10 Days of Racing, Riding & Celebrating the MTB Community – This Was Crankworx Whistler 

Rain, mud, sun, podiums, and a Boneyard that never once ran out of energy. Ten days. Every discipline. One festival. Crankworx Whistler 2026 is done, and it delivered countless highlight moments and new core memories. 

From the opening gun of the Canadian Open Enduro through the final send at the Crabapple Hits World Championships, Whistler showed exactly why this event has anchored the Crankworx World Tour for 21 years. The village came alive, the bike park was buzzing, and athletes and fans from all over the globe returned to Whistler to celebrate mountain biking across disciplines. 

Opening Weekend: Rain, Resilience, and the Canadian Open Enduro 

Elite racing kicked off Sunday, July 26 with the Canadian Open Enduro, and Whistler made its feelings clear immediately: it rained. Hard. Officials adjusted the course at the “Top of the World” zone due to fog and wind, but with an adapted course through the full breadth of Whistler Blackcomb Mountain Bike Park, there was still plenty of racing to be had.

Canadians Elly Hoskin and Elliot Jamieson didn’t care about conditions. The Squamish local Elly Hoskin dominated all five stages to claim her third consecutive Canadian Open Enduro title, putting more than two and a half minutes into the field. On the men’s side, Elliot Jamieson went back-to-back, laying down the fastest time on four of five stages. Behind him: Jesse Melamed, just 10 seconds back after a full day of racing, and current Enduro World Cup leader Lief Rodgers rounded out an all-Canadian podium that underscored the depth this country brings to Enduro racing.

Opening weekend also delivered the first races for Kidsworx – the B-Line DH and Enduro – and two adaptive races – the aMTB Tech DH and aMTB Flow DH, giving riders across every category their stage at Crankworx Whistler. This event has always been about the full spectrum of mountain biking, and this year was no different. 

Triple Downhill Action 

Following the weekend, the Crankworx Whistler Air DH took over one of the most renowned trails in mountain biking. A-Line in the mud is already a high-consequence proposition. Add elite racing, and conditions on Monday, July 27 were the kind that challenged even riders who take it on regularly. 

Jill Kintner took the top spot, scoring ten consecutive Air DH wins at Crankworx Whistler. A streak that gets harder to contextualise the longer it goes. Local favourite Georgia Astle held second, with Julia Lofqvist Traum completing the podium – a rider who won this same event at the U19 level last year, proving she’s brought every bit of that speed into the elite ranks. 

On the men’s side, reigning King of Crankworx Ryan Gilchrist backed up his 2024 Air DH win with another, notching his second Air DH victory of the season after Rotorua. Tegan Cruz pushed him all the way, posting a blistering run through the mud for second. 

Two days later, the skies finally cleared for the OG CDN OPN DH, sending riders down Whistler’s rooty, technical singletrack that was running fast and punishing every hesitation. Troy Brosnan remains untouchable in this race, keeping record with his seventh OG CDN OPN DH title. Tegan Cruz chased him hard to the line, coming up just 1.351 seconds short, with Jackson Frew completing the podium after a wild late shakeup at the top. On the women’s side, defending champion Mille Johnset held her title, but barely: Elleni Turkovic, in her first year racing Elite, pushed her to a margin of just 0.100 seconds – the tightest finish this race has seen in years. Sian A’Hern rounded out the women’s podium in third.

By Friday, July 31, the Specialized Canadian Open DH brought the week’s headline Downhill finals to Whistler’s iconic 1199 track. After Group A Seeding (U19 & Elite), and Group B finals the day before, race day brought an evolving track, drying out after heavy showers earlier in the week. The leaderboard went through four changes at the top before it was settled – Henry Sherry, Jakob Jewett, Asa Vermette, and Troy Brosnan all held the hot seat at different points. Then Jackson Goldstone rolled down his home mountain and put it to bed by 3.913 seconds: his first Elite win on this iconic Whistler track, and the loudest crowd reaction of the day. On the women’s side, Aletha Ostgaard took a statement win, 4.315 seconds clear of Matilda Melton, with Eliana Hulsebosch rounding out the podium. Gracey Hemstreet, top-seeded and in position to challenge, went off course near the final stretch, unable to turn her prowess on course into a victory. 

The Bosch eMTB Challenge also ran on Friday, sending riders up and down some of Whistler’s most iconic trails in a discipline that continues to grow its fanbase and has riders across categories cross the finish line with big smiles and good vibes.

