The scream of chainsaws in the trees. The roar of the crowd at the last jump. Smiles, farewells, tears. Two words: Black Snake.
It was the week’s most keenly felt day at the 2026 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships Val di Sole-Trentino, running from August 26th to 30th, because Downhill here is not tradition alone. It is genuine passion, and the riders feel it. In the temple of the discipline everyone wants to leave a mark: winning on the Streif of two wheels always counts for a little more, and this time there was even a rainbow jersey up for grabs.
On Saturday, August 29th in Daolasa di Commezzadura (Val di Sole, Trentino), in front of a sea of cheering fans, the track of legends confirmed the hierarchy exactly as written, crowning Jackson Goldstone and Valentina Höll the finest Downhillers in the world. UCI President David Lappartient presented them on the Val di Sole podium.
For the Canadian it is a second consecutive world title and a fourth win in Val di Sole, across UCI World Cup rounds and the Junior UCI World Championships he took here in 2021. For the Austrian, the season ahead will be her fifth in a row in the rainbow jersey. Only France’s Anne-Caroline Chausson stands ahead of her in the history of the discipline. Every other record has been shredded.
Switzerland and Australia took the Junior honours through Raoul Schneeberger and Tilly Boadle, and there was glory for Italy as well: Filippo Gilardino’s bronze in the Junior men’s Downhill, and Eleonora Farina’s last run down the Black Snake.
Farina drew out that final appearance to the last metre, between smiles, tears and the embrace of a crowd that knows how to recognise a rider who has left something behind.
On Sunday, August 30th, Downhill gives way to Cross-country, with anticipation growing around Mathieu van der Poel and Tom Pidcock, but plenty of competition sets up the ideal scenario for a memorable final act of the UCI Mountain Bike World Championships’ week.
GOLDSTONE’S SYMPHONY SETTLES THE ARGUMENT
Watching him come down in Val di Sole is a show in itself. Nobody draws lines on the Black Snake like Jackson Goldstone; nobody reads its traps the way the Canadian does. His reading of the Daolasa woods is a symphony, and it can stun even a rider who has just found the run of his life on the biggest occasion of all.
That is exactly what New Zealand’s Lachlan Stevens-McNab did. Two extraordinary days, qualifying and final run, and a silver medal few would have predicted on the eve and nobody could argue with: 3:29.480 against Goldstone’s 3:28.785, six hundred and ninety-five thousandths of a second that decided a world title.
Bronze went to the man who has dominated the UCI MTB World Series season, Great Britain’s Jordan Williams, third in 3:29.487. Seven thousandths of a second separated silver from bronze.
“I have no words. Winning the UCI World Championships twice in a row is a dream come true,” said Jackson Goldstone. “I am still trying to recover from an incredible run. I had the feeling I could do it, and I simply tried to draw my own lines without mistakes. Val di Sole is the place of my dreams, this track suits my characteristics perfectly and the conditions were perfect. You are so beautiful: I love you, Val di Sole!”
France left the woods empty-handed. Their best was Antoine Pierron in seventh, behind the USA’s Asa Vermette in fourth, Austria’s Andreas Kolb in fifth and the other American, Luca Shaw, in sixth.
HÖLL MAKES IT FIVE, FARINA LEAVES TO A VAL DI SOLE OVATION
Spectacle, emotion, smiles and tears. The Elite women’s Downhill at the 2026 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships Val di Sole-Trentino had all of it, staged on the Black Snake, the most iconic and most demanding downhill course in the world.
Valentina Höll has written her name into the record of the discipline once more, and confirmed herself its undisputed queen. The Austrian, already a winner in Val di Sole at the 2023 UCI World Cup, took a fifth consecutive UCI Downhill World Championships title with a masterful run, built through the middle section of the course.
The 24-year-old from Saalbach stopped the clock at 4:01.558, ahead of Switzerland’s Lisa Baumann, silver in 4:03.286, and Great Britain’s Harriet Harnden, bronze in 4:03.604. Germany’s Nina Hoffmann was fourth in 4:04.905, just off the podium.
It was a hard day for Tahnee Seagrave and Marine Cabirou. Both have owned the Black Snake at UCI World Cup level, and neither could find the perfect run this time. They finished seventh and ninth.
“I didn’t think it was possible to win five UCI World Championships in a row. It’s simply incredible.” Those were Vali Höll’s first words after the race, and she went on to describe the tension she had carried all week.
