Isabella Holmgren’s summer ended with a flurry of success. The Oro-Medonte, Ont. rider won on the road and in the mountains, defending two world championships titles, and landing another top 10 at worlds, plus a stage race win. All in less than a months time.
To say the Canadian is busy would be a gross understatement. Between winning races in different countries, on different bikes and contesting races on several different continents in just over few weeks, we caught up with Holmgren in Rwanda. She and her twin sister, Ava, are in the African country as part of Team Canada for road worlds. Holmgren described through patchy internet connection how she balances disciplines, travel, expectations and what racing the Rwandan worlds event was like.
“So far, it’s really been an amazing experience,” Holmgren says of being part of the first African world championships. “There’s already tons of people lined up on the streets just to watch the pre ride and cheering for us. So it’s been really cool. And it’s been cool to experience a new part of the world, somewhere I’ve never really experienced before. So yeah, I’m lucky to be here, and I’m excited to race tomorrow.
The course itself is staggeringly difficult, setting records for elevation gain even against historic world championships courses.
“You’re basically going up or down the whole time, and lots of corners,” Holmgren confirms. “So I have a strong feeling, feeling it’s just gonna be an elimination race. It’s gonna be super tough, but I’m looking forward to it. Hopefully I can suffer hard tomorrow.”
Hard courses suit the Canadian, it seems. She finished sixth in a fiercely competitive under-23 women’s race, just 17 seconds off the winning time.
Relentless climbs and technical descents could also describe a mountain bike course, another venue where Holmgren’s found success. At numerous world championships and World Cups the Canadian has distanced her competition on the climb, and kept them away on challenging descents.
That balanced skillset makes Holmgren very hard to beat. Her two most recent world championships titles (she has four total) came in Lenzerheide, Switzerland, in short track (XCC) and Olympic (XCO) cross country. Those were repeats of her double-rainbow XCC/XCO performance in 2024 but, after a season on the road, Holmgren said nothing was guaranteed.
“I didn’t really know what to…
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