A NEW CHAPTER FOR
NINO SCHURTER
NINO SCHURTER
For two decades, Nino Schurter has been the answer to a simple question: What does the fastest cross-country mountain biker in the world look like? Ten world titles. Nine World Cup overall wins. Olympic gold in Rio. Thirty-six individual World Cup victories—a record no one else has come close to. Now he's stepping into a new chapter: racing gravel and backing the next generation at SCOTT-SRAM. He arrives at Leogang not to chase points but to carry something rarer—perspective. And it's a telling place to find it: he won the World Championship here in 2012, yet the World Cup rounds on this course rarely rewarded him. We sat down with him ahead of the race.
You've raced at the elite level for over twenty years—long enough to watch most of your rivals burn out or walk away. What's the one thing that's kept you hungry, not just committed?
Probably the love of the sport kept me going for so long. The commitment and the motivation came naturally, and for most of my career, it never felt like something I had to do—more like a pleasure.
You've won everything this sport has to offer. Now the goalposts look completely different. How do you sustain that drive when you're no longer chasing the next number?
I'm enjoying this new phase of my career and trying out new things. I don't miss XCO racing, because there's so much new filling up my race program. Now I can pick and choose the fun challenges and events I never had time for over the past twenty years.
You won the World Championship here in 2012, but the World Cup rounds on this course never quite went your way. What is your relationship with this place?
We've had bad weather here in Leogang more than a few times, and that doesn't suit me so well. The track is fairly oldschool too—long climbs that don't really play to my strengths.
After decades at the top, how important is it to trust that everything you’re wearing is fully dialed in? Does that confidence translate into performance? In XC, where every second counts, how much does fit precision change how you feel on the bike?
In principle, nothing has changed. I still want every little detail dialed in.
Let's talk about shoes. What does a perfect fit feel like to you, and how fast do you notice when something is off? With BOA®, do you micro-adjust mid-race, or set it and forget it?
Being able to micro-adjust my BOA® dials gives me the perfect fit. And yes, depending on the intensity and conditions, I do adjust on-the-fly during a race or a training ride.
You spent twenty years defining what the fastest XC racer looks like—now you're racing gravel. What surprised you most in the switch, and is there something that riding gravel has shown you that two decades of XC never did?
It's great to experience a new kind of riding and racing on the gravel bike. I'm still in the process of figuring out how to do my best in this discipline, and that's exactly what makes it interesting. But it's not only gravel. I just won the BC Bike Race on Vancouver Island, a seven-day mountain bike stage race that had always been on my bucket list.
You're at Leogang this year supporting the riders at Scott-SRAM. What do you most want to pass on to them, and what do you know about racing at this level that they're still learning?
Being there for the Scott-SRAM athletes, especially the younger ones, can make the difference. With equipment choices and line selection, I can still add something to the team. They're all professional athletes who make their own decisions—I just like to be in the background when I'm needed.
SCOTT MTB ULTIMATE SHOE
