Elle takes out downhill nationals

Central Coast Ellie Smith took out first place for the women’s Elite Downhill National Championships in the 2024 GWM Mountain Bike National Championships at Awaba Mountain Bike Park on March 16th.

27 March 2024

THE fastest racers in Australia competed and the 23-year-old finished the course in a time of 4:05.18, Ellie kept clear with 14 seconds between silver medallist Elise Empey.

Ellie Smith said, “It feels so amazing to get my second national championship, and it's really special because this is my home downhill track.”

“I felt a lot of pressure coming into the race, but super stoked I could get it done.”

“For seeding yesterday, I just tried to have a smooth run and unfortunately laid it down in a pretty silly spot. So, that definitely got the nerves a bit high for today. But I just got myself sorted, got my head in the game, and put down a good run when it mattered.”

“I couldn't be more happy,” Smith said.

David Harris Member for Wyong said, “This is a great achievement from Ellie Smith considering the wet weather conditions just days before the Championships and blitzing first place, not only once but for the second time in the Downhill National Championships”.

Only 3 weeks before the Championships Ellie was officially crowned for the second time as the Elite Queen of Cannonball at Thredbo’s 2024 Cannonball MTB Festival.

Ellie has a record in competing nationally and overseas in many World Cups including Lenzerheide, Andorra and France.

Upcoming in August 2024, Ellie will be competing in the UCI Mountain Bike World Championships 2024 at Andorra situated between France and Spain.