‘I found myself believing today,’ Haley Smith on her breakthrough World Cup third place
Uxbridge-native had the races fastest lap to storm onto her first career UCI World Cup XCO podium at Nové Mesto
It’s been a story of steady progression for 25-year-old Haley Smith. The native of Uxbridge, Ont. showed considerable promise in 2018 taking a bronze medal at the Commonwealth Games and then broke into the top-10 at a World Cup for the first time in her career at Mont-Saint-Anne. Now, she’s reached a UCI World Cup podium at Nové Mesto earning a breakthrough third place behind winner Kate Courtney and Australian Rebecca McConnell.
This was one of the more incoherent interviews I’ve ever given (sorry I was crying lol). What I mean is… the podium is cool, but today I truly took the Leap of Faith and I found that I was strong enough to handle whatever outcome resulted. That is a lesson I’ll cherish. https://t.co/zEqp8HTdEG
— Haley Smith (@hale_smith) May 26, 2019
“It’s not so much being on the podium as realizing that all the wishing, dreaming and wondering has roots in possibility,” Smith said in a tearful post-race interview. “I found myself believing today and that’s the most rewarding part.”
Smith put on a show on the final lap setting the fastest lap time of the entire race at 12 min 54 sec. Smith held off Frei at the line capping off an incredible race for the Canadian.
“I’ve always liked this course. It really feels like mountain biking, it’s got flow and is about being a bike rider, and that’s what I did; I just found the flow and I went for it,” Smith explained.
Sitting in sixth on the final lap, she had considerable ground to make up but managed to catch then pass former world champion Jolanda Neff who suffered a flat, under-23 world champion Sina Frei and Anne Tauber to take the final podium spot in dramatic fashion.
“I think I was 15 seconds out [of top-5] heading out on the last lap, and [national coach] Dan [Proulx] yelled seven seconds, and I thought ‘I can do seven seconds’,” she said. “I knew I just had to give it everything I had, because I would regret it if I didn’t.”
Crossing the line, an elated Smith pumped her fist in joy. The XCO World Cup now takes a break before resuming July 6 and 7 in Vallnord, Andorra.
