Der Abfahrtsweltcup in Saalfelden Leogang steht morgen vor einem spannenden Finale.

Led by the US American Luca Shaw, the four fastest elite men were separated by less than a second in today's qualification. In the women's race, last year's winner Tahnee Seagrave set an impressive fastest time. In addition to Valentina Höll, who was once again the fifth-fastest lady on the Speedster today, Austria's David Trummer also qualified for the final of the top 60 men.

Not Leogang series winner Aaron Gwin, but a fellow countryman secured the fastest time in today's qualifying run for the Downhill World Cup in Leogang. As in Fort William, Luca Shaw led the extremely tight qualifying field in the elite men's race. For Gwin, who complained of a sore thumb after his heavy crash in Fort William, it was only enough for 13th place in the qualifiers. The New Zealander Brook McDonald, who competes in the team of the Austrian Markus Stöckl, seems to be back at the top, who made a loud comeback today after breaking his collarbone in Losinj and placed second. Third place in qualifying went to the winner of Fort William, Frenchman Amaury Pierron. Less than a second behind in fourth place, the reigning world champion and fastest in training, Loic Bruni, also impressed. Qualifying for the elite men was disappointing for the Austrians. Only David Trummer made it into the final of the top 60 men as the most promising red-white-red rider in 49th place: "That wasn't my best run today. I don't really know what was going on, but I just couldn't find the right speed. I was also a bit surprised at how dusty, hard and dry the track was today compared to yesterday. Nevertheless, this is the best World Cup track in years and I want to give it my all tomorrow."

While the top ten men in qualifying today were within four seconds of each other, Tahnee Seagrave managed to pull away from second place in the women's race by a similar margin. Last year's winner dominated qualifying with a lead of more than three seconds over Australia's Tracey Hannah and the strong Swiss rider Emilie Siegenthaler. Yesterday's fastest rider in training, Rachel Atherton, was only able to make it into the final with her protected ranking after a crash in the upper section of the course. The only Austrian woman, Simone Wechselberger, finished 23rd and clearly missed out on a place in the final of the top 15 women.

Will Vali Höll achieve a hat-trick in her first year in the World Cup?

However, young ace Valentina Höll once again impressed with her seeding run. Her time of 3:56.834 would have put her in fifth place in the elite women's race today, but the Saalbach skier still sees plenty of room for improvement: "It was extremely slippery today and I had real problems getting into the course during training in the morning. But the seeding run worked quite well and now we'll see if it can get even better tomorrow," explains the 16-year-old local heroine, who once again won the junior seeding run.

Grand finale with an ingenious supporting programme

If you want to experience Vali Höll's final live on site tomorrow, you should be early. The junior women start the race at 9.45 am, followed by the junior men at 10.15 am.

The men's and women's elite finals will then be heralded by a spectacular freestyle motocross show from 11.00 am. There is also plenty to experience all around. The team and expo area, where you can get up close to the stars of the scene, opens its doors at 9.30 am. For all those who can't make it to Leogang, the Mercedes-Benz UCI Mountain Bike Downhill World Cup in Leogang will be available live and as video-on-demand free of charge at www.redbull.tv/uci/deutsch on the Red Bull TV BIKE Channel: redbull.tv/bike. The Mercedes-Benz UCI Mountain Bike Downhill World Cup in Leogang will also be broadcast live on Servus TV.