thrilled to the 23-year-old Austrian’s aggressive style, she has yet to record a victory in this year's UCI World Cup. However, her consistency has allowed her to take the lead in the overall standings after finishing on the podium in every round (except the first).
Gracey Hemstreet certainly knows her way to the top step, with three victories so far this season, including the last round. Her form is sparkling – what odds a young Canadian double with Hemstreet and Goldstone?
Tahnée Seagrave (GBR), Nina Hoffmann (GER) and Marine Cabirou have all won UCI World Cup rounds this year, while Anna Newkirk (USA), Mille Johnset (NOR) and 2019 and 2021 UCI World Champion Myriam Nicole (FRA) also all have the potential. And after announcing her forthcoming retirement at the end of this season, what chance of Balanche bowing out in style by repeating her 2020 success on home soil?
Juniors chasing rainbows
In the Men Junior competition, Max Alran (FRA) has the bragging rights with three Junior UCI World Cup victories this season compared to brother Till’s two. Bode Burke (USA) and Oli Clark (NZL) have each won one round while Men Junior 2024 UCI World Champion Asa Vermette (USA) has yet to find the top step but has it in his locker any day. Tyler Waite (NZL) has been ever-present on this year’s UCI World Cup podium: could this be his time?
Austria’s Rosa Zierl has impressed in the Women Junior category with three wins at the UCI World Cup this year, while her compatriot Lina Frener has one, as has Rosa Jensen (DEN). Aletha Ostgaard has won two rounds and her fellow American Matilda Melton is a podium finisher along with the New Zealand duo of Ellie Hulsebosch and Kate Hastings. It will also make for a thrilling competition.
The last time the downhill UCI World Champion titles were decided in Switzerland was at Lenzerheide in 2018, when Bruni took his third Elite rainbow jersey. On the same occasion, Seagrave and Nicole were on the Elite podium and Höll took the first of two Junior titles. And the last time the UCI Mountain Bike World Championships were organised in Champéry, in 2011, Brosnan won the Juniors with Bruni 5th in this category on his way to the rainbow bands, still as a Junior, the following year. while Britain’s Danny Hart took his first Elite rainbow jersey.
Whoever wins this year, Champéry and the Swiss Alps are sure to provide us with some thrilling moments!