With three consecutive wins in the Fox Air DH, no one could say Jill Kintner was coming in slyly.
But even with a target on her back, the Bellingham rider still couldn't be topped, nabbing the pro women's title for a fourth year in a row on Wednesday afternoon. Kintner bested runner-up Tracy Hannah of Australia by 3.88 seconds and third-place finisher Vaea Verbeeck of North Vancouver by 5.02 seconds.
"That's pretty cool. Maybe it means once you've figured it out that you've got it, but it definitely didn't feel like that near the start. I was a little bit nervous and I was unsure which bike was faster, but I rode the trail bike when it was even rougher than I've ever seen it," she said.
Kintner also boosted her Queen of Crankworx case, which is especially important with second-place Casey Brown's marquee event, the Official Whip-Off World Championships, on deck on Thursday. She has her eye on clinching the title sooner than later to reduce the pressure as quickly as possible.
"It's pretty busy from here on out. Today was the first race, but it's been a few days with three practices in a row. I did practice for A-Line (for Saturday's Canadian Open DH) this morning, pump track, and then came straight to my race," she said.
On the men's side, Kelowna's Bas Van Steenbergen pulled out the win by 0.99 seconds over Great Britain's Harry Heath and by 1.72 seconds over Australia's Mick Hannah.
As a relatively early rider to drop, Van Steenbergen had to wait, and wait, and wait before confirming the victory was officially his.
"It was nerve-wracking. It wasn't the greatest," he said.
It was Van Steenbergen's first Crankworx win and his new most memorable event, a mark that was set Saturday night when he faced brother Tom in the Clif Bar dual speed and style small final.
"I'm still pumped on that and I was super happy for my brother, so I was just in a good mindset, I guess," Van Steenbergen said.
Full results are available on www.crankworx.com.
The Official Whip-Off World Championships run at the Crabapple Hits with the finals between 3 and 4 p.m. while the Ultimate Pump Track Challenge takes place at Base 2 starting with the round of 32 at 6:30 p.m.
