'Give everything, expect nothing and know what is possible'

Ella MacPhee enters World Cup midseason break with XCO silver in Pal Arinsal

Two Sundays ago in La Thuile, Italy, Ella MacPhee began a cross-country Olympic (XCO) race with the mindset to "give everything and expect nothing." She didn't always feel well during that event, but pushed hard where possible and surprised herself with bronze: her first World Cup medal in 13 months. Bolstered by the joy of long-awaited success, MacPhee's philosophy became "give everything, expect nothing and know what is possible."

That outlook combined with physical fitness and tactical wisdom to produce a silver medal on July 12 in Pal Arinsal, Andorra. The Squamolian powered through in one hour, 11 minutes and 10 seconds behind only Valentina Corvi, who kept on dominating with her fifth XCO gold in six rounds (1:09:51). Fiona Schibler took bronze for Switzerland (1:11:17).

"My second World Cup XCO podium in a row feels outstanding!" MacPhee said. "After a difficult start to the season, these two weeks have been the perfect reminder to keep trusting the process and that hard work truly does pay off.

"I think my podium in Andorra showed me that La Thuile was not a one-off, and that I am super strong and capable of being at the front of World Cups again. Everyone has been telling me to believe, but these two weeks have brought a lot of personal belief in myself which feels amazing." Italy's Corvi spoke in a press release: "It was super hard...after this racing block I was feeling a little tired, so I focused on riding my own race.

I struggled a bit in the middle of the race because the course is so demanding, with tough climbs and technical descents. I just tried to stay focused on my body and my sensations. The last three laps felt much better and I’m really happy to finish this race block with another win."

Back on July 10, Corvi also won the short track in Pal Arinsal (19:29) in front of Lisa Kristine Jorde (19:43) and Canadian Rafaelle Carrier (19:45) in that order. MacPhee was ninth (19:58), her fellow Squamish rider Marin Lowe winding up 15th in both short track and XCO. Perfect pacing MacPhee loves to go all-in and challenge her limits throughout a race, but knew she needed to be conservative in Pal Arinsal where 2,000-odd metres of altitude can drain anybody's gas tank.

Keeping calm, she reached the first forest in a top-10 position and maintained control amidst a large pack pushing for hardware. A minor crash in the second of six laps allowed one of her Swiss opponents to break away, but MacPhee kept her wits about her and closed the gap. "To this point I had followed my plan and kept on top of cooling due to the heat.

I was confident that I had paced the race perfectly and was ready to give it my all," she said. Hard pedal strokes during the event's first long climb generated a bit of distance between MacPhee and her pursuers, and the gap grew after she dug deep again on the following steep section. Ultimately she mounted a decisive last charge, holding off Schibler by seven seconds and finishing with enough time to celebrate her podium achievement.

That said, catching Corvi and her 884 points atop the women's U23 XCO overall looks to be a mammoth ask for the field. Even second-place athlete Katrin Embacher (481) and third-place Schibler (468) are well behind the Italian. MacPhee is in fifth (443) and had this to say about Corvi: "It's nice to have such a strong rider at the front pushing the pace.

It raises the bar for how we must compete, which is pretty cool." The UCI cross-country circuit now enters a six-week midseason break, returning Aug. 20 to 23 in Les Gets, France. Visit https://www.ucimtbworldseries.com/results/2026/pal-arinsal-andorra-2026 for more Pal Arinsal results.