2026 was always set to be a big year for Finn Iles. As soon as Whistler was officially confirmed as a World Cup stop, bringing the series to the Canadian’s home town for the first time ever, it was clear it was going to be a year to remember. But what’s taken place since January has turned into a wild rollercoaster for the Specialized racer.
Back-to-back World Cup wins, his first since his 2022 victory at Mont-Sainte-Anne, vaulted Iles into the leader’s jersey. Going into the summer break Iles sat second overall behind teammate Jordan Williams. That high lasted just days, though, as Iles fractured an ankle training at home in B.C.
We caught up with Iles to talk about why going off-line, in an era where athletes share everything, is so important to balancing the highs of winning and lows of injury. Why Whistler’s World Cup debut could be the biggest moment for Canadian downhill in years. And why it will feel way different than it looks on Instagram.
Canadian MTB: Getting the chance to race a World Cup in your hometown is like pretty rare. How does that? How does that opportunity feel?
Finn Iles: It feels really amazing. It’s something that not a lot of people get to sort of experience. We have already had such amazing races in Mont Saint Anne. But to have one like truly in my hometown, somewhere where I went to high school and elementary school, and learned how to ride a bike, it means a lot. And I think as a kid, I would have loved to have a World Cup in Whistler. So to finally have it and to be able to try and showcase what it is to be like a Canadian downhill racer is going to be pretty special.
You were injured for the Canadian Open DH during Crankworx. Have you had much of a chance to race on 1199 before? Will a home track give you much of an advantage.
I did on 2023, but I injured myself, so…
So not a huge advantage, then. After Whistler, there’s Hardline at Cypress. With you missing a couple races this season, is there any temptation to jump into that.
Yeah, absolutely. I would really love to be racing Red Bull Hardline. I guess I kind of have to wait on my team and my team manager to let me know if I’m allowed to compete because obviously there’s a little bit more danger involved and everything else that goes with Hardline. But if all goes well, yeah, I’m gonna be there. I’m gonna be riding, and yeah, I’m looking forward to that one as well.
That’s on Cypress Mountain where you do a lot of your training when you’re at home. It must be pretty cool to see an event like that not just coming to Canada, or coming to your local zone. But also having Hardline in a part of the season where there’s no World Cup conflict, so it might actually be a possibility for you to race.
Yeah, that’s pretty awesome. Especially because Cypress, like you said, is like one of my favourite places to train in the winter. And now that they’re like putting in a bike park up there, I think it’s going to be perfect timing for them to host an event. I think having it so close to Vancouver is going to be amazing, especially as the North Shore was so instrumental in Canadian downhill riding. Now we get to have an event with all these crazy features and woodwork and all this other stuff that reflects that, and also brings attention back to the North Shore.
So that all makes for a very exciting fall and a huge year. To back up a bit, last year was pretty challenging for you, with a lingering injury. You were pretty quiet about that, at least publicly. In an era where athletes seem to want to, or are pressured to share everything online, that approach stands out. Why did you want to keep what was happening a bit more to yourself instead of sharing the process along the way?
I tend to not share as much as other athletes on Instagram. I do kind of like to keep a little bit more of like my personal stuff private. Especially with that injury, it was hard because I didn’t have a timeline. I didn’t have like a day when it was going to be better because it was such a vague injury. I had two slipped discs in my lower back. That one of those things where I heard a lot of different opinions where some people were telling me I was going to deal with this for the rest of my life, where it might just pop up again, others were telling me it might just go away. So it was hard for me to be able to share anything on on social media that was like concrete, where I could be like, ‘This is what’s wrong with me.’on
So I played my cards close to my chest. I didn’t want any rumours to get out, and I would almost rather people think I was having a bad season than thinking that like I was dealing with this injury that could drag on and on. For me, trusting my team to trust me to go through the process and really get through that injury was incredibly important. I’m really happy that I was able to go through all the rehab steps, go through everything to make myself better, and now this year have the season that I’m having feels pretty awesome.
Yeah, coming out of a year of dealing with injuries and winning two World Cups is just incredible. What did it feel like getting that first win, four years after Mont-Sainte-Anne?
It was pretty incredible. Coming off the back of last season and dealing with that injury and dealing with all the things that come with not riding, where it’s like I don’t understand the bike, I don’t know why it’s not working for me, Loic [Bruni] is winning races, Jordan [Williams] is riding fast, like all these different things, that created a lot of self doubt going through the off season. But I think the emotions came out because I knew that I put so much trust in myself to be able to get back to where I usually am and to ride the way that I usually ride, and I think that all the hard work I put in this off season all came together at that moment.
In Loudenvielle I finished fourth. I was so close to the podium and I was so angry. Like, I knew I could have won that race, I just had too many mistakes. So for it all come together at the next World Cup? To just really click into riding the way I know I can was an incredible feeling. I mean, it was almost five years without a win. So to win that just meant the world. Some people only win one and they never get back up there. To go through all the things I have and be able to get back on that top step was amazing.
How did that weekend in Leogang go? Did you get the feeling that you could win early on? Or did feeling good start to add to the pressure to then deliver in finals?
In Leogang, I actually went through Q2. In practice, I crashed on this stump and went into the fence. I did the exact same thing in Q1. In Q2, it was pouring rain and I thought, like, I just built all this momentum and I’m back in the same position as last year. I started doubting myself, thinking, like, am I going to miss another qualifying this season?
