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Hardline heroes: Vermette and Hemstreet go big for Tasmania victories
Weather ruined finals day, but Red Bull Hardline Tasmania still crowned its 2026 champions as faster qualifiers Asa Vermette and Gracey Hemstreet dominated to start the downhill race season in style.
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Traditionally, it's been the Welsh edition of Red Bull Hardline that's been blown off course by wet and windy weather. However, after two years of perfect racing conditions, Red Bull Hardline Tasmania 2026 was hit by race-day rain that forced the cancellation of finals for the safety of riders.
This meant that results from Saturday's flat-out seeding runs on the fast and fearsome course cut through the jungle at Maydena Bike Park decided the results at the opening event of downhill mountain biking's hardest race series. This handed American teenager Asa Vermette an historic overall victory while 2025's women's champion Gracey Hemstreet again rode away with the women's victory.
Here's all you need to know about what went down at the season-opening race down under.
Asa Vermette, Ronan Dunne and Troy Brosnan topped the men's podium
© Graeme Murray/Red Bull Content Pool
Hardline heroines Gracey Hemstreet and Louise Ferguson
© Graeme Murray/Red Bull Content Pool
01
Asa Vermette makes history as Red Bull Hardline's youngest two-time champ
After he made a huge statement by qualifying fastest at Red Bull Hardline Tasmania 2025 at just 17-years-old, Asa Vermette did exactly the same this year, but in even more impressive fashion.
Asa Vermette is now the youngest ever double winner at Red Bull Hardline
© Graeme Murray / Red Bull Content Pool
After dialling in the revised course with ease, Vermette rode like he knew exactly what was at stake during Saturday's seeding . The American laid down a near-perfect run to top the time sheets. Fast, calm and on the edge in all the right places on a course with serious consequences if rider's make a mistake, Vermette stopped the clock at 3m 15.805s to qualify as the top seed and, come Sunday, the victory. It was the kind of ride that doesn't scream for attention, but quietly confirmed the first-year elite rider's dominance.
For Vermette, this win means he's also set a new Red Bull Hardline record. After his dominant victory at Red Bull Hardline Wales last summer, where he became the event's youngest-ever winner, the 18-year-old is now also the youngest rider ever to win two Hardline events. It confirmed what everyone in the pits already knew - this kid isn't the future anymore, he's the present.
After winning Wales, Asa Vermette is now a Hardline Australia champ
© Brett Hemmings/Red Bull Content Pool
Ronan Dunne crashed out in 2025, but bounced back to the podium this year
© Brett Hemmings/Red Bull Content Pool
After crashing out hard and suffering significant injuries at last year's race, Ireland's two-time Red Bull Hardline winner Ronan Dunne put all that behind him and came closest to Vermette's time, finishing just over two seconds back to claim second place, while Australian local favourite Troy Brosnan delivered under pressure to lock in third on home dirt for the second year running.
Red Bull Hardline Tasmanaia 2025 winner Jackson Goldstone crashed hard during the final practice runs before seeding and wasn't up to his normal phenomenal pace during the seeding runs, finishing down in ninth.
02
Gracey Hemstreet is still the queen of Red Bull Hardline
On the women's side, Gracey Hemstreet showed once again that she's the queen of Red Bull Hardline Tasmania with a third-straight win. Attacking where others looked defensive and looking as comfortable as any rider out there on the huge jumps, the Canadian three-time UCI World Cup winner controlled the course top to bottom and posted a 4m 0.834s time that none of the other four women her could touch.
Scotland's Louise Ferguson followed her historic top-to-bottom run from last summer's Red Bull Hardline Wales with a hard chase of Hemstreet to tick-off another podium, just five seconds back from Hemstreet. Also out there on track were Tasmania debutantes Jess Blewitt and Scotland's Mikaela Parton, who just missed out on piecing together the full track after the wind picked up during final practice.
