Alex Charleson qualified fasted at King's Gate on a day where each qualifying run occurred on different conditions - starting out totally wet, and getting progressively drier as the day wore on. There was no way of knowing exactly how dry each corner would be before starting out, so riders had to be 100% ON to deal with whatever the track threw at them.
Each run was faster than the last, making previous qualifying runs redundant. Riders lived in a perpetual present; the current run was everything because relying on a time from a previous run was a ticket to oblivion.
Zak Maytum took the second qualifying spot after earlier runs left him covered in mud and trailing shrubbery from his rear truck as he crossed the finishing line. In Womens, Emily Pross was more than six seconds faster than second-placed Sabrina Ambrosi from Argentina, but the women's field is impressively deep and promises some close racing tomorrow.
Canadian Nico Desamarais was similarly dominant in Masters, as was Tristan Cardillo of Switzerland in Juniors, who also took the 5th spot in Opens.
In Luge Mikel Echegaray Diez of Spain took the top spot and will be very hard to be beat as always.
For all qualifying times and race brackets, click the "results" tab on the King's Gate event page.
