On a great track and in ideal conditions, two new winners in the elite categories, and even the sixth one this year in men’s. The new Croatian national champion with his fifth title this year! We have the overall winners of the 2024 20chocolate Downhill Cup series.
Last year’s cold, wet and windy conditions on Sljeme mountain above Zagreb, Croatia were quickly forgotten this year. At the 20chocolate Downhill Cup finals and the 2024 Croatian National Championships hosted by DSR Bike Park Sljeme club, around 140 riders from Austria, Australia, Croatia and Slovenia were greeted by sunshine and warm autumn weather, while the well-prepared DH Legends track, which they already like, offered optimum grip – even better for Sunday’s race than for Saturday’s practice.
At the end of a busy day of racing, we not only got the winners in the final series standings, but also two new race winners in the elite competition – Maša Komel (KK Črn trn) took the top step in the women’s race and Marko Niemiz (Rajd Ljubljana), a returning competitor, took the top step for the first time in the men’s elite. In these two categories, Tina Smrdel (MBK Črni Vrh) and Miha Jerkič (KK Črn trn) won the overall crown of the 20chocolate Downhill Cup series.
The Return of Niemiz
Marko Niemiz was the fastest Slovenian downhill rider in the U15 category, then in the U17 category in 2017, when he moved from his home team ŠKTD Avče to Rajd’s development team Sinter Brakes Team (now Bikehanic – Lumar), he also won the Rookies Championships in Austria, and he continued with his victories in the international races as junior. However, he only competed in two races in his first elite season in 2021. Since then, he has only been seen at a few Italian enduro races, and this year he won his home race GoEnduro.
But at the age of 22, he turns up at the Slovenian Downhill Cup final, on an enduro bike, at a race in Croatia, because he heard it was a good track. In the ranking he was only narrowly behind Miha Smrdel (MBK Črni Vrh), so he went into the final as the penultimate rider. His excellent time of two minutes, 17 seconds and 73 hundredths, the fastest recorded in the whole race and also the new track record, remained at the top even after Smrdel reached the finish.
Miha settled for second place, while the third place went to a complete rookie in downhill – the excellent Croatian cross-country racer Fran Bošnjak (BBK Šišmiš) has quite some experience in enduro, he is also a national champion, and on Sunday morning he sat on a downhill bike for the first time, on a 12-year-old bike of the head of the organisation, Nino Ružička. It certainly didn’t hurt that his father Tomislav was one of the fastest downhill racers here a quarter of a century ago, but it didn’t make his weekend any easier that he won the national championship titles in both hill climb and eliminator on the same hill on Saturday. With his third place in the DH Sljeme (3.26 seconds behind Niemiz) he of course also won the Croatian National downhill title, and with his XCO and XCC titles this year he has five titles!
Among the elite, Matic Kvas (DGK Pohorje – Spank Team) in 4th and Australian Archie O’Mahoney (Red Hill Riders MTBC) in 5th remained below the podium, while in the overall ranking of elite and juniors, which also awards prize money, the fastest two juniors made it into the top five.
“I was really surprised by the win. I could almost have cried at the end. It was like winning a World Cup race. After three years I wouldn’t have expected it. The track was great, old school, like I like it, for flat pedals. I still seem to know how to do it, and that makes me happy. I’ve already won an enduro this year, so I decided to try downhill, which is my ‘home’. Winning changed my plans a little. I won’t make any promises, but I’ll probably do some more downhill cup races next year, and enduro as the mood takes me. I’m riding for fun now, not for wins, although winning is the best feeling. The team is encouraging me too. So if the form is there, if the time is there, if the will is there, we can do something.”
Marko Niemiz
In Men’s Overall Ranking
By the time of the final at Sljeme, the national champion Tilen Leban (Deš Fleš) had accumulated the most points, but due to the rule that the worst seeding and final results of the rider are deducted, the winner of Soriška planina, Miha Jerkič, was already in the advantage.
At Sljeme, Jerkič and Leban were together in the seeding run, Jerkič in 3rd and Leban in 4th place, but in the final they both crashed and finished 15th and 23rd respectively. Jerkič was crowned Cup champion by 23 points, with Leban second and Kvas third.
“Honestly, I never even thought about the overall standings, I just wanted to do my best in every race. In 2025, I will focus on the downhill.”
Miha Jerkič
Maša Went For It
Maša Komel broke through to the top of SloEnduro in her first season last year, and this year she has started competing in downhill. She finished third at the national championships, then second at Soriška planina, and this time she reached the top for the first time. She was ahead of last year’s Sljeme winner Tina Smrdel in both runs of the day. Similarly to the men, the third place went to the local rider, Fran’s sister Larisa Bošnjak (BBK Šišmiš), who also counts cross-country Olympic as her first discipline.
Maša Komel:
“I think the downhill race at Sljeme was a great end to the season. I showed what I am capable of and I really enjoyed the course. It was a perfect track because it’s fast, but also a bit technical in places. I think next season downhill will be my priority, but that doesn’t mean I will forget about SloEnduro.”
Tina Smrdel, winner of the Soriška planina and twice second, was safe at the top of the leaderboard, finishing behind Maša. She won the overall series title for the second year in a row. Komel is 57 points behind in second place, while third-placed Eva Zala Stergar (DGK Pohorje – Spank Team), who like several other young riders missed the Sljeme race for the Rookies Championships in Austria, was third by a bigger margin.
Tina Smrdel
“Since I was focusing on school and my final exams at the beginning of the season, my goal for this season was to win the DH Cup. I’m happy to have achieved my goal and I’m finishing this season with a race at Sljeme. I have decided to concentrate on my studies so I will not be actively competing next season. Maybe just some events for fun.”
Fast Junior Men
In men’s junior category, Slovenian national champion Matej Osolin (Calcit Bike Team) was behind Završnica’s Juš Ažman and Maks Struna in the seeding. In the final, however, he was faster than everyone, with only Ažman less than a second behind him, and then three more from team Završnica: Anže Kofjač, Vid Berlot and Struna. Matej recorded the second fastest time of the final among all riders, while Ažman was fourth.
Without the injured Ažbe Kalinšek, the U17 were a bit slower this time. Max Žvegla (Bikehanic Lumar) won by 8 hundredths ahead of Svit Kunaver Smolkovič (Rajd Ljubljana), with the new Croatian junior champion Šimun Juras (Top Sport) third.
Osolin won the Junior Cup title ahead of Kofjač and Struna, while Kunaver Smolkovič took the overall win among the younger juniors ahead of Kalinšek and Tine Gračner (Golovec Trails).
In Other Categories
Jure Logar (427 Savage Squad) was the fastest in the men’s master category, while Aleš Virtič (DGK Pohorje – Spank Team) was unbeatable among the amateurs. In the boys’ U15 category, Nejc Mozetič (KK Črn trn) took his first win, while Gal Novak (Rajd Ljubljana) won the youngest category for the third time in the season.
Gal also confirmed his convincing overall victory, with Maks Fošnarič (DGK Pohorje – Spank Team) winning the U15 category, Gal Jevšenak Kodrič (35 Crew) the amateurs and Rožle Mesec (Golovec Trails) the masters.
Top three overall finishers in the 20chocolate Downhill Cup series will receive their trophies at the joint final event of all the cup competitions under the Mountain Biking and BMX Commission of the Slovenia Cycling.
DH Sljeme Results and 2024 20chocolate Downhill Cup Final Standings
Photos by Jure Gasparič