“It drained me physically and mentally. It’s so difficult to keep performing at this level, but fortunately I managed to do it. I’ve had an incredible season between the UCI World Championships and the UCI World Cup. Now I can’t wait to go on holiday.”
Myriam Nicole did not make the start gate, ruled out by flu. The Frenchwoman remains the last rider to beat Höll at the UCI World Championships – in Val di Sole, in 2021.
Above all, though, the day belonged to Eleonora Farina. Her 26th place is beside the point. After more than a decade at the top of the UCI World Cup, with a win to her name as the only Italian Elite woman ever to manage one, and two European Continental titles, Farina pushed out of the gate for the last time with everything a farewell carries. She crossed the line in tears, into a roar and into the arms of the Val di Sole crowd.
JUNIOR DOWNHILL: SCHNEEBERGER AND BOADLE TAKE THE TITLES,
Switzerland’s Raoul Schneeberger won the Junior men’s Downhill at Daolasa di Commezzadura in 3:47.477, on a Black Snake still treacherous underfoot after Friday evening’s rain. Britain’s Felix Griffiths took silver in 3:47.927 and Italy’s Filippo Gilardino bronze in 3:48.647, riding the last part of his run on a chain that had snapped on the way down.
In the Junior women’s Downhill, Australia’s Tilly Boadle read the conditions better than anyone and became UCI World Champion in 4:13.323. The USA’s Aletha Ostgaard, the dominant rider of this season’s UCI Mountain Bike World Cup, was second at 7.636 seconds, while New Zealand’s Indy Deavoll took bronze at 16.895 despite a crash.
SUNDAY: THE CROSS-COUNTRY OLYMPIC CLOSES THE WEEK, WITH VAN DER POEL AND PIDCOCK
As has become the custom at the UCI Mountain Bike World Championships, it is the Cross-country, the Olympic discipline of the fat tyres, that writes the last word on the week in Val di Sole-Trentino.
Three and a half kilometres and 135 metres of climbing per lap: those are the numbers of the course that will decide the last four rainbow jerseys on Sunday, August 30th. The U23 women go first at Daolasa di Commezzadura at 09:00, followed by the U23 men at 11:00, the Elite women at 13:00 and the Elite men at 15:15 (all times CEST).
The Elite races are far harder to call. All eyes are on two of the great all-rounders, Mathieu van der Poel and Tom Pidcock, the Briton a two-time Olympic champion. Both start from the fifth row of the grid, and both will have to come through the field if they want a medal, let alone the jersey.
The rest have no intention of waiting for them. First among them Adrien Boichis, winner of the Les Gets Cross-country UCI World Cup round ahead of Van der Poel himself, and of Thursday afternoon’s UCI World Championships Cross-country Short Track. Boichis also has two golds from the 2021 UCI World Championships in Val di Sole, in the Junior Cross-country and in the Cross-country Team Relay with France.
France bring two more cards to Daolasa in Luca Martin and Mathis Azzaro. Switzerland have four, in Fabio Püntener, Mathias Flückiger, Dario Lillo and Filippo Colombo. Italy’s two are defending UCI World Championships silver medallist Simone Avondetto and the experienced Luca Braidot.
From across the Atlantic come Bjorn Riley, Chris Blevins and Riley Amos of the United States, and Chile’s Martin Vidaurre, winner of the Cross-country UCI World Cup round held in Val di Sole in 2025. South Africa’s Alan Hatherly looks short of his best, but underestimating the reigning UCI World Champion in the discipline would be a mistake.
In the women’s race the favourite is Sweden’s Jenny Rissveds, who has dominated the UCI World Cup season. Behind her the field is deep and sharp: the Netherlands’ Puck Pieterse, Great Britain’s Evie Richards and Austria’s Laura Stigger, fresh from Cross-country Short Track gold.
Switzerland are formidable here too, led by Sina Frei and filled out by Nicole Koller, Alessandra Keller and Ronja Blöchlinger. From overseas come the USA’s Savilia Blunk, Canada’s Isabella Holmgren and New Zealand’s Samara Maxwell.
Italy have a genuine medal card of their own in Martina Berta, who won the Cross-country UCI World Cup round at La Thuile last July, putting an Italian woman back on the top step of the sport’s premier series after thirteen years.
In the U23 races the odds favour Italy in the women’s event, through Valentina Corvi, who was the making of Wednesday’s Cross-country Team Relay, while Denmark look to Gustav Pedersen in the men’s.
