The seeding runs for the Downhill World Championship have taken place in Lugano, Switzerland. These runs decide the running order in the finals tomorrow, and they’re often interesting tactically. Some riders prefer to go all-out, showing their hand early and aiming for a late run (the fastest rider goes last) so they know what they’ve got to beat. Others favour a leisurely qualifier, taking no risks, keeping something in reserve and going for an earlier, low pressure run. Riders who think the course will deteriorate during the finals will also deliberately qualify slower.

All of which means that it’s tricky to draw any firm conclusions from seeding runs. But for what it’s worth, Mickael Pascal was fastest qualifier over the 2.7km, 669m vertical drop course with 4:46.90, ahead of David Vasquez (4:48.58) and Greg Minnaar (4:57.72). Top Brit was Dan Atherton in ninth, just ahead of Crawford Carrick-Anderson. Will Longden’s 15th. And Steve Peat? 31st. Let’s see what he can pull out of the hat tomorrow…

We’ve got to mention Gee Atherton – he’s racing in the Junior category, but his qualifying time of 4:49.59 would have put him third in the Elite field. Needless to say, he’s fastest qualifier in the Juniors.

Over in the women’s event, it was Anne-Caroline Chausson who qualified fastest with a large margin (6.5 seconds) and a strong sense of inevitability. Celine Gros and Sabrina Jonnier are second and third. Of the Brits, Tracy Moseley is handily placed in 8th and Fionn Griffiths is 15th.

So it’s all to play for tomorrow. Good luck, guys and girls…