Oisin O’Callaghan triumphs at men’s UCI Downhill World Cup in Snowshoe; Marine Cabirou dominates women’s race

Ireland’s Oisin O’Callaghan won his first World Cup event at the UCI Downhill World Cup in Snowshoe with a time of 3:07.624.

His compatriot Ronan Dunne came second, and American Dakotah Norton came third.

The women’s event saw France’s Marine Cabirou win, with Nina Hoffmann and Valentina Holl rounding out the podium, though third place was enough for the Austrian to take home the overall World Cup series title.

O’Callaghan’s victory makes it seven different winners in seven races so far in the 2023 season.

Norton started slow but picked up speed to finish with a time of 3.08.987, half a second ahead of Briton Bernard Kerr. Dunne went straight after the American and made the track look relatively easy, finishing with a time of 3.08.120. He seemingly celebrated more when O’Callaghan, who was fastest on every single sector, finished ahead of him.

The two were forced to subdue their celebrations until Loic Bruni’s run but the Frenchman’s crash gave the Irishmen the 1-2.

“It’s surreal,” O’Callaghan said after his win. “I think I am about to have a heart attack. I have a pain in my chest right now.

“I just kept going and near the bottom, I was able to push through. There was only a small bit left, so I kept working.”

On Ireland taking the first two podium spots, he said: “First time ever. Doing it for the boys at home.”

The women’s event started off strong with Gloria Scarsi finding her stride in the second half of Snowshoe and finishing with a time of 3:47.655. The Italian didn’t stay in the lead for long though as Hoffmann managed a race time six seconds better with 3:41.386.

Cabirou attempted some tricks early on, which ended up giving her an advantage after snatching the lead from Hoffmann with a time of 3:41.042.

She maintained the lead after heavy favourite Valentina Holl, who was 1.5 seconds quicker than Cabirou in the first split, struggled and came in with a time of 3:41.702.

Brit Tahnee Seagrave finished fourth with a time of 03:43.898.

“It’s just amazing, I did a really good run, it was a really hard week because the track changed a lot and the conditions too. If you’d told me this morning that I’d win, I wouldn’t have believed you. I’m finally back at my level and I’m super-happy with that,” said Cabirou after her win, who will battle for second overall next week in the final event of the season.

Holl also spoke, saying: “It’s incredible, to be able to be world champion and win the overall world cup is incredible, I just changed a bit my thinking for the final run, I just wanted to secure it, not do anything stupid and finish safe. So I can push next week because it doesn’t matter!”