Haley Batten prepares for dream home World Cup at Soldier Hollow

Park City native and Olympic silver medalist Haley Batten pauses during a ride in Utah. Batten will compete before a home crowd when the WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series comes to Soldier Hollow Sept. 19-20. Photo: Jake Quilter

MIDWAY, Utah — Haley Batten has raced mountain bikes around the world, competed in two Olympics and won a silver medal for Team USA in Paris.

This fall, the Park City native will compete in a place that helped shape her career.

The WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series will stop at Soldier Hollow Nordic Center on Sept. 19 and 20, bringing international cross-country mountain bike racing to Utah. The World Cup weekend will feature elite and under-23 cross-country Olympic and cross-country short track races as the series begins its North American stretch.

For Batten, the event will connect the international racing circuit she has pursued for more than a decade with the community where she first learned to ride.

“It really just brings my two worlds together,” Batten told TownLift. “I travel the world racing the UCI Mountain Bike World Series with all my friends, competitors and my team, and I get to bring all of those people to the community that I love and the place that I fell in love with the sport.”

Batten, a two-time Olympian, won silver in women’s cross-country mountain biking at the 2024 Paris Games. It was the United States’ first Olympic silver medal in mountain biking and the best Olympic mountain biking result by an American.

She grew up in Park City, where she began riding and racing on the area’s trail network. She also competed in Nordic skiing and spent years training and racing at Soldier Hollow.

“I have photos when I was just a little kid doing local race series there,” she said. “I honestly never thought that would happen in my career, to have a home World Cup, so it’s a dream come true.”

World Cup mountain bike races remain relatively rare in North America, Batten said, and recent events have largely been held in the eastern part of the continent. She sees the Soldier Hollow race as a home event not only for Utah riders, but also for cyclists throughout the Mountain West and western United States.

“This one is representing a lot of communities even beyond Utah,” she said, naming Colorado, Montana, Idaho and California. “It’s more our side of the country.”

Batten said she hopes international riders and teams remain in Utah long enough to experience the region beyond the racecourse.

“Utah is such an incredible place to mountain bike,” she said. “I’m really excited to show that off to the world.”

The UCI and Warner Bros. Discovery Sports announced Soldier Hollow as a World Cup host in 2025. Warner Bros. Discovery Sports works with the UCI to organize, promote and distribute coverage of the international series.

Soldier Hollow hosted cross-country skiing and biathlon during the 2002 Winter Olympics and is expected to host Olympic competition again when the Winter Games return to Utah in 2034. The venue also hosted the 2024 Pan American Mountain Bike Championships.

Batten said the region’s Olympic history and outdoor culture make it a natural setting for elite mountain bike racing.

Growing up in Park City, she was surrounded by Olympic venues and athletes. She remembers running the stairs near the Utah Olympic Park ski jumps while training with her Nordic team.

“That Olympic spirit really surrounds you,” Batten said. “You never know who you’re going to run into on the streets here or what they’ve done. I think it’s really cool to bring a high-level event like a World Cup to a place that really celebrates sport at a high level.”

Batten races professionally for Specialized Factory Racing and is working toward another Olympic appearance at the 2028 Los Angeles Games.

Her return to a full international schedule has not been easy. Batten said she raced sparingly in 2025 because of a family health situation. That left her with fewer UCI ranking points, making it more difficult to earn favorable starting positions this season.

“The sport is always throwing curveballs and keeping you humble,” she said.

Still, Batten said she is beginning to find momentum. A five-week stretch at home has given her a rare opportunity to train consistently between World Cup races. Her upcoming goals include a World Cup in France and the UCI Mountain Bike World Championships.

She views the season as an important step in a longer build toward Los Angeles.

“I’m gaining traction for sure, and I feel really good,” Batten said. “For me, I’m just learning a lot and growing as an athlete.”

The Soldier Hollow crowd could provide another lift.

North American athletes spend much of the season competing in Europe, often before crowds supporting riders from France, Switzerland, Italy and other cycling strongholds.

“I think it’ll give me wings for sure,” Batten said.

The event will also give many of her friends and relatives their first chance to see the intensity of World Cup racing in person.

“It’s so hard to understand just through Instagram or photos what it’s all about,” she said. “A World Cup race is so exciting and so intense.”

Batten is preparing specifically for Soldier Hollow, but she said she does not want her finishing position to define the weekend.

“Regardless of my performance, I just feel so grateful for the opportunity,” she said. “I’m just going to soak it all in when the time comes.”

She also hopes the race inspires Utah’s young cyclists.

Batten participated in local youth programs and high school mountain biking before becoming a professional. She said the sport gave her confidence, friendships and opportunities to test herself around the world.

A young rider watching a World Cup in person, she said, may begin to see elite competition as something within reach.

“I hope it’s an inspiration for athletes just to see, if they’re interested in racing at a high level, that it’s there, that it’s accessible and that you can do it,” Batten said. “If they want to dream big like that, they can.”

Her message to Utah spectators is straightforward.

“Bring your friends and family,” Batten said. “I hope everybody comes to watch because I think it’s really, really cool and special.”