Aaron Gwin’s name, although still in the dawn of his career, will remain etched in the sports annuals for a long time coming. The first American male DH win (if you don’t count Gary Houseman) since Palmer in 1999. Such a rapid rise through the professional ranks, American muscle, American pride and something you don’t see too often from the United States, humility. What better ambassador for downhill and ‘American downhill’ than Aaron Gwin, who fittingly took his first win on this holy Easter Sunday! A lot of people had lost sight of the fact that this was still indeed a downhill race and ironically just like in the cross country the day before, the race was won in the technical and not in the pedaling.

Gwin never had bad things to say about the course nor the pedaling, not once. Rather as a true professional he focused on the task at hand, he was enjoying the speed and having fun at the top. He said it all felt quite easy compared to the previous weekend’s effort when he won (fastest qualifier) the later abandoned national round in monsoonal conditions on the same track. He said compared to that the pedaling was a breeze.

Now that there is a five week break in World Cup racing Gwin’s big surprise win gives the internet forums more to ponder and argue over. Topics like Maxxis Bling Bling re–issues, Gluten free training, the benefits of Fontana Wall Sprints, wind tunnel shaped hydro formed down tubes, toothless turbo intake grills and God all make lively topics, not to mention GM stock rises with sudden newfound demand for Pontiac Trans Am Firebird collectors editions models. America has a new hero.

1.         Aaron Gwin   TREK WORLD RACING     4:08.634

2.         Greg Minnaar           SANTA CRUZ SYNDICATE            4:08.875        +00.241

3.         Gee Atherton            COMMENCAL           4:10.555        +01.921

4.         Fabien Barel MONDRAKER          4:12.880        +04.246

5.         Steve Peat     SANTA CRUZ SYNDICATE            4:15.443        +06.809

1.         Tracy Moseley          TREK WORLD RACING     4:56.166

2.         Fionn Griffiths           TEAM GR       4:56.454        +00.288

3.         Emmeline Ragot     TEAM GR       4:57.750        +01.584

4.         Sabrina Jonnier       MAXXIS–ROCKY MOUNTAIN        4:58.339        +02.173

5.         Floriane Pugin        SCOTT 11     4:58.434        +02.268

1.         Jared Graves            YETI FOX SHOX

2.         Michal Prokop

3.         Johannes Fischbach          GHOST

4.         Michal Marosi           RSP

5.         David Graf

1.         Anneke Beerten       MILKA TREK MTB

2.         Fionn Griffiths           TEAM GR

3.         Céline Gros  MORZINE-AVORIAZ/HAUTE-SAVOIE

4.         Lucia Oetjen

5.         Anita Molcik