In some of the tightest qualifying seen for some time AJ Haiby held off fierce competition to take top spot for tomorrows finals with a time of 2:11.428 beating out Micah Green (2:11.440) by a mere 12 thousandths of a second.
Canadian junior Keenan Macartney was certainly the surprise of the day taking third in 2:11:724 from Colorado local Zak Maytum (2:11:803).
The entire top 16 seemed to re-order every run with riders slashing times with each crack at the famous mountain. Brazilian Max Ballesteros was as high as second but after battling with Zak all day he rounded out the top five 4 thousandths of a second behind Zak in a time of 2:11:807.
Top 10 Open
- Andrew Haiby - 2:11:428
- Micah Green - 2:11.440
- Keenan Macartney - 2:11:724
- Zak Maytum - 2:11:803
- Max Ballesteros - 2:11:807
- Mauritz Armfelt - 2:11:913
- Brendan Davidson - 2:12:038
- Alex Charleson - 2:12:196
- Brian Sandoval - 2:12:324
- Alex Hannigan - 2:12:591
The dry track and perfect conditions on what must be one of the most picturesque locations on the IDF World Tour produced time splits more akin to a slalom event with only 2 seconds splitting 1st through 25th meaning any mistake could drop you right down the list. As the morning sun heated the track the riders responded with some blistering times in truly high altitude conditions.
Emily Pross continued to show the form that has her challenging in the opens with a time of 2:16:431 to take top spot in the Women's category to fend off Rachel Bruskoff in 2:23:842 from Paloma Dorado (2:30:446). Loryn Roberson (2:35:298) and Magdelena Blanc (2:51.200) rounded out the top 5
Keenan Macartney took top spot in the Juniors with an almost perfect run in 2:11:724 from Alex Charleson (2:12:196) with Leo Sartor close behind in 2:12:764 with Ignacio Medina (2:13:047) and Knox Heslop (2:14:492) finishing out the top rung.
