The Sunshine Coast’s Gracey Hemstreet did not race qualifying at downhill world championships this morning. The Norco rider announced early Friday that she had made “The difficult decision not to start at World Champs Qualifying this afternoon.”
Hemstreet did not provide specific details as to why she isn’t racing. Instead, she said she is focusing on the next round of World Cup racing.
“The priority now is recovery, resetting and making sure I’m in the best possible place heading into my home race in Whistler.”
We won’t speculate as to what might have caused Hemstreet to decide not to race worlds. But that’s a big decision for a racer that has had success at the event in the past, so it must be a real concern.
“I’m obviously gutted not to be racing, but sometimes you have to take a step back and look at the bigger picture, even when it’s not the decision you want to make,” Hemstreet added.
There is one exciting note for Canadian fans, though. Today’s decision shifts the focus to the grand debut of Canada’s newest World Cup track.
“Whistler, I’ll see you soon,” Hemstreet said in closing.