More Than Racing 

Crankworx Whistler has never been only about the racing. All week, the village and surrounding trails were alive with events that celebrate the culture and creativity at mountain biking’s core. On Tuesday evening, six photographers took to Whistler Olympic Plaza for the Deep Summer Photo Challenge. Tadej Strah, Leon Butler, Nikola Klarova, Marissa Krawczak, Mathew Wanbon, and Josh Woodward had spent the opening days of the festival chasing the light across BC’s trails despite the challenging conditions, turning three days of riding into six photo slideshows, each set to music and projected on the big screen. In the end, Josh Woodward took the 2026 Deep Summer title. The community packed out Olympic Plaza to celebrate the creative side of mountain biking, and it did not disappoint. 

Dirt Diaries brought out the biggest crowd the event has ever seen. On Thursday, roughly 6,000 people filled Whistler Olympic Plaza to celebrate grassroots mountain bike filmmaking. Matthew Brooks, Nolan Fielding, Cody Shimizu, Hugh Stuckey, and Tristan Proctor produced a competitive and incredibly creative field, and when the votes were counted, Nolan Fielding took the win. A fitting moment in front of a crowd that proved just how much this community shows up for its own. Matt Brooks claimed second and Tristan Proctor rounded out the top three spots.

An Action-Packed Weekend 

Friday’s racing rolled straight into the weekend’s final stretch. The Boneyard hosted the Official Whip-Off World Championships presented by POC on a brand-new jump designed by the RNDM Co. crew around former King of Crankworx Bas Van Steenbergen and Nils Bensink. Among a stacked lineup – Brayden Barrett-Hay, Darren Berrecloth, Tyler McCaul, LJ Parra, Jaxon Riddle, Robin Goomes, and Georgia Astle just to name a few – it was Eddie Reynolds and Indy Deavoll who took the men’s and women’s titles respectively. 

Saturday brought Dual Slalom, and the course, referred to as one of the best on the circuit, brought main character energy. Kailey Skelton took her first-ever Crankworx medal after top seed and Queen of Crankworx Jordy Scott slipped on her final run. Isla O’Connor completed the women’s podium. On the men’s side, Tegan Cruz – who grew up racing Kidsworx right here in Whistler – built enough of an advantage in the opening run to hold off Ryan Gilchrist by 0.835 seconds for his first Elite gold at Crankworx Whistler. From Kidsworx to the top of the podium: that’s what this event is about. 

Sunday’s finale delivered Rhapsody Slopestyle and one of the highest-stakes sessions of the season: the last points event of the Slopestyle Super League Regular Season. The women’s field arrived three deep after challenging practice conditions through the week, but they delivered. Nineteen-year-old Johanna Nussbaumer, fresh off her first Diamond win at Rotorua earlier this season, stomped her first run for 91.25 points and the win. Shealen Reno held second.Young Canadian Zoe Witwicki completed the podium in third with 75.75 points and a result that genuinely stopped people in their tracks, given she was brought in as an alternate and only unlocked the full course that same morning. 

On the men’s side, SSL points leader David Godziek showed why he’s led the standings all season, putting down a run loaded with a cash roll tail whip, triple tail whip on the cannon log, no-handed 1080, and a bar-spin backflip off the Rhapsody drop for 94.50 points. But it was close: first-season Diamond rider Dane Folpp had already posted 92.50 before Godziek dropped in, and reigning Slopestyle World Champion Tim Bringer rounded out the podium in third with 89.75.

The festival’s final chapter belonged to the inaugural Crabapple Hits World Championships: a two-hour jam session, no judges’ panel, no brackets, just the riders deciding who takes top honours. James Curnock, a British rider now calling the Sea-to-Sky corridor home, claimed the title with a back-to-back combination down the iconic Crabapple Hits line: barspin into tailwhip into backflip tuck no-hander. 

The Slopestyle Super League Continues 

With Rhapsody in the books, the Slopestyle Super League Regular Season is officially complete – and the Playoff picture is set. David Godziek, Nicholi Rogatkin, Chance Moore, Johanna Nussbaumer and ShealenReno earn byes to the SSL Finals at Crnakworx Mont-Sainte-Anne (September 3-7). 

Everyone else turns their attention to Crankworx SilverStar coming up this week (August 6–9), where the SSL Playoffs decide the remaining Finals spots. The top 7 men and top 3 women from the SilverStar Slopestyle presented by Signature punch their tickets to Mont-Sainte-Anne — which means the pressure at SilverStar is real. Follow along on @crankworx. 

Missed any of the action from Whistler? Catch the full broadcast replays, BTS content & course features online: https://www.youtube.com/@Crankworx