Finn
Iles
Canada
·
MTB
Date of birth | 15 August 1999 |
|---|---|
Place of birth | Banff, Alberta, Canada |
Age | 26 |
Nationality | Canada |
Disciplines | Mountainbike Downhill |
Finn Iles grew up in the Canadian town of Banff, Alberta, but moved to Whistler when he was 10. His parents love to ski and bike (his father is a ski patroller), and Finn and his older brother, Jack, spent every day each summer riding in the Whistler Bike Park, mastering their handling skills and honing their downhill riding.
01
Persistence pays off
At 14, Iles wasn’t old enough to compete at the Whip Off World Championships, held at Whistler’s Crankworx, but he lobbied the organisers and eventually convinced them to let him compete. He ended up winning the event, a result which catapulted him on to the international stage.
The Canadian registered some good results on the junior World Cup downhill circuit, including the overall junior World Cup in 2016 and 2017, and the 2016 World Champs in Val di Sole, Italy. In 2015, he appeared in Anthill Films’ mega-hit mountain bike movie, UnReal, in a segment shot in a fake dirt blizzard on his home turf in Whistler.
02
Victory at last
Since stepping up to the Elite class in 2018 with the Specialized Gravity team, Finn has become a 'must watch' rider thanks to his blistering raw speed and fan favourite riding style.
He's scored podium finishes that confirm his status as one of the sport's elite riders, but a win had eluded him until the 2022 season when he scored an an emotional first UCI Mountain Bike World Cup victory in front of a massive home crowd at the Mont-Sainte-Anne round in Canada.
With three more podiums across the 2022 World Cup season, Finn finished the series in an impressive third place overall.
03
A dramatic World Championships bronze
Five more World Cup podiums have followed in the past three seasons, while he also collected a 2024 World Championships bronze medal at Pal Arinsal, Andorra, in what was one of the tightest and most thrilling races in history – just 0.169 seconds separated the podium finishers.
A thrilling bronze medal at the 2024 World Championships
© Bartek Wolinski/Red Bull Content Pool
Competing at Loudenvielle in 2024
© Bartek Wolinski/Red Bull Content Pool
Victory at last – and on home soil
© Bartek Wolinski/Red Bull Content Pool
Style for miles with Finn Iles
© Bartek Woliński