Dirt

After finishing third in the Downhill World Championships in 2012, Canadian downhiller Steve Smith hit the jackpot in 2013 with a series of victories in the sport’s most prestigious races. At Crankworx Whistler, he won the Canadian Open DH for the third consecutive year, as well as the Fox Air DH at the same event and the Canadian National Championships.

However, this was nothing to what happened later in the year, when Steve Smith was crowned DH World Cup champion after a third placed finish in Fort William, a second in Val Di Sole, and three consecutive victories to round off the year in in Mont Sainte-Anne, Hafjell and Leogang. It was enough to wrest the leader’s jersey away from GT Factory’s Gee Atherton, who had been ahead since the first round.

Born on 25th November 1989 in Cassidy, British Columbia, Stevie was given his first bike, a used BMX, at the age of five, after his devoted mother did an ingenious deal with local bike shop Realm Bikes involving some homemade apple pies. By the age of 14 he had caught the downhill bug, and his mum found herself driving young Stevie up the local mountains after school and at weekends.

From those humble beginnings, Stevie has become one of the world’s finest downhill mountain bike racers and undoubtedly Canada’s most highly decorated downhill race athlete. However, despite all his recent successes, his mum will still be waiting for him at the bottom of the mountain after another day terrorising his local trails.