Brandon Semenuk wins 26Trix

The winner of the 26TRIX fueled by Monster Energy at the Bikepark Leogang is called Brandon Semenuk (CAN). The qualifying of the 26TRIX fueled by Monster Energy took place on Friday in beautiful sunny weather. In front of a breathtaking mountain backdrop, the dirt superstars who had come to Leogang from all over the world showed tricks on an extremely high level.

At this gold event of the Freeride Mountain Bike (FMB) World Tour, the riders tried their best to collect valuable points for the overall ranking. Just in time for the finals, the weather unfortunately turned. Even though the newly designed course was able to withstand the pouring rain relatively well, the finals had to be cancelled and in the end, the results from the qualifying decided who the winner in Leogang was. Instead, the riders showed their best moves in a spontaneous best trick contest.

After the finals on Saturday had to be cancelled, judges and riders decided together to take the qualifying results as a final ranking. Because of the bad weather forecast, the riders had been prepared for this possibility and already went full throttle in the qualifying; especially Brandon Semenuk, whose qualifying result made him the winner of the contest.

The course had gone soft and muddy overnight from the rain and it was questionable whether the riders could complete their runs without risking major crashes. Fortunately, the qualifying was already carried out on such a spectacular trick level that spectators and riders did not feel cheated out of the legendary trick action expected of the contest. Here is the final ranking:

Brandon Semenuk (CAN)
Andreu Lacondeguy (ESP)
Sam Pilgrim (GBR)
Mehdi Gani (FRA)
Martin Söderström (SWE)
Lance McDermott (GBR)
Yannick Granieri (FRA)
Niki Leitner (AUT)
Amir Kabbani (GER)
Linus Sjöholm (SWE)
Cameron McCaul (USA)
Sam Reynolds (GBR)
Cameron Zink (USA)
Florian Berghammer (GER)
Mitch Chubey (CAN)
Louis Reboul (FRA)

The Canadian Brandon Semenuk convinced the judges of his skills and landed safely on first place. With the 26TRIX fueled by Monster Energy being a gold event of the FMB World Tour, this is a very important victory for him and he was able to score a lot of points for his overall ranking. It was his second run that catapulted him all the way to the top. He started with a backflip tailwhip, followed by a 360 truckdriver, backflip x-up onefoot, a really sick double tailwhip, tuck no hand and a frontflip over the last sender. With a run like that, his first place was well deserved. He was also on top of the podium after the best trick competition held on Saturday instead of the finals. There, he impressed the judges with an impressive 360 backflip.

His first run of the qualifying allowed Andreu Lacondeguy (ESP) to come in on second place. He started it with a backflip tailwhip followed by a 360 and a backflip. After that, he impressed judges and spectators with one of his signature superextended supermans, a tailwhip and 360 tailwhip gave him the necessary points for second place.

It was also the second run that helped Sam Pilgrim (GBR) come in on third place. He showed a backflip tuck no hand, 360 x-up and backflip x-up one foot. After an extremely stylish 360 tabletop, he finished his run with a backflip and 360 tailwhip.

Martin Soderstrom’s (SWE) run is definitely also worth mentioning. In the challenging Airtime Line he caused quite a stir not only with a 360 double tailwhip. His run would probably have earned him first place if it hadn’t been for his foot touching the ground after a backflip tailwhip – a mistake that cost him important points. Just like the other riders, he loved the new course that had been completely remodeled for this year’s contest: “The course is definitely a lot more fun than last year. The landings are softer and catch falls much better. Additionally, it is a lot faster now so that you can build up good speed for really sick tricks. All in all, it’s a lot more flowy this year and has a really good feel to it.”

Louis Reboul (FRA) and Florian Berghammer (GER) also showed an impressive performance since they were the only riders who managed to make it to the finals from the pre-qualifiers.

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