Harriet Harnden is fast becoming one of the riders to watch on the elite downhill circuit. She’s been racing professionally since she was 18, but until last year, she had been dabbling in a few different disciplines rather than focusing on one.

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If you follow enduro racing, you’ll know she’s always been a fierce competitor, but last year was the first time she won the overall standings as an elite. And now? Harnden's got her sights set on the downhill circuit.

Finding the balance 

We caught up with Harriet after the dust had settled from the weekend in Leogang, where she finished inside the top 10 – that’s one goal ticked off the list already. But we wanted to know how she manages different disciplines and why she’s decided to focus on downhill now…

“One of the hardest things to balance is how you're training for each discipline, because you need different skillsets for each one. For example, you prioritise fitness a bit more when you're racing Enduro, and more strength training for Downhill.

“I like to stay on the fit side anyway, and I like to think I'm one of the fitter downhill racers, so I think that is a good thing for me if I feel like racing the Enduro stuff. There are not too many other challenges, other than finding enough time to just fit it all in.”

Switching things up for 2025

In 2025, Harnden switched from Enduro (although she did race the season opener and win) to focus primarily downhill. But why now, and how does she decide how to plan her season?

“It’s hard to fit it in, riding two disciplines, and you can get a bit burnt out from it. I like the idea of actually trying to focus solely on one, which is kind of what I did last year.

“I figured that I'd give it my best shot at downhill racing this year, and try and do it really, really well, rather than doing a couple of things okay. And the couple of Enduro races that I am doing this year are more just because they happen to fit in. Otherwise, I wouldn't be doing them. I won’t be forced to make time to fit them in.”

Controversy in Bielsko-Biala

Moving from Enduro to DH, she joined Reece Wilson’s AON Racing Team – and yes, they do run a bike eligible to win the famed Gates Belt Drive 100k purse prize – but it’s fair to say Harnden’s DH season didn’t get off to a particularly smooth start.

In Poland, in the opening round, a spectator interfered with Harnden’s race run, running down the track in front of her. She had previously crashed further up the track, but the UCI decided against giving her a rerun, causing outrage amongst the MTB community. Harnden, however, is typically diplomatic in her comments about the event.

“The decision not to offer me a rerun wasn't what I was expecting, and it wasn't what anyone else expected. All the other riders at the bottom, the team staff, etc, were under the impression it was obvious I’d get a rerun.

“I do understand both sides of it. It did affect my race, so I should have been offered a rerun, because it's an external factor, and out of anyone’s control, really. But I did also crash further up on the track already, and that lost me something like eight seconds.

“So, I was already out of the running to win the race. But, from a team point of view, for them, me getting a higher position, even if it's just because of a couple of seconds that the person on the track delayed me, that could affect the team overall, or my position in the World Cup overall at the end of the year.

“It’s a tricky decision to make, because I had already crashed. Whether you could chop the splits up and just use the lower splits on the new run or something, I don't know. But I like to think that they now have some sort of plan in place if it happened again.”

Top 10, done. What's next?

It would be easy to debate the UCI’s ruling on this particular event, and even ask questions about whether it would have been the same ruling if it were a higher-profile rider. But Harnden is ready to put it in the past, and has some big goals for the rest of the season.

“I really, really want to get on a World Cup podium. And then obviously, the biggest goal is to win one. And I do believe I've done the preparation and have it in me to win one.

“I’m just still figuring a few things out around, like my process and the race week itself, just timing things and figuring the smaller things out. But I do believe a win is really what I've kind of got my eyes set on.”

After not making the finals in the first two rounds, she finally got through to put down a race run in Leogang, where she finished eighth. Not bad, but Harnden thinks she has more to give.

“I feel like I'm not quite riding my best at the moment. Over the winter, I'd been riding really well, and my teammates said to me recently, ‘Oh, you don't kind of seem like you're riding like you were over the winter.'

“I think I'm just a bit nervous, a bit uptight, and I'm not riding my best. And I know it. I can feel it, and I’ve just got to let that kind of come. I think as the season goes on, I'll relax a bit more and figure things out. And yeah, I know I've got more speed in me, so I’ve just got to be patient.”

The technicality and steepness of Val di Sole looks like a track that will suit Harnden’s strengths as a rider, and we’re sure it won’t be long before she’s on the top step of a World Cup podium – and potentially winning 100k for it, too.

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