How the young Kiwi rider took his place among the best downhillers in the world
Lachie Stevens-McNab’s breakout weekend ended in a crash and a 33rd-place finish in Poland. The New Zealand downhill rider for The Union progressed throughout the weekend, taking seventh in qualifying, fifth in semi-finals, and, through three splits, posted the fastest time of any rider during his finals run. He had never won even a junior World Cup event and there he was, on pace to beat the world’s best at any level on a brand new track.
Stevens-McNab takes full responsibility for the fall on an easy left turn. He was pedaling and shifting gears to build up speed in preparation for a harder, tighter right turn. He washed out due to a lapse in concentration.
“I was just thinking about that corner, because it was pretty important to make sure you got good exit speed coming out of it,” Stevens-McNab said. “Really my fault, and it probably cost me a win. But I mean I wasn’t too devastated. I was just happy that the pace was there.”
, during the second round of the 2024 DH and EDR World Cup Series. Bielsko-Biala, Poland
As if to confirm that his flash of race-winning form was legit, Stevens-McNab took third just a few weeks later in Leogang for his first ever elite World Cup podium. With just World Championships and two World Cup races left in the 2024 season, he has established himself as a consistent Top 15 rider who, at just 20 years old, can challenge for the top step in every race he enters.
The reason it feels like Stevens-McNab has come out of nowhere this season is because we hadn’t seen him at his best since 2022, his final year racing juniors. He broke his wrist and his back in a nasty crash at World Championships that year. After two weeks in a French hospital and four months of recovery he was ready to ride again … only to quickly break his other wrist. He rode one World Cup final, taking 26th in Lenzerheide, before injuring his ankle and missing the rest of the season until the finale in Mont-Sainte-Anne, where he rode at well less than full strength and took 73rd.
Lachie on his first ever elite World Cup podium.
As he stood at the top of the hill in Poland, Stevens-McNab marveled at the riders around him, many of whom he considers his idols.
“I just remember being on the track and I’d see Amaury [Pierron] or Loïc [Bruni] or someone behind me, and I’d be like, ‘[censored], I’ve got to get out of their way,'” he laughs. “I was just really trying to enjoy the moment. I was just up there thinking this is what I’ve been working towards for my whole life.”
Stevens-McNab didn’t expect to be in regular podium contention entering the season. He set his sights on consistently qualifying for finals and finishing Top 20. But regardless of how the season unfolded, his approach would have been the same. He credits his mom and dad for empowering him to pursue his dreams in downhill racing, provided he worked for it. They supported him when he went to Europe to race as a 16-year-old privateer, and later as he pushed through nearly two years worth of gnarly injuries.
Lachie credits his parents for enabling him to pursue his dreams in downhill racing.
“My old man’s got an insane work ethic. Same as my mum. It’s just the way I’ve been brought up to work as hard as you can, and don’t leave any stone unturned,” Stevens-McNab said. “If I just took everything and didn’t work and just wanted to cruise through, they wouldn’t have that.
“I’m pretty lucky, because there’s no way I’d be able to be doing what I’m doing without them.”
Stevens-McNab is exactly the type of rider The Union was built to elevate. Before joining The Union in 2022, he had taken a handful of junior World Cup top five finishes, but he hadn’t flashed the surefire speed that the sport’s major factory teams like to see before committing to a young rider. The Union was built to identify riders like Stevens-McNab, who fall through the cracks in an unforgiving sport, and give them the support they deserve.
Lachie and The Union crew.
The Union was helping Stevens-McNab even before he was an official member of the squad. He was friends with two Kiwi members of the team, Tuhoto-Ariki Pene and Finn Hawkesby Brown. They’d travel to races together in a van, and The Union supplied Stevens-McNab with spare tires whenever they could. The team gave him a ride from the airport in Washington D.C. to the World Cup race in Snowshoe, W. Va., late in the 2021 season. Stevens-McNab then signed with the team ahead of 2022.
Stevens-McNab is now in his third season with The Union. The squad, founded by Steel City Media’s Joe Bowman, provides him with the all-for-one atmosphere in which he thrives best.
“Everyone on the team, we’re all there for the same reason, and everyone just wants to help each other,” Stevens-McNab said. “Everyone just works hard, and everyone pulls their own weight. It’s just a cool thing that Joe started, and he’s had some pretty good results out of it.”
This man has a bright future.
Stevens-McNab maybe didn’t expect to have the breakout season he has enjoyed this year, but it’s not as shocking as it seems. He was steadfast through his recovery from injuries, and has surrounded himself with people who believe in him. He saw past results towards progress, and blew through expectations in the process. In short: Nothing was going to stop Stevens-McNab from being the best version of himself.
“When I look back at some of my goals that I’ve written down, I’m completing those goals every weekend. And I’m happy, but I feel like my views on it have changed,” Stevens-McNab said. “It’s cool to look back and read some of the stuff I’ve written down and be like, ‘Damn.’ My goals have only gotten higher.”
