Kate Courtney (born October 29, 1995) is an American

cross-country Cross country or cross-country may refer to: Places * Cross Country, Baltimore, a neighborhood in northwest Baltimore, Maryland * Cross County Parkway, an east–west parkway in Westchester County, NY * Cross County Shopping Center, a mall in Yo ...

mountain bike

cyclist Cycling, also, when on a two-wheeled bicycle, called bicycling or biking, is the use of cycles for transport, recreation, exercise or sport. People engaged in cycling are referred to as "cyclists", "bicyclists", or "bikers". Apart from two ...

Early life

Born to Maggie and Tom Courtney in October 1995, Kate Courtney grew up in

Marin County Marin County is a county located in the northwestern part of the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 262,231. Its county seat and largest city is San Rafael. Marin County is acros ...

, California at the base of

Mount Tamalpais Mount Tamalpais (; ; Miwok languages, Miwok: ''Támal Pájiṣ''), known locally as Mount Tam, is a mountain, peak in Marin County, California, Marin County, California, United States, often considered symbolic of Marin County. Much of Mount Tama ...

, which is considered to be the birthplace of mountain biking. Courtney was introduced to cycling at a young age by her father and they would ride a mountain-bike tandem up Mount Tamalpais together. Her interest in cycling was piqued when, as a freshman, she joined her school mountain bike team at Branson High School. While at high school, Courtney competed for the USA National Team and Whole Athlete Development Team in events around the World. In 2012, Courtney became the first American woman to win a UCI Mountain Bike World Cup in the Junior category. In 2013, Courtney graduated high school and left for

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

to study human biology. In the same year, she also signed her first professional contract with

Specialized Bicycles Specialized Bicycle Components, Inc., colloquially known as and stylized as SPECIALIZED, is an American company which designs, manufactures and markets bicycles, bicycle components and related products under the brand name "Specialized", as well ...

Professional cycling career

After graduating from

in 2017, Courtney began racing full-time and in her first full season in 2017 won four U23 World Cups and the U23 World Cup overall title, and took a silver medal at the U23 world championship. She is also a two-time US cross-country (XC) national champion, having won the title in 2017 and 2018. Courtney participated at the

2018 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships The 2018 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships was the 29th edition of the UCI Mountain Bike World Championships. It was held from 5 to 9 September 2018 in Lenzerheide, Switzerland. The four-cross competitions were held in Val di Sole, Italy from 5 ...

, winning the gold medal in the women's elite cross country race. It was the first such win for an American since 2001. In 2018, Courtney took part in the Cape Epic Stage race with her Specialized teammate

Annika Langvad Annika Langvad (born 22 March 1984) is a Danish former racing cyclist, who rode for Specialized Racing in cross-country mountain bike racing. Langvad is a five-time World Champion in mountain bike racing, winning four titles in mountain bike ma ...

where the teammates won seven individual stages and took the Overall team victory. In 2019, Courtney left Specialized for the Scott-SRAM team headed by Swiss mountain bike legend,

Thomas Frischknecht Thomas Frischknecht (born 17 February 1970 in Feldbach, Switzerland) is a former Swiss mountain bike and cyclo-cross racer, often called Europe's ''Elder Statesman'' of mountain biking, because of his extraordinarily long career at the top le ...

. She ended the season as the UCI World Cup series winner.

Personal life

Courtney is a huge fan of sharks and

Shark Week Shark Week is an annual, week long TV programming block at the Discovery Channel, which features shark-based programming. Shark Week originally premiered on July 17, 1988. Featured annually, in July or early August, it was originally devoted to c ...

. Her other hobbies include skiing, surfing, yoga, and photography. In 2020, she starred in a concussion education video as part of the

CrashCourse ''Crash Course'' (sometimes stylized as ''CrashCourse'') is an educational YouTube channel started by John Green and Hank Green (collectively the Green brothers), who first rose to fame on the YouTube platform through their ''Vlogbrothers'' chan ...

virtual reality Virtual reality (VR) is a simulated experience that employs pose tracking and 3D near-eye displays to give the user an immersive feel of a virtual world. Applications of virtual reality include entertainment (particularly video games), educ ...

series for

TeachAids TeachAids (pronounced ) is a nonprofit organization, nonprofit social enterprise that develops global health education technology products for HIV/AIDS, concussions, and COVID-19, based on an approach invented through research at Stanford Unive ...

