Okay so here's something I've been thinking about this year as the world cup season unfolded.. Aaron Gwin quits mx turns up to his first world cup race 3 years ago and gets in the top ten straight off the bat, fast forward to this year and he has pretty much made a mockery of the rest of the guys who have been doing it for years.
Now as I understand it Gwin was at the top level of amateur motocross when he quit, perhaps just about to start trying to make it in the big time. Obviously there is a lot more strength and depth in the mx race scene than dh given it is a much more high profile sport, but I got to thinking this year if a guy who hadnt even proved himself anywhere near the top level of mx can come in and wipe the floor with pretty much everyone in a VERY short space of time does that mean there is nowhere near as much talent in the dh scene as we would like to think?
So as the season goes on I'm thinking this is really just taking the piss out of our sport but then I think look at Palmer, that guy had been at the top of several sports and even made a supercross main which I imagine Gwin was way off doing in his mx career and yet for all the hype Palmer had very limited success in dh and in no way came anywhere near to dominating like Gwin has.
So how much of a link is there between succes in the two sports and is our sport a lot weaker in the depth of of talent than mx, or was Gwin just more suited to dh?? And why?
Its a pointless discussion I know that noone can ever truly answer, but its interesting nonetheless!
Now as I understand it Gwin was at the top level of amateur motocross when he quit, perhaps just about to start trying to make it in the big time. Obviously there is a lot more strength and depth in the mx race scene than dh given it is a much more high profile sport, but I got to thinking this year if a guy who hadnt even proved himself anywhere near the top level of mx can come in and wipe the floor with pretty much everyone in a VERY short space of time does that mean there is nowhere near as much talent in the dh scene as we would like to think?
So as the season goes on I'm thinking this is really just taking the piss out of our sport but then I think look at Palmer, that guy had been at the top of several sports and even made a supercross main which I imagine Gwin was way off doing in his mx career and yet for all the hype Palmer had very limited success in dh and in no way came anywhere near to dominating like Gwin has.
So how much of a link is there between succes in the two sports and is our sport a lot weaker in the depth of of talent than mx, or was Gwin just more suited to dh?? And why?
Its a pointless discussion I know that noone can ever truly answer, but its interesting nonetheless!