It's safe to say that Jackson Goldstone is making up for lost time.
Squamish's downhill ace extended his World Cup victory streak to three in Val di Sole, Italy, where a time of three minutes and 38.862 seconds launched him atop the elite men's podium and helped him wrest top spot in the series overall away from Loic Bruni.
Troy Brosnan placed second for Australia (3:41.284) and French rider Thibaut Daprela battled to third despite losing his chain early in the race (3:42.223).
"That was a really good run [on Saturday]," said Goldstone, the first man to win three straight downhill World Cups since Danny Hart in 2016. "I felt that I was hitting all my lines good, there was moments where I had to dab my foot three times. That came from a lot of motivation from my last two wins and the confidence built in practice. It felt like it was going to happen. I was confident in my run the whole way down. I felt that I didn’t leave anything out there. It was a good one.
"It’s a crazy stat to be a part of, [winning three straight]. I felt like everyone was talking about the wins. I’m just so proud to be able to do it. The goal is to do the best I can in every single race, no matter where I end up...as long as I’m happy with my run. I’ve been happy with these last three runs and they’ve been winning runs. I need to keep up that momentum and keep pushing."
Goldstone remained in full command of his run from start to finish, unlike several of his opponents. Not too bad for an athlete who missed all of last year due to a knee injury.
Women's results
Gracey Hemstreet saw her own win streak end in Val di Sole, finishing just out of medal contention in fourth (4:12.402).
Instead Marine Cabirou did France proud with a golden effort (4:10.310) to outduel Austrian powerhouse Valentina Höll (4:11.581). Bronze landed around the neck of Slovenian Monika Hrastnik (4:12.191).
Höll also jumped past Hemstreet in the season ranking, which she now leads.
"My beginning of the season was not super good," remarked Cabirou, who earned her first triumph of 2025. "I was fighting a bit to be on the podium and at the top again. I’m really happy to win today. It was a really challenging weekend. The track was really destroyed, I gave my best and finally that paid off.
"I just tried to push even more and find a better flow. I did too many mistakes [in qualifying] and just didn’t feel good on my run. I just tried to relax, enjoy and take some good momentum on my bike. I really liked the last part of the track so I tried to push even more on that section because I lost a lot of time on a big mistake at the top. I didn’t think that would be the run for the win, but finally it is."
A fast final push ultimately separated Cabirou from Höll, while Hrastnik qualified in first but proved unable to replicate that speed. Hemstreet faltered in the opening portions of her run, whch held her off the podium.
Click here for more results from Val di Sole.
