Born into a mountain bike-crazy family on a cattle farm in Brooklin, Ontario, Emily Batty first rode bikes for leisure with her brothers from the age of 10, but then turned her passion for all things two-wheeled into a career racing bikes.
As a promising junior, Emily competed in her first World Championships in 2005 and, since her move into the senior ranks, she’s progressively achieved better results as the years have passed on and is now a regular on the World Cup circuit.
Some of her career highlights include the opening round of the 2012 World Cup, where she finished in second place in South Africa. She also represented Canada at the London Olympic Games that year. Emily has stood on multiple World Cup podiums including a fourth place in the 2012 race in Val d'Isère, a third place in the 2013 race at Val di Sole and a second place in the 2014 Cairns World Cup.
She won her first Elite National Champion title in 2013 and also achieved a silver medal in the Commonwealth Games in 2014 while representing Canada.
2016 was standout year in Emily's career. She claimed the bronze medal at the Mountain Bike World Championships and then finished in fourth place at the Rio Olympic Games, just two seconds off the bronze medal, as well as finishing third overall in the World Cup XCO standings.
A hugely popular third place finish at her home XCO World Cup round in Mont-Sainte-Anne and another Canadian championship win were the highlights of Emily's 2017 season, while she showed true grit to sprint to seventh at the World Championships after gashing her knee down to the bone in a crash.
Emily bounced back like only she could, taking bronze in the 2018 Mountain Bike World Championship and taking home her third and fourth consecutive Canadian National Championships in 2018 and 2019, respectively.
While her accomplishments are still at the forefront, the world-class cyclist has begun to focus her efforts elsewhere, most recently with her Iceland Bike Tour project, a self-supported bike trip across the remote continent alongside world-class photographer Chris Burkard.
Always keen to lend a helping hand, she founded the Emily Batty Project, a non-profit focused on fostering the growth of cycling at the grassroots level, helping kids get on bikes who are less fortunate.
Always pushing the sport, the two-wheeled world could use plenty more ambassadors like Emily and we can’t wait to see what she does next.
