{"id":402154,"date":"2026-01-11T08:06:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-11T08:06:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/402154\/"},"modified":"2026-01-11T08:06:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-11T08:06:08","slug":"whats-happening-with-prize-money-in-mountain-biking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/402154\/","title":{"rendered":"What’s happening with prize money in mountain biking?"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Warner Bros.-Disney took over the World Cup from Red Bull, it promised expanded coverage and an all-round elevation of mountain biking\u2019s premier race series. A couple years in, WBD says it is delivering<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But are athletes seeing any difference? And does it compare to what other sports get in prize money? Looking at three of 2025 best athletes, downhill and XCO, it\u2019s not even close.<\/p>\n

An odd comparison, at first blush<\/p>\n

Credit where credit\u2019s due, the impetus for this story, other than the looming 2026 season, is an Instagram post and Wyn Masters\u2019 reply to that post, comparing those figures to decidedly smaller amount Jackson Goldstone earned for his staggeringly successful 2025 season.<\/p>\n

In a post likely trolling professional darts, and arguing that triathletes deserve more, 247.Endurance posted the prize money of Luke Littler, a prodigious darts player, or thrower, or whatever they want to be called. Below that, the annual prize money earned by top triathlete (and former Tour de France pretender<\/a>) Kristian Blummenfelt. The difference was staggering.<\/p>\n

While fact checking 247.Endurance\u2019s numbers tempers the difference quite a bit, the most we can find Littler making in prize money in 2025 is \u00a3660,000. Converting that to Euro, which will make sense to you soon, still puts Littler in the range of \u20ac760,500. Blummenfelt pulled in, by 247.Endurance\u2019s stats, USD 353,500 (or roughly\u00a0\u20ac303,800).<\/p>\n

Wyn Masters guessed the Canadian\u2019s prize money, from a season where he won the World Cup and world championships at\u2026 \u20ac30,000.<\/p>\n

That can\u2019t be right, we thought? So we checked the rules and did some math.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Wyn Masters\u2019 is always as refreshingly blunt in his criticism as he is enthusiastic in his praise, according on whichever is due. Photo: Instagram because stories disappear.
\nPause. Why darts?<\/p>\n

As many pointed out in the 247.Endurance post, comparing tri to darts seemed a lot like rage-baiting. Or at least, click-bait. Either because a tri site comparing those figures implies that, charitably, they think tri is worth more or, uncharitably, they think darts should be worth less.<\/p>\n

Why not compare it to hockey? Or football? Or the other football?<\/p>\n

So why wade into this debate? Well, Littler is a young star redefining darts. And Jackson Goldstone is a, well, a young star that many \u2013 including his rivals \u2013 see as redefining downhill mountain biking. And so we\u2019re entirely clear, our argument is not against Littler\u2019s earnings. We think it\u2019s very clear that mountain bikers deserve more.<\/p>\n

So we could compare it to what a world juniors hockey player would make if he went on to win the Stanley Cup. But that difference would be so staggering it\u2019d be enough to send even the calmest cycling fans to UCI\u2019s Aigle, Switzerland headquarters with pitchforks and torches.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Jackson Goldstone celebrates his World Cup overall title at Mont-Sainte-Anne. Photo: Boris Beyer \/ Red Bull Content Pool
\nBreaking down World Cup prize money<\/p>\n

After digging into the rules<\/a>, we determined the potential payout for the perfect season. The payout for Goldstone\u2019s remarkable, historic season. And The perfect season for a cross country athlete, because WBD and UCI do not value them quite the same.<\/p>\n

UCI pays out in Euro (though it fines in CHF) so, for easy comparison, we\u2019re converting everything in this story to Euro.<\/p>\n

Downhill<\/p>\n

For downhill, a perfect elite season would net you \u20ac52,500. There\u2019s 3,750 for each World Cup round, and we\u2019re using the 10-round 2025 season as an example. 2026 drops down to nine rounds each for XC and DH<\/a>. There\u2019s\u00a0a further \u20ac10,000 for winning the overall. And, for downhill, \u20ac5,000 for winning world championships.<\/p>\n

