Soldier Hollow hosts the WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series

MIDWAY — Eyes from around the globe are on Soldier Hollow this weekend for the biggest event ever held at the Olympic venue when it comes to the number of world-class athletes competing.

Sunday was the final day of the WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series in Utah, which brought over 12,000 people to the Olympic venue over the weekend. About 6,000 attendees showed up on Saturday with that number only growing to nearly 7,000 on Sunday, according to Soldier Hollow general manager Luke Bodensteiner.

"It's been a rousing success, to be honest, we didn't have much experience in mountain biking racing at this level," Bodensteiner said. "Obviously, we've hosted other World Cup races in biathlon and many, many ski events. This was our first time on a big stage in mountain biking."

About 221 racers took to the trails in total for short-track races on Saturday and cross-country races on Sunday. Vendors from Utah's biking community were also at Sunday's event, speaking with spectators on how to get involved in the summer sport and how to care for their own gear.

Soldier Hollow was originally built for the 2002 Winter Olympics as the cross-country and biathlon center. The former Olympic venue has mostly been used for winter sports, but about six to eight years ago, the focus shifted to bring summer sports there as well.

This summer was the first time the venue hosted the WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series, and it won't be the last. The venue is now scheduled to host the event again next year and in 2028. Bodensteiner said UCI selected Soldier Hollow because of the success of the Pan American Mountain Bike Championships, which was hosted in Utah two years ago.

"We hope to continue to expand on it, make it bigger, and hopefully it becomes a permanent feature on the world tour calendar," Bodensteiner said.

Events like this align with the Utah Olympic Legacy Foundation's mission to bring Olympic sports to the state's communities, according to Bodensteiner.

"It's obviously exciting for us to be hosting the world series here," Bodensteiner said. "We've got a mission at the Utah Olympic Legacy Foundation to bring Olympic sports to our communities. We're certainly doing that in winter sports, and I think now we can see, even in summer sports, we're doing that with things like mountain biking."

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