CANDICE LILL: ‘I HAVE TO BELIEVE I CAN WIN THE GOLD MEDAL’

South Africa’s Candice Lill will tackle her third Olympic Games in Paris on Sunday. Unlike London and Tokyo though, she’s a genuine medal contender. In this interview over the weekend, we spoke to her about her recent rise to XCO stardom, her Paris Games strategy, her coach, her bike and more…

By Sean Badenhorst

What a difference 12 years makes. London 2012 must have been overwhelming for you as a young racer. What from your London Games participation stands out most for you still?

Twelve years is a night-and-day difference. In London 2012 I got chosen for the Olympics not even more than a month before the race. I was 19. It was one of those last-minute decision wild-card entries. As much as I didn’t have any time to prepare for it, I don’t think I would have done well anyway. But the experience was massive for me. Each Olympic Games that I have done has had a purpose. That purpose hasn’t been winning.

London was about that first Olympic experience. Taking everything in. Realising how far away I was from being able to perform at the Olympic Games. Tokyo was a more sound-mind, know-what’s-coming, know-what-to-expect experience. But there I had to deal with other problems I was having, particularly the mental issue around technical racing on XCO courses. I had a massive breakthrough in this regard at Tokyo. I was able to ride everything and I have pretty much been on that level since after Tokyo. Now, obviously we are going into Paris. It’s the one I am most well prepared for the one I believe I can actually do well in.

Although it seems as if your rise up the XCO ranks has been quite sudden, it’s obviously been building. When did you feel that you could be one of the world’s best XCO racers? Was there a definite moment of realisation or was it more progressional?

Ha ha! Yes, people have been saying recently that ‘Candice came out of nowhere and is doing so well!’ There is no way that this success is out of nowhere! It’s been building for years and years. From London 2012 until now I have been plugging away – at varying levels, I guess.

I would say for the last five or six years I have been very serious about pursuing XCO racing and obviously the Olympics and getting to the top of the game. People don’t see the behind-the-scenes stuff. They don’t see you coming 40^th, 30^th, 20^th on your way up. I do think it was slowly but surely, but I also think there were moments of realisation or moments of greatness where I showed my potential.

Recently, it was definitely the sixth place at Nove Mesto. I had been around 15^th-20^th for quite a while. Probably a year or so. My goal was to break into the top 10 this year. And when I came sixth at Nove Mesto, it honestly changed a lot for me. In terms of my confidence, how I’m riding and how I approach races from there on. It’s amazing what that sort of result can do. The confidence it can give you and how much confidence actually counts in a race. There’s so much it does in terms of how you speak to yourself and the decisions you make. Feeling a bit more able to just ride to the front in a World Cup race. I never had those sorts of thoughts before. That’s been an amazing breakthrough for me.

Your coach, Barry Austin, has no doubt been a big part of your success. What do you feel he’s been able to do for you that’s unlocked your potential. Is there something specific or is it a range of things?

I have absolutely loved working with Barry. I started working with him at the beginning of 2023. All the other coaches I had up to that point were really good. Each one brought me to a certain point. I’m not saying that if I had gone with Barry at the beginning of my career things would have been different. I just think it came at the right time. I was ready to step up a few things.

What Barry does really well is look at the whole picture. He doesn’t just ascribe a training programme. He looks at the nitty gritty of XCO racing and what it entails. He’s there at the World Cup races and sees what’s going on. He’s developed an art for how to race XCO. That’s something that was massively missing in my world. A big mistake I was making was trying to race a XCO race like a marathon. Just chugging away from the start to the finish.

But if you break a XCO course down, like Barry does, there’s certain sections where you need to do certain things. Some of those are just going really deep and really hard. I was always too scared to do that. Or I just didn’t know that I could do that. So, we have trained that and worked on that. It took a while because it’s not easy to just go and smash a XCO race. So that’s really been a big game-changer for me. Now I’m just more and more confident in my ability to execute what we have been training on the XCO courses.

Another note on that, I would say a massive thing, is the recovery on a XCO course. If you break down a XCO course there are different parts. At XCO races in general, especially in South Africa, we don’t focus on the recovery parts. We think we need to be a boss on the downhills with speed and style. But actually, that costs energy. Once I realised, with Barry’s guidance, that you could just mentally be in the process of recovering on the descents, it changes how you can go up the hills and how much energy you have everywhere else on the course. That has been a big thing for me.

Your climbing strength seems to have improved. Has it? If so, what have you done differently to achieve this?

Yes, it has. As I spoke about earlier about breaking the course into different parts. Before, I was just wasting energy all over the course, whereas now I’m just trying to mentally and physically be in each moment. I’m giving more attention to the recovery sections. Getting to the bottom of the course and genuinely being recovered for the next climb makes a huge difference. I’m also feeling more confident. I’m more confident to overtake people; and I’m more confident by starting further forward. That’s been a massive help. I think my climbing strength has improved as well, just from consistency and being able to execute going hard on the climbs and recovering in between. All in all, it’s about how I race the race and how I arrive at the bottom of the course with enough energy for the next climb.

You have had the most incredible season this year with so many highs. What has been your biggest challenge that we, the public, wouldn’t be aware of?

