He did it again. For the second year in a row, Brennan Bast (AU) smashed the opposition to post the fastest qualifying time at Newton's. This year it was 57.91, not quite as fast as the track record he set last year; 57.27. Behind him was a trio of Americans; Chase Hiller, Morgan Owens, and 16-year-old Nick Broms.
Tomorrow morning the top 10 qualifiers will race a single-run shootout for a $500 prize, before the serious head-to-head racing begins.
In luge, Kolby Parks (CA) squeaked past Abdil Mahdzan (MY) and Graham Brittain (AU) to post the fastest time. These three will surely feature in tomorrow's luge finals.
In the late afternoon, the slowest 32 riders from qualifying raced a repechage bracket, fighting for the single remaining spot in the Open finals. Maxwell Kaye (CA) fought hard through four rounds of racing to claim the 64th finals spot, and even had to give up his spot in the luge repechage to do so.
For links to all the finals brackets, see here: https://internationaldownhillfederation.org/races/newtons-2019/results/.
