Cycling World Championships: Great Britain’s Charlie Hatton takes Mountain Bike Downhill gold amid joyous scenes

Charlie Hatton claimed gold for Britain in the men’s Mountain Bike Downhill at the UCI Cycling World Championships on Saturday following a near-perfect descent in treacherous conditions in the shadow of Ben Nevis.

With Britain’s tallest peak looming, Hatton held off Austria’s Andreas Kolb by the slimmest of margins – just 0.6 seconds separated the pair – while his fellow Brit Laurie Greenland finished third to complete the podium.

The Scottish rain, and the fact that the women’s race preceded the men’s, meant that the course swiftly became muddy and difficult. It was not navigated well by a number of the European riders, but the British riders flourished.

Britain’s Greg Williamson was in an imperious position midway through the day after setting the fastest descent by a full seven seconds before the already inclement weather began to decidedly worsen.

It took a risky ride from Spain’s Angel Suarez to unseat the Brit, beating his time by just 0.47 seconds.

Twenty more riders came and went without troubling Suarez’s position, while Williamson continued to hold a provisional silver medal.

Next down the mountain was former champion Greg Minnaar who was attempting to take back his crown 20 years after his first victory, but he lost his rear wheel on the descent and failed to finish.

Matt Walker, another Brit who won the UCI Junior Downhill event on this same course in 2017, was next but suffered a bad crash and also failed to finish.

Over an hour after taking the lead, Suarez was finally beaten when Hatton blazed down the course to overtake the Spaniard by 2.4 seconds.

Hatton had a nervous wait though, as 11 more riders were yet to come.

As each tried and failed to beat Hatton’s time, the cameras showed the mud-flecked Brit waiting for his moment.

The weather and the difficult conditions continued to bedevil the riders as Jordan Williams, Bernard Kerr and Thibaut Daprela fell while Finn Iles suffered a flat front tire.

Greenland was next down and finished faster than all but Hatton, giving Britain a provisional one-two finish.

That only lasted three minutes though, as Kolb swept down the hill to push Greenland into third.

When Australian Troy Brosnan’s gallant attempt to break into the top three left him just outside the podium places, Hatton was guaranteed a medal of some kind.

A year after France’s historic one-two-three finish on the podium in Les Gets, France, champion Bruni and bronze medalist Loris Vergier remained to menace Hatton.

Bruni could only manage fourth place and when Vergier finished sixth, Hatton could celebrate.

Shortly afterwards, Hatton gave a delighted interview.

He said: “It was absolutely crazy! I don’t have the words. I rode well this weekend but I absolutely didn’t expect to win.

“I knew that the course at Fort William ran OK in the rain, so I attacked like yesterday. In the woods, I realised that the mud wasn’t so deep so I could keep to my lines. My run was really good.

“In the hot seat I couldn’t believe that everyone finished behind me.”