4 Oct 2022

Off.road.cc profiles Merida ambassador Gunn-Rita Dahle Flesjå in their ‘Icons’ series

She’s one of the most successful mountain bikers of all time, which is why it’s great to see that long-time Merida athlete and ambassador Gunn-Rita Dahle Flesjå has been included in off.road.cc’s ‘Mountain Bike Icons’ series.

The in-depth interview covers her entire career, from her earliest introduction to the sport, her rapid accession to the top and to her Olympic success, while not glossing over the hard times and hard work it took to get to and stay at the pinnacle of cross-country mountain bike racing, with a career that spanned decades.

Some interesting insights include how she planned her ‘mission impossible’ wishlist of career results before wanting to bow out at the top, saying: “it looked like this: 10 x World Championships, 10 x European Championships and 30 x World Cup wins. We missed one European title.”

Of course, while her career as a racer was both extremely long and fruitful, the story hasn’t ended at retirement, as Gunn-Rita talks about the new challenges she has taken on both as Merida ambassador and in her native Norway to promote cycle use and traffic safety, regulation and behaviour for schoolchildren.

If you’d like to read the full interview, head to off.road.cc here.