No Paws Down

We are so happy to congratulate our riders Ambroise Trauet and Antoine Carlotti for winning 1st and 2nd place, respectively, at the 2024 No Paws Down Race! 

No Paws Down is a riveting downhill event, where riders navigate 18 corners without touching the ground with their hands. This year’s No Paws Down race brought a thrilling challenge with 48 riders competing. Riders raced in heats of 6, with only the top two advancing. The race was intense, with a large crowd of participants, making safety a top priority.

Our team riders, Ambroise and Antoine, advanced to the final, a moment they hadn’t shared since 2020. Unfortunately, our third rider, Andreas, touched the ground with his pucks in the first round, which prevented him from moving forward.

In the final, excitement was high as everyone switched to fresh wheels, increasing both the competition and the challenge. Fresh wheels are faster but also trickier to handle, requiring a balance between speed and safety to avoid touching the ground. Most finalists wore leather suits, but Ambroise opted for a latex suit - which is lighter and has less wind resistance, but also less protection - to gain a competitive edge.

At the start, everyone pushed hard. Ambroise took the lead with Antoine close behind, followed by Albert and Benji. Antoine made an early attempt to pass before corner 1 but couldn’t draft Ambroise, who defended his position perfectly. The race stayed tightly packed, with Antoine managing to overtake Ambroise before corner 4 by drafting out of turn 3.

The pack remained close until corner 14, where Ambroise executed a better line out of corner 13 and overtook Antoine on the inside. Despite Antoine’s expectation that Ambroise might falter, he held his position. Benji, still very close, put his hand down in corner 13, but the rest of the race saw no more touches. The riders powered through the final stretch with burning legs, focused purely on finishing. The top three riders crossed the line within a meter of each other, making it the tightest final in No Paws Down history.

For everyone involved, it was an unforgettable race—highly competitive, incredibly intense, and well-deserved freeride world champion title.