70mph+ excessive speeding ticket and potentially a trip to jail is what officer Montogomery would issue to someone going as fast as today's riders on the 25mph speed limit Killington track. Luckily we're at a sanctioned world cup event and these dudes can go as fast as they possibly can on their skateboards and luge.
Yesterday totaled 23 practice runs but only a handful of riders took nearly that many. The road was wet up until the afternoon and out of the riders that braved the hill: Daina Banks, Josh Evans, Adam Westfall, and Cole Trotta were some of the few. We weren't surprised when a number of these names appeared at the top of today's qualifying list.
We saw familiar names among the top qualifiers but what we weren't expecting was Oscar (no not Oscar Meyer wieners). The quick spaniard Oscar Escoin who set the new track record of 1:53.69. The previous track record of 1:54.08 was set last year by Brennan Bast from Australia.
Following Oscar was Daina Banks with a time of 1:53.90 and Nicholas Broms with a time of 1:53.98 all of which were within a half second of each other.
Current world ranked #1 Thiago Lessa clocked a time of 1:54.01. If Thiago makes it to the finals in tomorrow's race he will have accumulated enough points at this point in the season to become world champion for the second year in a row.
In luge we saw Frank Williams lay a smoking fast time of 1:51.35. This is the fastest time we've ever seen down the Killington track. The previous record was set last year by Ryan Farmer with a time of 1:51.45.
Following Frank was Kolby parks with a time of 1:52.07, Tim Koch with a time of 1:52.76, and George Cheeseman with a time of 1:52.81. Each of which were within 1 second of each other.
Open Top 8 Qualifying:
- Oscar Rodriguez Escoin 1:53.69
- Daina Banks 1:53.90
- Nicholas Broms 1:53.98
- Thiago Lessa 1:54.01
- Josh Evans 1:54.01
- Justin Rouleau 1:54.75
- Daniel Engel 1:55.44
- Cole Trotta 1:55.53
- Emily Pross 1:55.60
- Daniel Minsky 1:55.80
Luge Top 5 Qualifying:
- Frank Williams 1:51.35
- Kolby Parks 1:52.07
- Tim Koch 1:52.76
- George Cheeseman 1:52.81
- Ira Hewton 1:55.94
Women Top 3 Qualifying:
- Emily Pross 1:55.60
- Cassandra Duchesne 2:05.78
- Giulia Bottazzin 2:17.93
Junior Top 3 Qualifying:
- Nick Broms 1:53.98
- Cole Trotta 1:55.53
- Ethan Ledger 2:18.21
Master Top 2 Qualifying:
- Niko Desmarais 1:58.42
- John Fletcher 2:04.48
For tomorrow's racing the top 16 qualifiers will move directly into the 24 person Open bracket. The remaining riders will enter into a repechage bracket to race for the remaining 8 spots of the Open bracket.
Follow along on the IDF Instagram and Facebook for constant updates throughout the day. Tomorrow is going to be tight racing and could depict this year's world champion. Stay tuned.
Photos by Khaleeq Alfred
