“I wanted to go out with a bang and that just happened," Brett Rheeder beams, reflecting on his perilous track back to the zenith of mountain biking.
Canadian free rider Rheeder is euphoric, still riding the wave of a shock comeback victory last week in his sport's very own 'Super Bowl'. Now a two-time Red Bull Rampage champion, Rheeder overcame a hand-picked field of 16 mountain biking daredevils in the red desert of Utah to end on the most unlikely of highs.
This prestigious Red Bull event - aimed at pushing athletes to extreme limits - almost has to be seen to be believed. Pro riders spent eight gruelling days on Utah's unforgiving mountainous terrain, digging out their routes using only glorified garden tools and their own bare hands.
Then the action, resembling a video game, began as Rheeder aced jaw-dropping flips over a 48-foot drop in the mountain bike slopestyle. His performance combined mind-blowing tricks and masterful technical riding - earning 90.66 points from the judges and securing a victory over storied rivals Szymon Godziek and Brandon Semenuk that left him in utter disbelief.
And just days after his moment in the sun, Rheeder, a serial champion who has won events all over the globe for the past decade, has now exclusively told Mirror Sport that his contest career is over.
“I didn’t want to keep dragging out my contest career," the 29-year-old admits. "A lot of older athletes have done that and I always looked at it and I never wanted that for me. I decided two days ago that that's it for me in contests. I’m unofficially telling you for the first time that I’ll be calling my retirement for contests.
“It feels right. I set a good example for how people should take contests because they can be the worst thing ever for people, especially the ones who do it just for winning. Because I’ve won these contests I’m ready to move on and I want to do more impactful work in the sport. I am still a professional mountain biker but I will not be competing in contests anymore."
Rheeder stresses that he will still remain pro, but he has now drawn a line in the sand on a contest career that once defined him. And his new found contentment is a stark shift from the deluge of affliction that preceded his last competitive journey to the desert.
Rheeder's ego was once consumed by winning - but his unvaccinated status amidst Canada's strict covid restrictions left him out in the cold and he was forced to step away from competing in the sport he loved. He has now opened up on how he spiralled due to the bleak consequences of his vaccination choice.
“Covid was a big restricting factor," he explains. "My choice with the vaccine held me in Canada for a really long time and I was stuck. I undoubtedly had depression from it because it was something I couldn’t talk about. The media made me look like a really bad person so I couldn’t say anything or couldn’t do anything.
“It felt like a really unfair fight and, honestly, I wouldn’t bring this up in an interview but it's super important because I am a really good person and my health decisions are for me. I hold nothing against anyone else’s decisions but I was severely held back and it really affected me mentally. I wasn’t allowed to leave the country up until this year."
Rheeder's mental battle coincided with injuries that threatened to derail a competition comeback three years in the waiting. He had to recover from brutal setbacks, twice tearing his meniscus and shattering his femur in a period where he 'went through the wringer' after plotting his first competitive run since 2019.
"This sport tests what a human is capable of doing," Rheeder insists. "It's absolutely insane and just to get to the bottom of the venue is a huge goal."
Such is the fickleness of elite level sport, greats are seldom afforded the chance to bow out in style. But fearless Rheeder dared to dream once more and conquered the world for a final time on the perhaps the most treacherous stage of all.
