MTB
One year after his devastating crash, Jackson Goldstone made a remarkable comeback at Red Bull Hardline Tasmania. But it wasn’t just his return that had fans holding their breath.
Redemption was the name of the game for Jackson Goldstone at Red Bull Hardline Tasmania, as the 20-year-old returned to the scene of the season-ruining crash that ruptured his knee ligaments last year and rode to victory in an incredible final.
The 20-year-old Canadian rider delivered a flawless run in Sunday's final to secure a narrow victory of 0.233s over fastest qualifier and Red Bull Hardline rookie Asa Vermette, while veteran Australian Troy Brosnan completed the podium on home soil. Meanwhile, the undisputed queen of Hardline, Gracey Hemstreet, stormed the track to claim the women's honours for the second year running.
Hit play on the video below to watch the onboard view of Goldstone's winning run and then read on to get the full lowdown on the action from Maydena Bike Park.
01
A golden Red Bull Hardline return for Jackson Goldstone
Hot on the heels of two UCI Mountain Bike World Cup wins during his debut elite season in 2023, Jackson Goldstone was the hot favourite to claim victory at last year's debut Red Bull Hardline Tasmania and become the first rider to win both versions of the event after winning in Wales in 2022.
After looking incredibly fast as riders ticked-off all the huge features built at the Maydena Bike Park, Goldstone suffered a massive crash just seconds into his finals run however, smashing into the trackside trees and sustaining knee ligament injuries that put him on the sidelines for the entire 2024 season.
Returning to the scene of the accident for his first competitive appearance in 12 months, the Santa Cruz Syndicate rider showed no outward sign of nerves. He was immediately at home on the huge drops and gap jumps that litter the Red Bull Hardline Tasmania course, showing confidence in his rebuilt knee.
He qualified third behind 2024 winner Ronan Dunne and surprise package Vermette with a time of 3m 22.177s and then delivered a sensational run in Sunday's final, dropping his time to an astonishing 3m 17.096s with an inch-perfect ride to glory that delivered him the ultimate redemption. He's now the second rider to win Red Bull Hardline in both Wales and Australia.
"This is my first big race back and to come back and win it is probably one of the biggest moments of my life. I don't even know what to say, that was amazing," said a visibly emotional Goldstone afterwards.
02
Red Bull Hardline rookie Asa Vermette on the podium
Just two weeks after turning 18, American youngster Asa Vermette not only became the youngest ever Red Bull Hardline competitor, but also the youngest podium finisher in the event's history.
The 2024 Junior world champion showed absolutely no hesitation or intimidation when faced with the reality of the Red Bull Hardline Tasmania course. In fact, he announced himself as a genuine contender for victory when he stormed to the fastest qualifying time, beating the defending champion and vastly more experienced Hardline competitors in the process.
The last rider down the hill in Sunday's final and knowing he had Goldstone's time to beat, Vermette got faster and faster as his run progressed to recover from 1.4s behind at the first split and come within a quarter of a second of victory. As Red Bull Hardline debuts go, this was truly special. Can he go one better at Red Bull Hardline Wales in July?
03
Gracey Hemstreet proves she's the queen of Red Bull Hardline
In Red Bull Hardline history only three women have ever completed a top-to-bottom run and only one has done it twice – Canada's Gracey Hemstreet.
At Red Bull Hardline Tasmania 2024, Hemstreet rode the first-ever full run by a women and won the final ahead of Scotland's Louise Ferguson. She returned this year and was the only female rider to race in Sunday's finals alongside the men, finishing 21st overall and showing she's officially the queen of Red Bull Hardline. "It was just what I wanted to do; be smooth and just have fun," said the British Columbia native of her achievement.
The 20-year-old actually missed the first two days of practice after tweaking her back leading up to the event, but was up to speed on the huge features impressively quickly to clear the new bottom jumps on the extended track and complete the first top-to-bottom run for the women again.
Hemstreet should have been joined in Sunday's final by 2024 Junior world champion Erice Van Leuven, who was the only other woman to complete the whole course in qualifying. Sadly the New Zealander crashed hard during warm up on Sunday morning however and had to miss the final.
The women's class is expanding every year and was boosted by a number of new riders this time in Tasmania, including 2024 world champion and overall World Cup winner Vali Höll, who made her Red Bull Hardline debut. The Austrian ticked-off a lot of the biggest features on the track during the practice sessions and we'll hopefully she her return to complete a full run next year.
With Red Bull Hardline Wales coming up on July 26–27, we'll hope to see the first full top-to-bottom run from a woman at the original Hardline venue.
04
Longer, faster, scarier: Red Bull Hardline Tasmania 2025
After making its debut in 2024, the Red Bull Hardline Tasmania team didn't rest on their laurels for the 2025 event. Track builders added over 300m of track to the bottom of the course to create a new finish filled with huge jumps. Also new was a supercross-style whoops section and stall wall in the middle of the circuit, a big 60-foot gap jump through the ferns and various tweaks to create new and more varied lines higher up the course.
With a year of riding on many sections of the track and a long spell of hot weather in the lead up to this year's race, the course was faster, rougher and more exacting from the very first day of practice, meaning precision and momentum were crucial to setting fast times.
All this added up meant that the Maydena Bike Park track once again proved that there's nothing more demanding in downhill mountain biking than Red Bull Hardline.
05
Gee Atherton returns to Red Bull Hardline as its oldest racer
While Asa Vermette's brilliant debut was at one end of the record-breaking age spectrum, at the other Red Bull Hardline veteran Gee Atherton returned for the first time since 2022 and, just a couple of weeks short of his 40th birthday, became the oldest competitor in the event's history.
Alongside brother Dan, two-time world champion Atherton was the originator of Red Bull Hardline and has been a stalwart of the boundary-pushing race since it's 2014 debut. He even won the race in 2018.
Easily the most experienced racer on the hill, Atherton won his first World Cup downhill race three years before Vermette was even born, but showed he's lost none of his love of pushing himself – and the sport – to the limits on his first visit to the Tasmania version of the event. You can guarantee that he'll be pushing as hard as he can to deliver a big result at Red Bull Hardline Wales in a few months as well.
06
Ronan Dunne misses a Red Bull Hardline hat-trick
After winning Red Bull Hardline Tasmania and Red Bull Hardline Wales in 2024, Ronan Dunne had the opportunity to make history and a third straight victory in downhill's toughest race.
The Irish rider was undoubtedly one of the hot favourites to for the win during practice and put himself in position to do so after qualifying second place on Saturday, splitting Asa Vermette and Jackson Goldstone. However, a huge crash in final warm up before Sunday's final put Dunne out of action for the day and ended his Hardline winning streak. Hopefully he'll be back and ready to go for Red Bull Hardline Wales.
07
Coming up: Red Bull Hardline Wales
After an incredible 2024 event on an extensively redesigned course, Red Bull Hardline Wales takes place this year on July 26-27 at its iconic venue in Machynlleth, North Wales.
What can we expect for the 2025 event? Certainly the hardest and most technical course in downhill mountain biking and another brilliant race. Perhaps, after it's brief appearance during testing of last year's course, the inclusion of the game-changing canyon gap jump as well? Tune in to find out and watch all the action on Red Bull TV.
Watch the full replay of Red Bull Hardline Tasmania below:
