“I’ve had so many injuries it’s almost like a routine,” says Sian A’Hern, 25-year-old downhill mountain-biking champion and Queanbeyan local. 

“Most injuries I just get on with, I do what I can around the injury, I just have to be a bit more creative,” she says.

But, at the end of 2021, Sian says she had a terrible training crash that left her with a brain injury, punctured lungs and an extensive list of other internal injuries. 

“Recovery took a long time,” she says.

“It took me a really long time to ride fast again. 

“You can ride after injury no problem, but it’s about how to be fast and push your limits again. 

“You get so scared of what’s going to happen if you crash again, especially with a head injury. 

“The risk of permanent disability is obviously really high.

“When I had my head injury I was like: ‘I don’t want to do this ever again.’ 

“I was just over it at that point.” 

Sian says she was originally compelled to try mountain-biking after encouragement from her parents and brother, who is also a downhill mountain-bike world champion. 

“I started mountain biking in 2014, then in 2015 I competed in my first race, which was a national round in Thredbo,” she says. 

“I got second in the junior category. 

“I then went on to the National Championships a few weeks after that, got second again, and I was like, ‘man, this is a cool sport.’

“The following year I qualified to race the World Cup and I actually won the World Cup series. 

“So that was pretty crazy. 

“Then I ended up winning the overall series in 2016.”

It was at this point Sian says her mountain-biking career began to stall due to four years of injuries and a lingering uncertainty of her passion for the sport.

“In 2019 I did another full world cup series, then I decided I was going to have a break because I didn’t really love it any more,” she says. 

“I just wasn’t hungry for it and didn’t really have any support. 

“Then in 2020 and 2021 I just stayed at home, I worked full time and rode for fun.

“I kind of gave racing one more shot, and if I liked it I would keep going.” 

Sian went on to compete in the Downhill Canadian Open at the 2022 Crankworx World Tour event.

“I got one of my best career results in Canada, my first race back, and fell in love with it again,” she says.

Sian also went on to reclaim her position as national champion, competing at the 2023 AusCycling Mountain Bike Championships.

“Winning national champs last year was the highlight of my career so far, it was one of those really special races,” says Sian. 

“Thredbo for me is such a special part of my career growing up. 

“A few international racers came… and all I wanted was to win that race, and not just win nationals but beat all those international riders and win it outright. 

“That was the biggest goal. 

“I was faced with so much adversity that week, I had a silly crash and hurt myself quite a lot, but I just kept my head on what my biggest goal was.

“For qualifying, I won by 15 seconds, in front of Nina Hoffman, who is from Germany.

“She actually won a World Cup last year so I was pretty stoked to win that one. 

“Then in the finals, I won by seven seconds. 

“It felt like one of those races where the whole mountain was behind me, everyone was cheering, everyone there wanted me to win. 

“That was probably one of the most special races. 

“In the future I’m really hoping to stand on a podium at a World Cup for elite womens. 

“That’s really my biggest goal this year.” 

Sian will compete at the 2024 Thredbo Cannonball MTB Festival in February and at the 2024 AusCycling Mountain Bike National Championships in March at Lake Macquarie, NSW, followed by the 2024 UCI Mountain Bike World Series and World Championship, with events taking place across Europe and North America from May through to October.

“I just want to see where this sport takes me, it’s already taken me so far and I feel like I’ve achieved so much in quite a short period of time,” she says.

“I don’t know what the future holds but I’m excited for it.”