Goldstone\u2019s 2025 payout<\/p>\n

That perfect season is almost certainly theoretical. Unless it\u2019s 2016 and you\u2019re Rachel Atherton. To get closer to Masters\u2019 \u20ac30,000 number, let\u2019s look at Goldstone\u2019s downright sensational 2025 season. The Canadian won elite men\u2019s DH world championships. He won five elite men\u2019s DH World Cup rounds. Finished second in another. A fourth place was his last paying result. Outside of those, the Syndicate racer finished 16th, 20th and 25th. Those results added up, in an extremely dramatic fashion, to the elite men\u2019s World Cup overall title.<\/p>\n

That means that, strictly on prize money from the UCI*, Goldstone earned just \u20ac36,650 for his 2025 season. A season nearly unmatched in the history of men\u2019s downhill racing. Which, again, to compare to darts and triathlon, doesn\u2019t really seem fair.<\/p>\n

*The UCI wasn\u2019t the only race organiser paying Goldstone in 2025. More on that below
\n\"Gracey<\/a>Gracey Hemstreet at Mont-Sainte-Anne. Photo: Colin Field
\nVali H\u00f6ll rides consistency to the bank<\/p>\n

While Valentina H\u00f6ll only won two races in 2025, she managed to bring home more of the UCI\u2019s money than Goldstone. How? H\u00f6ll won when it mattered and she only finished off the podium twice all season. The Austrian defended her world championships title and, through consistency, won the World Cup overall. The only other times she finished off the World Cup podium were a fifth and, after a flat at Mont-Sainte-Anne, 14th.<\/p>\n

That incredible consistency earned H\u00f6ll 39,000 of the UCI\u2019s Euros.<\/p>\n

That prize money drops off fast, though. Gracey Hemstreet finished second overall behind H\u00f6ll and won three World Cup rounds. A fantastic season for the Canadian that, from the UCI, only netted \u20ac21,000 in prize money.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Christopher Blevins stood on many podiums in 2025. Enough to end the U.S. men\u2019s decades long World Cup overall drought. Twice, for good measure. Photo: Fabio Piva \/ Red Bull Content Pool
\nCross country<\/p>\n

For cross country, the 2025 payout was, potentially, significantly higher. The payout for each individual World Cup round is the same, as is the overall. world championships, though, offer \u20ac8,000 for the winner. Plus, XC athletes can double, or even trip dip. There\u2019s another \u20ac5,000 for XCC (short track) and XCM (marathon) national championships. Each XCC World Cup win adds another \u20ac1,750 payout. Plus a full \u20ac10,000 for the XCC overall. There\u2019s another \u20ac5,000 for XCM world championships.<\/p>\n

If you add that all together, the perfect 10-round cross country season (XCO and XCC) would pay out \u20ac88,000. Or, if you add an XCM world championship title, \u20ac93,000.<\/p>\n

Before you say that\u2019s somehow more unreasonable than sweeping a downhill season (as Rachel Atherton did a decade ago), Pauline Ferrand-Prevot managed to sweep the XCO, XCC and XCM world championship titles in 2022, all within three weeks<\/a>. By the end of that fall, she\u2019d add a gravel world championship title to that list. (We don\u2019t know what the payout for that was, off-hand).<\/p>\n

Even if sweeping both series and XCM worlds would be, uh, a lot, it means cross country athletes have a far bigger pool of prize money and far more race opportunities to split amongst themselves than the gravity crowd do.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Jenny Rissveds flanked by Samara Maxwell and Evie Richards on the podium in Araxa. They would eventually beat her in the XCO (Maxwell) and XCC (Richards) standings in 2025. Photo: Fabio Piva \/ Red Bull Content Pool<\/p>\n

In fact, in 2025, Christopher Blevins won both the XCC and XCO World Cup overall titles. He also finished second at XCC world championships. That earned the U.S. racer \u20ac45,900 in prize money (23,650 from XCO and 22,250 from XCC). That\u2019s five XCC World Cup wins, three XCO World Cup wins, and one second place in each over the season, plus his worlds silver.<\/p>\n

While we\u2019re here, Jenny Rissveds nearly matched Blevins total with a similarly staggering season. Rissveds won XCO world championships, then finished second in XCC world championships as well as in XCO and XCC World Cup overall standings. She also won four XCO World Cups and another four in XCC, plus two other podiums in each. All of that adds up to \u20ac40,650.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Jackson Goldstone celebrates victory at 2025 Red Bull Hardline in Maydena. Photo: Graeme Murray \/ Red Bull Content Pool
\nSome other comparisons, while we\u2019re here<\/p>\n