When I got to the top, I thought, ‘Alright, I’m going to feel an emotion either way when I get to the bottom, so it might as well be a really good one.’ So, when I dropped in, I felt so free. I just felt that I didn’t even care at that point, all I could really do is ride my bike. I ended up winning Q2 by like four and a half seconds and I had the fastest time of the day by three. After that, I thought I could win. I just had to do the exact same thing the next day.
I went out the next day with no pressure, no stress. Warming up, I thought, ‘Holy, I think I’m actually going to win today.’ To actually get it done felt so amazing. Sitting in the hot seat for as long as I did was way more stressful than preparing for the race. Sitting in the hot seat just not knowing what your fate is and not being able to decided it is way gnarlier than going last.
I can’t imagine how stressful that would be. So then, from not winning a World Cup since 2022, you turn around and do it again the next week. How do you just click right back into the work like two days after that high?
I think it was good that it was a back-to-back weekend. That really benefited me because if there was a week off, I probably would have dipped like emotionally. So having that back-to-back race, there was no time to like think about it or rest. It was like, okay, this is done. Now we’re straight focused into Lenzerheide.
Coming into Lenzerheide, I think I’ve almost never felt that confident. From day one, the guys on track that work for the team were like, I think you can win again. But agin, to go out there on my race run and actually achieve that was insane. I almost feel like Leogang was a run that I did and ended up winning. Versus, in Lenzerheide, I felt like I truly won the race. I went out and was like, ‘I am better than everybody else.’ That was a crazy feeling because I’ve never had that before. I’m not usually someone like that. I’m a rider that rides with ego. I’m usually riding with myself, where I’m focusing on being the best version of myself. But in Lenzerheide, I went out and was like ‘I’m a dog and I’m going to do my job today’ and it seemed to pay off. Again, a crazy feeling because it’s not really who I am. But it seemed to work.
Listening to you talk about those wins, it seems like the mental side of racing seems to be as much of a part of the conversation as the physical side. I know we just talked about how much work you did to recover from last year’s injury, but how much does the mental aspect of the sport factor into your training? How do you prepare for that?
Yeah, it factors in quite a lot. I think for me, mental strength and mental preparedness comes from my physical preparedness and my preparation for racing. So it it starts with how I’m training the off season, how dedicated I am to working on the bike, how well the team has worked with me, the amount of days I’ve put in. For me, that builds a mental base that I can go from. Then I start working on my mental state so that I’m able to be as focused as I possibly can be when I’m in the start gate. It’s not thinking about what can go wrong or what can go right. It’s just more about being in the moment. That’s something I work with a mental coach on.
For me, just being able to be in those moments feels like a privilege. That mindset has really helped me find my best riding and my best self when I’m in the gate. I don’t have to doubt, I don’t have to question. I can just focus on thinking ‘This is awesome like it’s me and my bike and if I go really fast it’s gonna be really fun and I’m gonna probably have a great result because I’m really good at doing this.’
So that’s managing the positive side of your mental focus. But you returned from Europe right when a forest fire started in Pemberton.
Yeah, it started like two days after I got back.
And then you injure your foot. How do you maintain that mental focus when you have all these other things being thrown at you going into the World Cup summer break?
Yeah, it was a crazy one. With the two wins and being second in the overall, I was coming home needing a big rest. So I took a week off and just tried to refocus myself and check back in. When I went riding, I didn’t even crash. I just cased a jump. It was one of those things where I just got really unlucky with the way that it happened. It wasn’t really. a lack of focus, just things happen. It just kind of sucked to have this injury with worlds coming up and the World Cups that I missed. But having to more races at the end of the season that I can be ready for gives me a really good goal to try feel as fast as I can.
Yeah, that means Whistler is the first race back.
Yeah, I’m really looking forward to having that in the community, and having that for the entire Sea to Sky, even all of Western Canada. Whistler’s kind of the Mecca of mountain biking. Western Canada hasn’t had a World Cup since 2001 in Vancouver or 2005 at COP [in Calgary]. So to finally have on in Whistler, it’s going to be mind blowing. For me, it’s an incredible opportunity so I can’t wait. I’m hoping that a lot of people show up and come out and cheer us on.
You’ve talked about the 2005 World Cup in Calgary as something that like inspired you to start racing. What do you think having a World Cup in Whistler will mean for the future of like downhill in Canada.
I think it’s a continuation of a legacy that was started with Stevie [Smith] in terms of just showing like a Canadian can be World Cup champion. I think it’s going to inspire a lot of young kids as well as just put the sport in front of more people eyes. I hope for mountain biking it helps strengthen the community in British Columbia.
For me, it means a lot right now because with the amount of social media, I think people get lost as to what the real thing looks and feels like. I think for kids to come out and see how the mountain bike community is, how they act together, how all the pros are together? I think that will inspire a lot of people not only to want to be racers, but to be involved in the community. It’s such an incredible group of people. We have such a great group of racers at the World Cups.
I just think now it’s so easy for kids to see so much on social media. But when they come here, I think it’s just a totally different vibe, energy, everything. So it should be amazing.
Whistler hosts its first-ever World Cup downhill from September 25-27, 2006.