Fast Five with Jill Kintner

Jill Kintner, America's female gravity mountain bike superstar. She's made the change from full-time 4Xer to full-time DHer and is patiently climbing to the top. Check out the first female Fast Five along with some pics that she sent...

How's DH treatin' ya compared to 4X?
Well, I would say it has been a great "Transition" hehe. Downhill has opened up a new world to me that I love very much! It's a such a pure sport, with ever-changing variables, creativity, and room for improvement. I think that's why racing is so interesting, you have to apply so much potential to figure it out.
Mentally, going from being the top person, to climbing my way back up has been fun and challenging. I was bored with 4x, and gate starts were not how I wanted to spend any more of my time. I feel fortunate to have built up the name and results I did so that people were willing to take the chance in supporting me become a Downhiller.

With 69 different race series taking place in 2012, have you figured out your calendar?
Yeah, scheduling is a little funky, but obviously there was a need for change within the ranks of governing bodies. DH1, US Grand Prix, and 4X splitting off are going to have pros and cons and effect sponsorship, but hopefully there will be more freedom for the riders and a better result. Where is the Slalom series? : )
     The DH1 series seems like it has the most potential with prize purse and coverage, but from our stand point, it's gonna cost a bunch of money to do additional races, and more time in Europe. We are not planning on doing the full series, just maybe one or two races to feel it out.
     World Cup still is the premier league with all the best riders, and our sponsors push for that, so that will be our focus. The UCI is really blowing it to let Freecaster slip away, so who knows what will happen in years to come.
     South Africa is the only World Cup undecided for us, but we are going to do World Cups, a couple US races, maybe a DH1 or 2 : ) , Crankworx, Sea Otter, US Open, Triple DHip I think, and some of the Enduro/Super D events close to home.
     Schedule is not 100% as we gotta raise funds still for our new program.

On average, how many times per year do you hear your name pronounce wrong and see it misspelled?
In Austria and Germany they always say and spell it right. Maybe the Aussies get it wrong the most cause they talk so fast and like to shorten everything. One of our friends thought I was named after an echidna : ) It's a balanced name, 2 N's. Ki-N-t-N- er . KINT- NER

If you could have one do over in life, what would it be?
I probably would have learned some sort of martial arts/street fighter move for my brother as a kid.

2012 is right around the corner, what are you looking forward to most about next year?
Watching all my hard work pay off and going to Norway.