Thanks, this year has really been incredible. I have had fun and I have loved it. I would say my big challenges have come in the years before this year. What Darren (Candice’s husband) and I have had to overcome and work through together to reach where we are now. It feels like this year hasn’t had many challenges other than Darren and I being a two man/woman team at the World Cups. Having to do all the admin, organise all the flights and accommodation bookings, keeping sponsor relationships open and solid… It is pretty much a full-time job, but also one we have reached a bit of a sweet spot in now.

In the years before, where there was so much uncertainty in terms of sponsors, there were times when Darren and I were like: ‘Okay cool, we want to go to the next World Cup, but we have no money. How are we going to do it?’ We were literally going from World Cup race to World Cup race like that. I contrast that to where we are now and it’s a massive testament to the people and brands that have supported us. I also think that that’s played a massive role in letting me race the way that I have this year. To have so little stress compared to years gone by and to finally feel like you are on top of things and that you have worked so hard for something.

It used to be an insecurity of mine. I used to feel overwhelmed by the other riders and the team set-ups they have. I’m so proud of what we have done and overcome and worked for together and not given up. It’s actually given me a whole new level of power and confidence. I’m happy and I’m enjoying my racing and that’s why I’m doing well.

Alan Hatherly told us earlier this year that the new Cannondale Scalpel has made his descending noticeably better. Have you experienced this too?

Yes, I would say that I am a lot more comfortable and confident descending on the new Scalpel. They made some pretty big design changes to make it that way. It obviously hasn’t impacted my climbing either. All in all, it’s a really good bike to race XCO on and a bike you can win on. My favourite change on this edition of the Scalpel is the wheelbase is longer and the headtube angle is slacker. Going down steep descents honestly feels like night and day compared to before. You can just roll over things that seemed scary on another bike. Whereas now I get to them and I’m totally fine. It definitely gives you confidence, which is an important thing on today’s XCO courses.

The Paris Games course – does it suit you?

Last year I definitely would have said ‘this is my course – it’s a great is for me’. This year, I’m actually not sure what my kind of course is because I have really surprised myself on quite a few different courses in different conditions. I’m feeling like anything is possible. It could be my sort of course or it could not be.

Besides that, what I like about it, it’s a course that’s very easy to execute ‘the XCO plan’ that Barry and I have been working on. The moments you have to go all in – you can commit easily to them. It’s not like some four-minute climb, it’s like sections that you can really power. There are definite recovery sections and there’s sections where it’s more playful. The way that we break it down and the way I can execute it on the day is more important to me than whether the course suits me or not. I do think I am a very good allround rider. I’m not the best in anything. I’m not the best in any one aspect of the course I don’t think. But if I can execute my plan well, then I can be up there with the best.

Pauline and Puck are the two favourites for the gold medal dice at the Paris Games. They are the only racers you haven’t beaten this year. You have shown that you are a definite medal contender. Do you feel that you can realistically go for the gold?

Obviously, I have been thinking about this a lot in the last few weeks. I think it’s important not to give too much attention to what others are doing and who other riders are and what they can and can’t do on the day. Those are things completely outside of my control. As much as I have a lot of respect for someone like Pauline and Puck – they are amazing riders – I have to believe that I can beat them and I have to believe that I can win the gold medal no matter what.

Whether it’s realistic or not, it doesn’t actually matter. All I have to do is strive to be at the front of the race. I think there can be a lot of talk about who the favourites are and who isn’t. But for me personally, I try to stay quite far away from that. I just want to race with a clear, strong mind and enjoy it. I have worked really hard to be where I am. I have a lot of experience. I feel like everything has come together really well this year. I want to go into the Olympic Games not having the weight anyone else’s opinions on me or my competitors. I just want to race the way that I know I can race and enjoy it.

The 2024 Women’s Olympic XCO race takes place on Sunday, 28 July at 13h00. It will be televised live in South Africa on SuperSport.

Previous Olympic Games women’s medallists:

Tokyo 2020

Gold: Jolanda Neff (SUI)

Silver: Sina Frei (SUI)

Bronze: Linda Indergand (SUI)

24^th: Candice Lill (RSA)

Rio 2016

Gold: Jenny Rissveds (SWE)

Silver: Maja Wloszczowska (POL)

Bronze: Catharine Pendrel (CAN)

London 2012

Gold: Julie Bresset (FRA)

Silver: Sabine Spitz (GER)

Bronze: Georgia Gould (USA)

27^th: Candice Neethling/[Lill] (RSA)

Beijing 2008

Gold: Sabine Spitz (GER)

Silver: Maja Wloszczowska (POL)

Bronze: Irina Kalentyeva (RUS)

22^nd: Yolande Speedy (RSA)

Athens 2004

Gold: Gunn Rita Dahle-Flesja (NOR)

Silver: Marie-Helene Premont (CAN)

Bronze: Sabine Spitz (GER)

Sydney 2000

Gold: Paola Pezzo (ITA)

Silver: Barbara Blatter (SUI)

Bronze: Margarita Fullana (ESP)

25^th: Erica Green (RSA)

Atlanta 1996

Gold: Paola Pezzo (ITA)

Silver: Alison Sydor (CAN)

Bronze: Susan Demattei (USA)

17^th: Erica Green (RSA)