{"id":819537,"date":"2026-07-22T22:32:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-22T22:32:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/819537\/"},"modified":"2026-07-22T22:32:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T22:32:11","slug":"interview-emilly-johnston-finds-speed-at-home-for-nationals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/819537\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview: Emilly Johnston finds speed at home for nationals"},"content":{"rendered":"

The elite women\u2019s race at Canadian nationals was long, by XCO standards. Well over the usual 90 minute mark. That made Emilly Johnston\u2019s early attack, going on just the second lap to escape solo, about as long-range move as you can get in XCO racing.<\/p>\n

Even before the attack, Johnston and Wilier-Vittoria\u2019s Ella MacPhee, already the winner of Thursday\u2019s XCC national title, had rolled off the front of the elite women\u2019s field. Instead of waiting to see how the race would unfold, Johnston decided to go out on her own.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Johnston with MacPhee on her wheel early in the second lap of Saturday\u2019s race.<\/p>\n

\u201cElla and I kinda went off the front on the first lap. I found I could get a bit of a gap on the descents, so I went, then recovered a few times. Then I launched a big attack on the second lap and that was the race,\u201d Johnston said after the race, adding she wasn\u2019t too concerned about her attack being too early. \u201cIf there was any doubt, it was the lap after I went. But I just stuck to my pacing strategy. I knew it was my plan, so I stuck to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The strategy paid off. Johnston continued to extend her lead all race, rolling home solo to win the 2026 elite women\u2019d XCO national championships. It\u2019s the Scott-SRAM racer\u2019s first elite national title. After spending time in the maple leaf kit as a junior and under-23, the Vancouver Island racer is looking forward to being back in red and white for the next 12 months.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m super proud to be able to wear the maple leaf. It\u2019s a beautiful kit, in my opinion,\u201d Johnston said, adding that it will also match the marbled gloss white and RockShox red on her team-issue Spark. \u201cHopefully I\u2019ll be able to represent it well!\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Johnson on the front of a rainy XCC race earlier in the nationals weekend.<\/p>\n

The win comes after a rough start to the year. A planned off-season of training in New Zealand was cut short just days into 2026, when a crash resulted in a broken elbow. Johnston says that made Saturday\u2019s win feel like a bit more than a national championship title.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was nice to just be able to feel like I got the most out of myself on the day,\u201d the Comox racer said. \u201cI feel like I\u2019ve been struggling to put together a clean race. I\u2019ve had some mechanical issues and, coming back from an injury this winter, there\u2019s some headspace difficulty as well. So this feels really good.\u201d<\/p>\n

With the World Cup taking an extended break until world championships at the end of August, it sends the Canadian into training through the break on a positive note. Before getting back on the bike, the<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Emilly Johnston wins 2026 Canadian XCO championships in front of a very supportive family.<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst, my mom and I are going fishing in Telegraph Cove. We\u2019re going to catch some absolute hogs,\u201d Johnston says with a laugh. \u201cThen I\u2019m taking a couple days to hang out with friends before building into a solid training block. I\u2019m throwing in some heat training, which I\u2019ve never done before and I\u2019m excited about.\u201d<\/p>\n

The win in Langford also adds to an increasingly successful season for the Scott-SRAM squad. Following the retirement (sort of<\/a>) of Nino Schurter young U.S. racer Bjorn Riley has emerged for the pack to claim his first elite World Cup wins this season<\/a>. Johnston says being part of such an iconic program is still thrilling, in her second year with the team.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s always a dream. It\u2019s super motivating to be able to see one of my best friends winning World Cups. I\u2019m super happy for him and happy for the team.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The elite women\u2019s race at Canadian nationals was long, by XCO standards. Well over the usual 90 minute…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":819538,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[445],"tags":[287132,49,48,635,99077,99079,82],"class_list":["post-819537","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-2026-canadian-xco-national-championships","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cycling","tag-emilly-johnston","tag-scott-sram","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/819537","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=819537"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/819537\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/819538"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=819537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=819537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=819537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}