Gracey Hemstreet has absolutely tamed the Tasmania course
© Graeme Murray/Red Bull Content Pool
Jess Blewitt and Louise Ferguson both went big all week
© Graeme Murray/Red Bull Content Pool
03
Red Bull Hardline 2026 results
Position
Name
Nationality
Time
Difference
1.
USA
3m 15.805s
2.
IRL
3m 17.937s
+2.132s
3.
Troy Brosnan
AUS
3m 18.098s
+2.293s
4.
Bernard Kerr
GBR
3m 21.918s
+6.113s
5.
USA
3m 22.330s
+6.525s
6.
Carter Sloan
AUS
3m 22.470s
+6.665s
7.
Connor Fearon
AUS
3m 23.211s
+7.406s
8.
Oli Clark
NZL
3m 23.537s
+7.732s
9.
CAN
3m 23.590s
+7.785s
10.
Luca Shaw
USA
3m 23.827s
+8.022s
11.
Ryan Gilchrist
AUS
3m 24.560s
+8.755s
12.
Darcy Coutts
AUS
3m 28.270s
+12.465s
13.
Will Hynes
AUS
3m 29.925s
+14.120s
14.
Dan Booker
AUS
3m 38.080s
+22.275s
15.
Sam Hill
AUS
3m 40.278s
+24.473s
16.
Sascha Kim
AUS
3m 40.321s
+24.516s
17.
Kaos Seagrave
GBR
3m 40.470s
+24.665s
18.
Edgar Briole
FRA
3m 41.356s
+25.551s
19.
Hudson Tarling
AUS
3m 44.542s
+28.737s
20.
Luke Meier-Smith
AUS
3m 44.588s
+28.783s
21.
Matteo Iniguez
FRA
3m 57.988s
+42.183s
22.
CAN
4m 8.534s
+52.729s
23.
Louise-Anna Ferguson
GBR
4m 13.378s
+57.573s
24.
Roger Vieira
BRA
4m 24.334s
+1m 8.529s
25.
Théo Erlangsen
RSA
4m 37.721s
+1m 21.916s
26.
NZL
DNF
27.
Mikayla Parton
GBR
DNS
28.
NZL
DNS
Aaron Gwin performs during practice at Red Bull Hardline Tasmania
© Graeme Murray / Red Bull Content Pool
Kaos Seagrave performs during seeding run at Red Bull Hardline Tasmania
© Bartek Wolinski / Red Bull Content Pool
Jess Blewitt and Lou Ferguson at Red Bull Hardline Tasmania
© Graeme Murray / Red Bull Content Pool
Ronan Dunne performs during practice at Red Bull Hardline Tasmania
© Bartek Wolinski / Red Bull Content Pool
Who took home the Red Bull Hardline Tasmania awards?
It's isn't just the podium performers who get recognised at Red Bull Hardline. Style and speed are rewarded too, and in Tasmania this year ultra-stylish French rider Edgar Briole claimed the Mophie Fastest Charger after sending the huge Creek Gap faster than anyone else. Then, Mikayla Parton earned the coveted Rider of the Week – voted by the riders themselves – for her fully-committed approach to her first-ever Red Bull Hardline appearance.
Red Bull Hardline rookie Mikayla Parton was the Rider of the Week
© Brett Hemmings/Red Bull Content Pool
04
What was new on the Red Bull Hardline Tasmania 2026 course?
Jackson Goldstone going hard during practice
© Graeme Murray/Red Bull Content Pool
The original Red Bull Hardline Tasmania course took over 7,500 hours to build and with the new features added for the 2026 event, the track was longer faster and tougher than ever. In 2025 the track was tweaked to include, among other things, a motocross-style whoop section followed by a scrubby table top at the mid-point. This year's new additions included a big drop-off right out the gates, an even tougher whoop section to challenge both speed and handling, followed by a clipped road gap that extended the drop even further, while ending in the iconic finish bowl. The whole course was 400m longer than 2025, with an additional 25m of elevation for riders to contend with.
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