. She married Will Patterson in 2022.

Major results

;2016 : 2nd Overall UCI Under-23 XCO World Cup ::1st

Cairns Cairns (, ) is a city in Queensland, Australia, on the tropical north east coast of Far North Queensland. The population in June 2019 was 153,952, having grown on average 1.02% annually over the preceding five years. The city is the 5th-most-p ...

::2nd

Lenzerheide Lenzerheide ( Romansh: ''Lai'') is a mountain resort in the canton of Graubünden, Switzerland at the foot of the Parpaner Rothorn. The village lies in the municipality Vaz/Obervaz in the district of Albula, sub-district Alvaschein. The vil ...

;2017 : 1st MaillotUSA

Cross-country,

National Championships A national championship(s) is the top achievement for any sport or contest within a league of a particular nation or nation state. The title is usually awarded by contests, ranking systems, stature, ability, etc. This determines the best team, indi ...

: 1st

Overall UCI Under-23 XCO World Cup ::1st Nové Město ::1st

::1st

Mont-Sainte-Anne Mont-Sainte-Anne is a ski resort in eastern Canada, located in the town of Beaupré, Quebec, about northeast of Quebec City. The mountain is part of the Laurentian mountain chain and has a summit elevation of above sea level with a vertical dr ...

::1st

Val di Sole Val may refer to: Val-a Film * ''Val'' (film), an American documentary about Val Kilmer, directed by Leo Scott and Ting Poo Military equipment * Aichi D3A, a Japanese World War II dive bomber codenamed "Val" by the Allies * AS Val, a Sov ...

::2nd

Albstadt Albstadt () is the largest city in the district of Zollernalbkreis in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is located on the Swabian Jura mountains, about halfway between Stuttgart and Lake Constance. Geography Albstadt is spread across a variety of ...

::2nd

Vallnord Vallnord () is a ski/snowboard resort in the Pyrenees mountains in the country of Andorra, close to the border with Spain at Tor, Pallars. Overview It encompasses the linked sectors of Pal and Arinsal (the sectors were linked by a cable car, op ...

;2018 : 1st Jersey rainbow

Cross-country Cross country or cross-country may refer to: Places * Cross Country, Baltimore, a neighborhood in northwest Baltimore, Maryland * Cross County Parkway, an east–west parkway in Westchester County, NY * Cross County Shopping Center, a mall in Yo ...

UCI World Championships The UCI world championships are annual competitions promoted by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) to determine world champion cyclists. They are held in several different styles of racing, in a different country each year. Championship winne ...

: 1st

Cross-country,

: 1st

Overall

Cape Epic The Absa Cape Epic, founded by Kevin Vermaak and also known as the Cape Epic, is an annual mountain bike stage race held in the Western Cape, South Africa. First staged in 2004, it has been accredited as ''hors catégorie'' (beyond categoriza ...

(with

) ;2019 : 1st Jersey white

Overall UCI XCO World Cup ::1st

::1st Nové Město ::1st

Les Gets Les Gets () is a commune in the Haute-Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern France. The village's first single-person chair lift was opened in 1938 with the first chair lift on Mont Chéry in 1954. Geography L ...

;2021 : Swiss Bike Cup ::1st

Savognin Savognin (in local Romansh dialect ''Suagnign''; it, Savognino; german: Schweiningen, official name until 1890) is a village and former municipality in the Sursés in the district of Albula in the canton of Grisons in Switzerland. On 1 Januar ...

::2nd

Leukerbad Leukerbad (french: Loèche-les-Bains, Walliser German: ''Leiggerbad'', although locally known as ''Baadu'') is a municipality in the district of Leuk in the canton of Valais in Switzerland. History The story of Leukerbad dates back to the 4th ...

: Internazionali d’Italia Series ::1st Legend Cup : 2nd Silver medal blank

Team relay,

;2022 : Swiss Bike Cup ::1st

Basel , french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese , neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS ...

;2023 : Pan American Championships ::1st PanAmericanJersey

Short track ::1st PanAmericanJersey

Cross-country

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Courtney, Kate 1995 births Living people American female cyclists Sportspeople from San Francisco UCI Mountain Bike World Champions (women) Cross-country mountain bikers Cyclists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic cyclists for the United States 21st-century American women Pan American Games cyclists for the United States Cyclists at the 2015 Pan American Games