Canadian athletes had an outstanding 2024 Mountain Bike World Championships in Andorra, where the track is known for steep climbs and high altitude, with six medals – a Canadian record at a single mountain bike world championships.
The biggest highlight being Isabella Holmgren winning two world titles; U23 Women’s XCO and XCC. In the XCC category, her sister Ava joined her on the podium by claiming the bronze medal. While capturing the U23 World Title was impressive on its own, the race was even more impressive as Isabella finished in 5th place in the Elite division [the U23/Elite race was combined due to weather issues] despite starting from the 44th spot. She was joined on the podium by fellow Canadian and bronze medallist Emilly Johnston (BC) showing the strength and depth of the current Canadian U23 female cohort with three athletes in the top 10 [Ava Holmgren 7th].
On the men’s side there were a number of personal best finishes at a World Championships. Cole Punchard had an incredible championship finishing 5th in the U23 Men’s XCC with teammate Owen Clark a few spots back in 8th before following up that performance with a 6th place in the XCO. A full list of Ontario results can be found below.
Results
Men Elite XCO
Gunnar Holmgren – 36th Tyler Orschel – 44th
Men U23 XCO
Cole Punchard – 6th Owen Clark – 30th Noah Ramsay – 35th Ian Ackert – 43rd
Women Elite XCO
Jennifer Jackson – 24th
Women U23 XCO
Isabella Holmgren – 1st Ava Holmgren – 7th
Women Junior XCO
Aislin Hallahan – 25th
Men Elite XCC
Gunnar Holmgren – 19th Tyler Orschel – 36th
Men U23 XCC
Cole Punchard – 5th Owen Clark – 8th Ian Ackert – 18th Noah Ramsay – 19th
Women Elite XCC
Isabella Holmgren – 5th Jennifer Jackson – 14th
Women U23 – XCC
Isabella Holmgren – 1st Ava Holmgren – 3rd
Mixed Elite XCO Team Relay
Canada – 4th (Ontario Riders: Ian Ackert, Jennifer Jackson, Isabella Holmgren, Gunnar Holmgren)