SCHLADMING, Austria (transcendmagazine.com) -- At the end of the day it was a Kiwi taking him his first world cup win, despite an epic battle between 2 of the sports heavyweights.
Sam Hill and Greg Minnaar battled through less than idea conditions to each try and bring home the points they needed to take home the world cup overall. Following an off-pace qualifying run by Hill which ended with him in 4th place, Minaar would only need to put together a solid 7th place finish if the Aussie won to take home the overall title. The South African slipped into 5th place while hill took home second by about 1.4 seconds behind first time World Cup winner, Sam Blenkinsop of New Zealand. Gee Atherton of the UK was 3rd.
The Kiwi was so new to winning at this level, he had no idea what to do in the finish area and had to be prodded by photographers to climb aboard the "hot seat truck" and savour the moment.
For the women it was a dominant Rachel Atherton placing her stamp of approval on a season she has dominated, winning by a staggering 13 seconds over Floriane Pugin of France. Atherton scored both the win, and the title, easily taking home both major titles for the season. Sabrina Jonnier of france was 3rd.
Watch Blenkis win below.
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