OISIN O'CALLAGHAN: IRELAND'S FIRST MTB WORLD CHAMPION

How Oisín O’Callaghan won gold at just 17-years-old in his debut race for YT

World champion is a title regarded as the pinnacle of an athlete’s career, something that usually comes – if they’re lucky – after years of striving. Not for Oisín O’Callaghan, the 17-year-old from Limerick, Ireland, who took home the rainbow jersey at his debut international race, becoming Ireland’s first-ever mountain bike world champion. We sat down with him to try and figure out what propelled him to stardom with such apparent alacrity.

OK, just to start, for those of us who don’t know you and who aren’t from Ireland, how do you pronounce your name?

You say it like Ush-een.

Can you sum up your season in a few words?

Crazy. The past few weeks for me have been the craziest time of my life, from going into my first world-level race just wanting to see where I was with everyone else, to end up winning it and becoming junior world champion. Then heading to Slovenia to rounds one and two of the World Cup and winning both. It’s been crazy but in a good way. It’s what I’ve dreamed of since I’ve been a little kid and to have gone and done what I’ve dreamed of for years is indescribable.

When did you start riding?

I was five, just going to the local trail centre up the road where my dad started a bike hire shop. And I just went out on the trails with my friends and it was really fun.

How did you progress from riding for fun to racing?