The first weekend of the 2012 Mountain Bike World Championships in Leogang, Austria, concluded on Sunday with the crowd favorite Downhill.  Morgane Charre (France) took her first world title in the Elite women's race.


Top American was Jacqueline Harmony in 15th.

The women's race was expected to be between defending champion Emmeline Ragot (France) and Rachel Atherton (Great Britain), the two riders who have been battling it out all season in the UCI World Cup. However, Atherton was not a factor in the race, suffering from an undisclosed injury and finishing fifth. After Canadians Micayla Gatto and Casey Brown came close to breaking the four minute barrier, Charre obliterated it, taking the lead time down to 3:50.654 with six riders remaining.

Countrywoman Floriane Pugin came within 1.617 seconds, with last year's Junior world champion Manon Carpenter then getting a tenth of a second closer. Ragot was next, but she could only get within 1.2 seconds, leaving Atherton the only rider who could deny Charre the championship. Atherton was within two-hundredths of a second after the first intermediate time check, but faded badly in the second half of the race, allowing the 22-year-old Charre to step into the rainbow jersey.


"I did not expect this," admitted a stunned Charre.  "I thought that Emmeline would beat me for sure, or Atherton. I had a very good run and pedaled a lot, with only little mistakes, but I have never had a result like this before."


Elite Women    Time    Gap
1 Morgane Charre (France)    03:50.7    
2 Emmeline Ragot (France)    03:51.9    1.199
3 Manon Carpenter (Great Britain)    03:52.1    1.49
4 Floriane Pugin (France)    03:52.3    1.617
5 Rachel Atherton (Great Britain)    03:56.5    5.894
6 Micayla Gatto (Canada)    04:00.2    9.537
7 Casey Brown (Canada)    04:00.3    9.611
8 Miriam Ruchti (Switzerland)    04:03.2    12.558
9 Claire Buchar (Canada)    04:04.6    13.92
10 Tracy Moseley (Great Britain)    04:04.8    14.145
11 Lauren Rosser (Canada)    04:05.4    14.75
12 Petra Bernhard (Austria)    04:07.5    16.867
13 Sabrina Jonnier (France)    04:07.9    17.226
14 Zarja Cernilogar (Slovenia)    04:08.1    17.44
15 Jacqueline Harmony (United States of America)    04:09.0    18.377
16 Anita Molcik (Austria)    04:09.1    18.405
17 Miranda Miller (Canada)    04:10.5    19.818
18 Mélanie Pugin (France)    04:12.2    21.527
19 Luana Mari De Souza Oliveira (Mari Brazil)    04:16.4    25.738
20 Mio Suemasa (Japan)    04:16.7    26.077
21 Sandra Rubesam (Germany)    04:17.4    26.715
22 Jana Bartova (Czech Republic)    04:21.8    31.174
23 Diana Marggraff (Ecuador)    04:22.0    31.31
24 Sophiemarie Bethell (New Zealand)    04:23.1    32.459
25 Harriet Rucknagel (Germany)    04:23.9    33.208
26 Veronique Sandler (New Zealand)    04:24.8    34.124
27 Nicole Beege (Germany)    04:25.5    34.865
28 Lauren Daney (United States of America)    04:25.6    34.899
29 Simona Jirkova (Czech Republic)    04:25.7    35.093
30 Elke Rabeder (Austria)    04:26.9    36.213
31 Elisa Canepa (Italy)    04:31.0    40.305
32 Jaime Rees (United States of America)    04:36.3    45.618
33 Kim Schwemmer (Germany)    04:43.8    53.176