Aida Linton Repeats as Mountain Bike National Champion

The jerseys, earned through victories in each the July 19 cross-country race and the July 21 short-track race, cemented Linton’s position as one of the best female junior mountain bikers in the country. The 15-year-old’s victories this year were especially significant because they came in longer races in a larger, more competitive category than she raced in last year.

Her 2023 victories at Bear Creek ski resort in Macungie, 43 miles northwest of Philadelphia, were in the Female Junior 13–14 category. That year, racing for Team Stampede, a Missoula-based youth cycling program, she competed against 41 other girls over two laps of a 3.8-mile cross-country course, and against 26 others in a 12-minute short-track race. 

After commanding victories in both events last year, Linton was picked up by the Bear National Team, a powerhouse of U.S. youth cycling known for producing professional riders. (She’s still coached by Missoulian Emma Swartz, a retired professional cyclist who was one of the U.S.’s best cyclocross racers domestically and on the world stage.)

This year, in the Female Junior 15–16 races, Linton faced off against 58 other riders over three laps of a 3.9-mile cross-country course. Her competitors included reigning 15–16 National Champion Zanna Logar. And she bested 37 riders in a 20-minute short-track event. 

“It felt really good,” she said in a phone call last week. “I wasn’t sure that I was going to be able to make it happen, so it felt really good to be able to put it together.”