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Find out which riders won big in Australia at Crankworx Cairns
Here's all you need to know about the newest leg of the popular mountain bike festival that took place in Australia from May 17–21. Get up to speed with who won what here.
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The Crankworx World Tour moved to the second of four stops in 2023 in Cairns in Australia, for the newest of the Crankworx festivals, which made its debut in 2022. As the new kid on the block, there was plenty that was fresh to enjoy in Cairns, with the slopestyle contest as always being the headline-grabber.
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Catch the replays from Crankworx Cairns on Red Bull TV
Five events from the festival were broadcast live on Red Bull TV:
- Crankworx Cairns Speed & Style – watch the replay
- Crankworx Cairns Cairns – watch the replay
- Crankworx Cairns Pump Track Challenge – watch the replay
- Crankworx Cairns Slopestyle – watch the replay
- RockShox Downhill Cairns – watch the replay
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What happened at Crankworx Cairns 2023?
Slopestyle – Cairns
Check out all the action from the Slopestyle at Cairns, the second round of the Crankworx World Tour 2023.
Swedish freestyle mountain biker Emil Johansson claimed yet another slopestyle win at a Crankworx Festival to take his tally to 11 titles. The victory in Cairns means that he now ties with Brandon Semenuk as the winningest athlete ever of Crankworx slopestyle events.
On his first run Johansson put down a run good enough to take the victory, scoring 91.50 points. He rolled out 360 downside tail-whips (in both directions) and a topside double-whip in the quarter pipe during his winning run. Pole Dawid Godziek finished second with Frenchman Timothé Bringer rounding off the podium.
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Top 3 Slopestyle runs – Cairns
Here are the top 3 runs from the Slopestyle event of the Crankworx World Tour 2023 in Cairns, Australia.
Elsewhere at Cairns, Australians came to the fore in terms of competition wins in the women's event. Harriet Burbidge-Smith picked up two wins – her first gold at Cairns came in the women's Speed & Style contest and her second gold followed a day later in the Dual Slalom. Another Australian, Caroline Buchanan, took victory in the Pump Track event.
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Speed & Style final heats – Cairns
Watch the final runs from the Crankworx Speed & Style 2023 in Cairns, Australia.
The men's winners in those competitions were American Garret Mechem in the Speed & Style, Ryan Gilchrist of Australia in the Dual Slalom and another Australian in Jayce Cunning in the Pump Track. The downhill races saw wins for Australian Mick Hannah in the men's and New Zealander Jenna Hastings in the women's.
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Winning runs: Downhill – Cairns
Mick Hannah and Jenna Hastings take the downhill wins at the 2023 Crankworx World Tour in Cairns, Australia.
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The latest in the race to be King and Queen of Crankworx
With two stop of the Crankworx Festivals now done, the battle for the King and Queen of Crankworx overall competition is hotting up.
Currently, the 2022 King and Queen of Crankworx champions Bas van Steenbergen and Caroline Buchanan head the 2023 standings after Cairns. Buchanan has 606 points in the Queen race, while Jenna Hastings is second on 580 points, with British athlete Martha Gill in third on 414. Canadian van Steenbergen has 481 points in the King race. He's ahead of New Zealander Tuhoto-Ariki Pene on 409 points and Australian Jackson Frew, who's on 398.
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Tell us more about where Crankworx Cairns takes place
Crankworx Cairns happens at Smithfield Mountain Bike Park, which is set in the confines of a World Heritage tropical rainforest. The Smithfield Mountain Bike Park, which is around a 20-minute drive north of Cairns Airport, boasts an impressive trail riding network of more than 60km that's hard to beat given its rainforest surroundings.
The rainforest that covers the Smithfield area
© Nathan Hughes
Oh-natch-ooh-ral Smithfield
© Brad Newton/Flow MTB
Smithfield is also on the Queensland coast of Australia, with the Great Barrier reef nearby, so who wouldn't want to come to compete here or make a trip to spectate?
Smithfield also has a place in the history of mountain biking, having been the location for two UCI Mountain Bike World Championships and two World Cups in the past. The UCI World Cup standard downhill track and parts of the courses that have been used in World Cup cross-country races can be ridden by those visiting the bike park.
Watch below for the winning runs from the 2022 Crankworx Downhill event on that track.
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Downhill winning runs – Cairns
See who the fastest man and woman were in Cairns at the first-ever Crankworx World Tour in Australia.
Trail course builders World Trail, Flux Trail and Elevate Tail Building rebuilt and reshaped the slopestyle, dual slalom, speed & style and pump track courses after their Crankworx debut in 2022.
The slopestyle build at Cairns for 2022
© Graeme Murray/Red Bull Content Pool
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