At the age of 18, Ava Holmgren was already a two-time Canadian elite women’s cyclocross champion. She had a silver medal from Cyclocross World Championships as a junior, and stood on the podium alongside her twin sister Isabella, who secured the gold. Yes, she competes on the road, too, and had a fourth on GC and the youth classification title at the prestigious Watersley Ladies Challenge in 2022.
She, along with twin sister Isabella, are the youngest of five children to parents Rob and Lisa Holmgren, both accomplished cyclists themselves, who frequented trails just north of Toronto at the Hardwood Ski and Bike recreation centre with their brood. Brother Gunnar, who is six years older than the twins, is a mountain bike professional and won the men’s MTB cross-country title at the 2023 Pan-American Games. He has been an inspiration for his youngest sisters, but cycling is also part of their DNA.
When she and ‘Bella’ went 1-2 at Cyclocross Worlds for Canada earlier this year, making history as the first riders of any age to win world championship medals in cyclocross for the nation, she said, “we did it”. It was all about family, it was all about team.
Ava will make her pro cycling debut in 2024 on the WorldTour stage with Lidl-Trek, which will allow her to race with Isabella for two years as well. Ava said joining Lidl-Trek was a ‘perfect match’. Her new teammates will soon be able to easily distinguish between the fraternal twins, with Ava’s most obvious physical characteristics being height, she is the shorter of the duo, and speech, she has a much deeper voice.
She shared with Cyclingnews her individual story about riding bikes year round across three disciplines, which discipline is her favourite and what plans are on the horizon with Lidl-Trek.
Cyclingnews: You have been riding a bike since you were very young, as your parents and siblings have been competitive since you were small. Tell us how you got started.
Ava Holmgren: Riding in our weekly race series was a family activity that we did at a very young age. We always had the choice to not go if we didn’t want to ride our bikes. That wasn’t the case for me because I love riding my bike. However, I still did multiple sports growing up, and competitive swimming was the most prominent.
CN: Who in your family influenced you the most?
AH: Bella (my twin sister) is the one in my family that influences me the most. We are very competitive, and it has proven to be one of the…
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