Downhill World Championships 2006 - Chill on a Swiss Hill

17. - 22. July 2006

Saturday night 22:30 my new board is ready to ride. I never managed to mount the trucks as precise as on this board. I'm really happy. And the barefoot testride makes me even happier. The deck is 0.5kg lighter than my previous texalium board. The lips are stronger and the new trucks work great. The stearing feels much more direct and there's absolutely no torsion. Back to work! I still need to make my slidegloves and a few gps fixies. The night is getting shorter and shorter. On sunday morning I prepared two footbraking shoes. Then I packed all my stuff. In the afternoon I'm going to Zürich by train. The sun is burning like crazy and it's very hot. Chris and I went for a swim in the river Limmat. Later i met Aki, Ross and Liam at the railwaystation. We're driving to Tomils. Driving only 80km/h this journey feels endless. But finally we arrived. I set up my tent and went sleeping.

From Monday to Wednesday we're having freerides on the racecourse. It's a good opportunity to get to know the track and see how other riders skate. 2km, 5 hairpins, chicanes, hard footbraking - these are the things you have to deal with on this track. The hairpins are tight and flat at the end. You really need to ride clean if you want to get a good run. The maximum speed is about 80km/h. This doesn't seem so fast. While footbraking before the corners you can feel how fast you were going. The sole of your shoe is quickly getting thinner and warmer.

The first corner - a right hand 180° turn - is slippery and i'm always sliding too much. And I always need to footbrake for Curvo do viado, a blind lefthand sweeper. Others are going full speed. I tried it once and crashed in the next corner. But the rest of the course fits my style. I like it when it's technical. I found the best line and where i need to footbrake. And the new carbon board is awesome!

In the evening we're getting another two to three freerides. I'm the slowest man on the hill with my slideboard. But i don't care about that when I'm having fun. We're cooking dinner and barbeque on the fire. The atmosphere is nice and very relaxed. Every day I fixed a few leathers. I even managed to repair a broken zipper. For this work i got food, icecream and beer. Ah yes, all the gps fixies are sold out again.

On Thursday a team from the swiss television was right on my heels the whole day. Aki and I made sick cameruns with Danny Strasser. He's driving next to me and then right infront of me for a second run. I'm in his draft with 75km/h. It felt pretty sick. Couldn't see where i'm going. In the last chicane I almost crash into the back of his car. He was too slow. Looks like I crashed but I passed him. That was hectic. Unfortunately Aki crashed in the run before lunchbrake and hurt his ankle badly.

Friday began relaxed with two freerides for everybody. Then all disciplines except skateboard had the timetrials. We're waiting the whole day. Since the first timing system didn't work, Clemens father organized a new one. It had light barriers for the start and finish too. At least we're now having very precisely measured runs. Aki's riding with my brace and qualifies 31st. I won the first run and then managed to improve my time in the second run - 2min 22.56sec was my winning time. I was leading with a big advantage of 1.58sec. Adrien Barat is on second place - Jody Froment did two very good runs and got third. The swedish boys are very fast too. In the evening it was raining like expected. The temperature cooled down nicely. Due to bad weather previsions for saturday afternoon the standup finals were moved to saturday morning.

My raceday started with a cold shower. Then Luis an I went to the shop to buy breakfast. Fruits, lassi and jogurth. The swiss tv is back again. On the back of the animal transporter we're driving to the start. In my second heat I met Cedric Burel, the 2005 World Champion. We crashed all together in Claudia. Nevertheless i won the with a big lead. The were alot of crashes. I was the lucky guy and won all my heats.

The final: Adrien Barat, Fredrik Lindstrom, Yvon Labarthe, myself! After the first corner I got behind Adrien. I stay there and wait for the right moment to pass him. We both didn't footbrake alot for the Curvo do Viado. I got perfectly through Claudia. 50m later I overtook Adrien. I made it! The next corner was almost perfect and I was able to get away from Adrien. I had a big enough lead and didn't need to risk anything in the last corner. I won with an advantage of 20m. I still can't believe it. Being World Champion for the second time and at such a nice location is just too cool. Adrien Barat ended on the unlucky second place again like last year. Fredrik Lindstrom got third.

It's unbelievable. That was my day, my race, everything was perfect. I did a short interview for the Swiss TV. Then I walked up to the last corner. The party just started! I was feeling so good. I practised alot and optimized everything. The victory on this very technical Swiss mountain racetrack means alot for me. The pricegiving started late at night. Danny showed the crazy footage we filmed on Thursday. 1st place standup! World Champion Downhill Skateboard 2006: Sigi! Everybody's shouting! Carrying my new board I'm running to the podium. We sprayed all the Champagne. We partied and danced until early morning.

On Sunday I found the perfect shuttle: Edgar de Wit drove towards Netherlands and dropped me in Basel. From there I went home by train and bus.

I'd like to say thank you to all the people who support me in such a nice and positive way. Dear Chris you make the best and fastest boards on the whole wide world. Magun - your trucks are worldclass. Flywheels are the choice of champions. Chaput your wheels rule! How would I footbrake without Globe Shoes? Thanks alot! Samy and Clemens your event was awesome. I was having the time of my life! I'm missing the good moments and I'm looking forward to the next races.

1st Martin Siegrist - CH - Airflow Skateboards
2nd Adrien Barat - F - SC8
3rd Fredrik Lindstrom - SWE - Landyachts

TV report by SF1 - Swiss Television - 'Sportpanorama'

Article in the Baslerstab - a free newspaper in Basel - 'Szene - Martin Siegrist'

Pictures by Sven von Schlachta, Yorck Dertinger and Richard Auden. Thanks alot!