At this point it should be pretty clear that the UCI is quite stingy, when it comes to paying its mountain bike stars. That\u2019s compared to other sports, but also to other race organisers.<\/p>\n

As we hinted above, Goldstone\u2019s prize money wasn\u2019t limited to UCI events in 2025. Both Goldstone and Asa Vermette won Red Bull Hardline events in 2025. The Canadian in Tasmania and the U.S. junior (elite for 2026) in Wales. We don\u2019t have 2025 numbers, but in 2024 Red Bull paid out GBP 12,000 (around \u20ac13,000, to keep this consistent) for a Hardline win.<\/p>\n

That brings Goldstone\u2019s total to \u20ac49,650, with a single Hardline win making up 28 per cent of the total winnings.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>One of only runs in 2025 that earned Asa Vermette more \u20ac than it cost for his tires. The U.S. junior\u2019s win against elites at Red Bull Hardline Wales paid multiples of his UCI season winnings. Photo: Dan Griffiths \/ Red Bull Content Pool<\/p>\n

For Vermette, the difference is staggering. His Hardline Wales win is significantly more than he would have made racing World Cups in the junior category last year, even if he\u2019d had the perfect season. Even his second place at Hardline Maydena would dwarf his maximum potential World Cup winning as a junior.<\/p>\n

Winning every junior World Cup and junior world championships nets you \u2026 \u20ac3,250?!? Junior payout is shockingly and embarrassingly bad. Especially when you consider the top riders, like Vermette, are capable of taking it to an elite field as he did in Wales.<\/p>\n

Rosa Zierl actually came close to that perfect season. The Austrian won junior women\u2019s downhill world championships and was the top-ranked in the junior women\u2019s World Cup. That included four wins (plus worlds) and four more podiums. In fact, the only times Zierl finished off the podium, she was fifth. What was her reward? The UCI thought that effort was worth a whopping \u20ac2,740.<\/p>\n

Basically the only way to make money from the UCI racing as a junior (and under-23 isn\u2019t much better) is by being on the winning XCR (team relay) squad at world championships and hoping your national federation splits the prize money more evenly than UCI would. The payout for that event, in which many nations struggle to convince their top athletes to participate, is somehow \u20ac15,000.<\/p>\n

Stingy with payouts, liberal with fines<\/p>\n

While the UCI is quite reticent to give away money, it is more than happy to take it from riders. The fee for littering outside the \u201clittering zone\u201d for example is CHF 250 (around \u20ac268) for your first offence. That is more than a World Cup win in junior DH, U23 XCC and more than finishing second in an U23 XCO. \u00a0A second offence is CHF 500, and you get disqualified from the race.<\/p>\n

Back to that comparison\u2026<\/p>\n

Now, I know what you\u2019re thinking. But these riders aren\u2019t only making money from winning races. Goldstone and Vermette are earning money from sponsorship and team salaries on top of that.<\/p>\n

First, mountain biker\u2019s are not paid much. Some are making money, like Loic Bruni. But estimates have put even his total income closer to just one million. For one of the best riders of all time. A lot for mountain biking but not a lot for nearly any other pro sport. And he is, by far and away, the exception. Second, all those dart throwers and triathletes are sponsored, too. All those patches on dart guys jacket? He didn\u2019t put them there for fun.<\/p>\n

So what\u2019s the point of all this?<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the point of all this comparisson? To show that you should put your kids in darts instead of letting them ride mountain bikes (where they might hurt their throwing fingers)? No.<\/p>\n

If WBD is going to run around trumpeting how much they\u2019ve grown the sport and what amazing viewership they\u2019ve brought to World Cup, it\u2019s time they start passing some of that revenue on to the riders.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Warner Bros.-Disney took over the World Cup from Red Bull, it promised expanded coverage and an all-round…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":402155,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[445],"tags":[95124,21898,81835,49,48,169540,635,80423,70094,169541,1700,82,15646,8093,13009],"class_list":["post-402154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-2025-world-cup","tag-2026-world-cup","tag-asa-vermette","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-christopher-blevins","tag-cycling","tag-gracey-hemstreet","tag-jackson-goldstone","tag-jenny-rissveds","tag-mtb-features","tag-sports","tag-uci","tag-warner-bros-discovery","tag-world-cup"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=402154"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402154\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/402155"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=402154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=402154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=402154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}