Is This the Best Downhill Mountain Biker in the World?
Meet Jackson Goldstone. He’s 6 years old, lives in British Columbia, and is already ripping it up on his bike. Here’s a video of him taking the long way around on his way to kindergarten:
Wow, if he keeps riding and improving, I wonder how good this kid could be? Ok, I’m funning you a little bit because that was several years ago and Jackson is starring in GoPro videos at the age of 10 and riding the hardest trails faster and better than many adult riders:
I mean, I think Jackson could really be world-class some da— Ha, more tricks! Jackson is actually 21 years old here in the present of 2025 and is actually now one of the best downhill mountain bikers in the world. Here’s the POV video from a recent win of his:
There are a couple of notable things about this video:
1. Watch the way he goes through a bunch of tree stumps at full tilt at ~1:10 by basically jumping over the whole thing with a couple of quick hops. Adjust the playback speed of the video to 0.5 or 0.25 to see how he does it. I’ve watched this like 10 times and it’s still bonkers.
2. And then at ~1:52, he screams through a tunnel and gaps directly onto a wooden berm — and you can hear how the crowd reacts. Here’s another view of that same gap and the rest of his run:
Other riders clear that gap too, but somehow not as big or direct as Jackson does it. I don’t actually know enough about mtn biking to know how Goldstone is doing what he’s doing, but if you want a hint, check out the “Bike Jesus” section of this video that starts at ~5:30:
3. Oh yeah, and just how ungodly fast he and the other riders are going past trees and through rocks and all sorts of other lurking assailants. Blimey.
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Jackson is the real deal, he's now won four consecutive World Cup downhill events which ties the record for the most consecutive wins in the history of the sport. He may win more and extend that record soon.
I've watched him for years and I think it's two things he's got on others. One is that he's a bit smaller and lighter than other riders so he can whip his bike over obstacles just a tad faster than heavier or taller riders. He's also got such incredible bike skills having grown up in the crown jewel of MTBing in BC and he always finds a line or two no one else is doing in practice and jumps over gaps that save vital milliseconds off his times.
This also reminds me of my other favorite viral kid gone pro, Rayssa Leal, who is the girl in a Vine from like 15 years ago doing a kickflip down a few stairs while wearing a tutu. She's now a silver medalist in Skateboarding at the last olympics and wins skate park competitions regularly now.
His win streak came to an end at four a few weeks ago in Andorra; Goldstone finished second to Loic Bruni.
Some cycling friends of mine popped out a kid, and as soon as he could walk they put him on a balance bike. Over the years he's gone through a somewhat comical progression of expensive miniature mountain bikes. Now he's eight years old, rides a full-sus bike, and wins races against kids two or three years older. Based on the extensive Instagram feed (they moved away, so I don't see them in person any more) he's already a better rider than I am, and certainly better than his dad. Kid's not quite at Jackson's level, but he's not far off.
Every time I see him on Insta I'm reminded of the friend who told me "if you haven't learned to ski by the time you're three, you'll never be a pro". It's just stunning how fast and well kids learn physical skills when they're young.
Both of my kids started skiing at age 2 and, yeah, the effortless things they can do on skis now is just unbelievable.
Totally. Just like speaking additional languages - get kids on it when their toddlers and it becomes second-nature.
Take the most highly-motivated 30yr old and try to teach/learn the same thing and almost anyone can always tell that they're "trying their best". :)
I used to think this was true (hence my kids on skis from an early age) but I've been working as a professional alpine ski instructor for the past three years at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort. The terrain in Jackson is serious, and my fellow instructors are the best skiers I've ever skied with. And along the way I've discovered that these people -- with the highest PSIA certifications who also send big airs off cliffs and can lay a hip on a carved turn learned to ski in their twenties! Like more than one of them. They're all phenomenal athletes and played other sports when they were younger, so I'm not saying it was some Couch to Carve program.
But it's certainly opened my mind to what's possible. You may not win World Cup downhills (bike or ski) if you start after age 10, but if you've got athletic ability and esp if you played other sports as a kid, you can get pretty damn good at something new with hard consistent work. I will also add this has made me a *much* better teacher, because I truly believe everyone, no matter their age, can learn to ski.
same with languages :-) you won't be a native speaker ever (well for 99% of people, there are truly gifted (genetically?!?) people out there but so few) but if work hard, have the time and enthusiasm and money to both learn and practise you can learn any language at any age.
"...because I truly believe everyone, no matter their age, can learn to ski." Oui, Chef Gusteau! 👏
@Meg Hourihan
Totally agree with you that having multiple-sport competency as a kid is key.
To extend the language / sport analogy, if a German kid has learned English, French, and Spanish (played tennis, swam, did gymnastics) by age 12 , them picking up Romanian (becoming very good skiers) in their 20s is going to be much easier with better results.
Yah, to Meg's point, I still fondly recall when my Mom (RIP, miss you!) decided to learn to snowboard in her late 50's, circa 1989'ish, on East Coast snow. She was a strong skier and she figured it out, though she went back to two sticks.
The human brain and body is wild. Use it or lose it!
Another youngin’ to watch is 18-year-old Asa Vermette. This run is insane: https://youtu.be/ZkeTM-HkqT4
Oh wow, that section starting at ~1:42 🤯
The main feed gives a better idea of how nuts some of those features are: https://www.youtube.com/live/t64hgvvge9M?t=6458s
Whoa, slow your roll (pun intended)! Let's take a minute and soak in Asa Vermette at Hardline Wales!
Much like Skiing and other sports you can take to extremes - starting early and often goes a long way. I've had both my kids on skis since they were two - my oldest has a genetic disorder and has trouble with other sports, but on skis he's remarkable. It's truly incredible how malleable children are.
Having aged out of mountain biking down courses like those downhill runs, I have to point out to the uninitiated just how near-comical the padding on trees and other "features" are.
The speeds these people are going down these mountains (notice they almost never pedal because the bikes couldn't be geared high enough to get anything useful out of it)....if they lose their line and hit a tree....it's a really, really bad day. The padding is cute, but it doesn't help much.
I know almost nothing about this sport, but I've hiked Whiteface at Lake Placid,and seen lots of people take the gondola up and bike down -- wearing all kinds of protective pads and body armor. It's astonishing to me that these athletes wear none of that stuff.
It looks like they have back/chest protectors and knee pads on underneath their bike jerseys and pants. Their gloves can be padded. And of course they have full-face helmets. No elbow pads though, at least on Goldstone.
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