Queenstown downhill mountain biking champ Jess Blewitt has nabbed her first UCI MTB World Cup Downhill podium.
Blewitt, 20, finished third in Sunday’s latest round at Val di Sole, Italy, producing two outstanding runs down the infamous 2.4-kilometre Black Snake track.
The track, which is rated the toughest technical test on the circuit, includes 540 metres’ elevation loss, which peaks at 40%, and some massive jumps.
The podium took her by surprise, given she’d fought through illness to compete, saying she ‘‘somehow pulled that one out of the bag’’.
‘‘This week I caught the flu that everyone seems to have been getting, and I was like, ‘this is not the race [you can go into unwell]’.
‘‘I was a little bit stressed at the start of the week thinking, ‘How am I going to hold on?’, especially at the end of the Black Snake.’’
Hold on she did, though, rating her run in the final as ‘‘pretty good’’.
‘‘I’m always really weird with it,’’ she says.
‘‘I should be happy but there’s always that little bit where, ‘oh, I should have done this’, or ‘I can do better’, but I’ll take it.’’
One of the youngest on the circuit, Blewitt says the result has also helped with her self-confidence.
‘‘A lot of people keep telling me I should just believe in myself and I do belong here.
‘‘I think when I tell myself that I do well, but it takes a bit to make you feel like you’re really cemented in the circuit — that helped a bit.’’
This weekend she’ll compete again in the infamous Red Bull Hardline, being held in Wales’ Dyfi Valley.
Last year she became the first female to ever compete in the event.
