Kate Courtney

Kate Courtney is a world champion, an Olympian, and the face of American mountain biking.

Kate was born and raised in Marin County, California at the base of Mount Tamalpais, the birthplace of mountain biking. Introduced to the magic of bikes at a young age, she rode on the back of her dad’s tandem bike to get pancakes on Sunday mornings. Soon after she was racing, and in 2012, she became the first American woman to win a UCI Mountain Bike World Cup in the Junior category—and she has been breaking records and barriers ever since. Kate won four U23 World Cups in 2017 and earned the U23 Overall World Cup Victory as well as her first Elite National Championship Title.

She soared in her first year as an Elite World Cup Racer in 2018, placing top ten at six World Cup races and finishing the season in 8th place overall. The year ended on a high note when she battled from behind to win the 2018 Elite XC World Championships in Lenzerheide, Switzerland. With this victory, Kate became the first American in 17 years to win an Elite MTB World Championship and only the fourth American woman to do so. In 2019 she solidified her position at the top of the sport with an Overall UCI MTB World Cup Title.

Kate takes a very thoughtful approach to her career, and has written for the likes of the New York Times, Outside and Washington Post, discussing women-in-sport advocacy, training and body awareness, the mind-body connection and the Olympic experience. Inspiring the next generation of female riders is a personal mission, and the motivation for much of her non-profit work.

Kate lives and trains in California with her dog, Monte and husband, Will.