Breckenridge residents Nico and Lasse Konecny are resilient. 

After facing many challenges over the course of their cycling seasons, the two professional mountain bikers overcame their respective battles to place highly at the USA Cycling Mountain Bike National Championships at Bear Creek Mountain Resort in Pennsylvania. 

Nico Konecny perhaps had the biggest turnaround of the season. Back in May, the 18-year-old rider was recovering from a major fall he suffered overseas in a race in Austria. The fall ultimately resulted in some severe injuries including a broken jaw, a broken upper maxilla as well as lost and damaged teeth.

Unsure if he was going to race again this season, Nico remained patient while attending doctor’s appointments and getting out around Summit County on his bike. A few weeks removed from the crash, Nico decided to enter Breckenridge’s Firecracker 50 mountain bike race on the Fourth of July.

Not sure what to expect, Nico raced alongside his brother at the front of the pack for the first 25-mile lap before eventually pulling away from the field on the second lap and pedaling across the finish line as the 2024 champion. 

“The Firecracker was kind of the test to see how coming back to racing was,” Nico said. “It went really well, so we started putting our sights on nationals. I started working really closely with the doctors, parents and my coach. We just decided to go for it.”

Feeling more confident in his fitness and racing abilities, Nico then lined up for the junior 17-18 boys cross-country race at the national championship competition on Saturday, July 20.

Not quite sure if he was capable of defending his cross-country title from last year, Nico began the race out strong and then waited to see how the race evolved from there. In the first lap of the four-lap race, Nico, alongside a group of other riders, broke away from the rest of the field.

Cruising through the course, the lead back slimmed down to three riders on the second lap. On the third lap, Nico remembers the pace beginning to slow, resulting in him surging to the front and claiming the lead.

“About halfway through the lap-three climb, I started pulling away from position two,” Nico said. “At that point the race shifts from racing against opponents to racing against yourself.”

Using the difficulties he faced this season as fuel, Nico charged down the final straight of the race, crossing the finish line 1 hour, 8 minutes and 57 seconds to win his second-consecutive cross-country mountain bike title in his division.

In a touching tribute to his former USA Cycling teammate — Magnus White — Nico pulled out a picture of White as he neared the finish line of the race, dedicating the gold-medal performance to the cyclist who died in a biking accident in July 2023.

“Last year at nationals was the last race I raced against Magnus, and, to this day, that race is one of my favorites. … ,” Nico said. “This year with Magnus gone, I wanted to take him along with me for the ride. … I owe it to Magnus and all of those in my corner who supported me to get me here. It was just really special.”

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Ezra Caudell followed Nico in second (1:09:17) and River Valdez took third (1:10:31).

While Nico faced physical and mental setbacks during his mountain bike season, Lasse mostly struggled with the internal psychological warfare that can take place while competing at the highest level. 

“The sport takes no prisoners,” Lasse said. “You can work so hard, and the results, sometimes, just do not come. It is very difficult to keep moving forward when you are doing everything you can and it feels like you aren’t making progress.”

After feeling disappointed in his performances over in Europe and at the Firecracker 50, Lasse debated calling it a season, but he persevered past the doubts and held out for the national championship event.

“I wasn’t sure if what I was doing was the right thing,” Lasse said. “I had a lot of doubts heading into nationals, and I was able to work with my brother and my coach to go back to the roots of riding my bike.”

By the week of nationals, Lasse made a major mental breakthrough, choosing to just have fun with the races rather than focusing on the result. The shift in mindset led Lasse to finding himself near the front of the men’s U23 cross-country race on Saturday, July 20. 

In the race, Lasse queued off of last year’s champion — Brayden Johnson — for the first lap while working to gap the chase pack. Johnson pulled his way to a 20- to 30-second lead on the second and third lap, but Lasse and Bear National Team teammate Carson Hampton reeled him back in to create a race to the finish line heading into the final lap.

Lasse led the competitive race for a little bit until a mistake on one of the descents resulted in him dropping to third place. Lasse continued to fight for positioning, eventually passing Johnson with a flat tire in order to finish the race in 1:25:34 for second place overall behind Hampton (1:25:22). Johnson finished in third in 1:26:11.

“I ended up surprising myself and riding the bike the way I know I can,” Lasse said. “I was pretty happy to come off with second. I wasn’t even planning on doing nationals after Firecracker. I was pretty keen on taking the season off and being done for the year. We stuck with it ,and we were able to deliver a good result. I am pretty stoked with it.”

Nico and Lasse concluded action at the 2024 Mountain Bike National Championships by competing in the short-course cross-country races on Sunday, July 21. Nico took second behind Bear National Team’s Oliver Welcker in the short-course race while Lasse finished ninth in the U23 short-course race.

In the coming weeks, Nico and Lasse will continue to race before eventually concluding their seasons in the early fall. As a national champion, Nico has earned an automatic spot on the 2024 World Championship U.S. team while Lasse awaits to see if he will also be selected to the team.

The 2024 Mountain Bike World Championships are scheduled to take place in Aug. 28 through Sept. 1 in Pal Arinsal, Andorra.