When asked after qualifications about the massive progression that seems to be happening in the world of women's freeride, Goomes said: "I definitely agree. I'm stoked to be a part of it."
The field going into competition at Crankworx Innsbruck was the biggest women's entry the event has seen since the category was added in 2019.
While Goomes' consistent backflips were not enough to get her onto the podium, her performance has signalled a change in the sport.
She finished fourth, coming out of the bronze-medal match against Australian Harriet Burbidge-Smith having made a mistake and missing a trick on the first jump in her run,
"I can see the tricks are just progressing, so I'm going to have to step up my game and switch things up," women's winner Jordy Scott said.
"I'm looking forward to it getting harder and the progression growing."
The women's podium at the CLIF Speed & Style Innsbruck. Photo / Clint Trahan
She added that she does have a backflip in her bag of tricks and will be working on bringing it to the competition.
"Hopefully, one day, we'll have a final with dual backflips going on."
Scott defeated 2019's Queen of Crankworx Vaea Verbeeck in the gold-medal round, a rematch from their battle in the same event at Crankworx Rotorua 2020.
Scott is now undefeated in Crankworx Speed & Style, having won every event since the women's category was introduced (Whistler 2019 and Rotorua 2020).
"It's pretty crazy," the 20-year-old American said.
"I feel like a pioneer of a discipline. I hope to keep it going, but there are so many people coming up."
Another athlete on a winning streak is the men's winner Tomas Lemoine.
The Frenchman has won the last three Speed & Style competitions across the Crankworx World Tour (Innsbruck 2021, Innsbruck 2020, Rotorua 2020), and at the weekend earned his fourth Innsbruck Speed & Style win in five years.
Lemoine had the advantage after his first gold-medal matchup against Thomas Genon, but their second matchup was neck-and-neck.
As he was making his way through the course, weaving his way through the straight section, he made a decision.
"I felt a little bit slow, so I was like 'okay, change the trick'. Until the end I was just focused on that, waiting for it and praying it's gonna work."
And work it did.
"I'm still in shock. I've been doing a lot of double flips recently, but I've never done it in a race. It's so stressful to go so fast and push so hard for it."
