I don't believe many people were very surprised to see Ramon Julian and Jain Kim on topp of their respective podiums at Puurs. The big, and only, shocker was Mathilde Brumagne who fought her way into a sensational 2nd place in front of her home crowd. Mathilde was very successful as a junior, but before this, her best WC result was a 22nd spot at Brno last year. She certainly knows how to pick a time and a place...

This was the exception from the rule however, and the rest of the top spots were occupied by the usual suspects. It should be said that it was an extremely close race among the men, with both Ramonet and Jakob Schubert reaching the same height in the final. Ramonet winning because of a better result in the semi final.

Jain on the other side left quite a lot of space between herself and the rest of the pack in the final as well as in the semi, showing she's very much the one to beat if you want to win. You'd have to beat the rest as well obviously...

Next stop is Huaiji, China, in late October, before the WC finals at Kranj, Slovenia three weeks later.

Big thanks to Belclimb for letting us use these photos!