On the morning of the individual time trial at the 2026 UCI Road World Championships, Marlen Reusser (Switzerland) started her day earlier than she would have liked.
Worse still, on her way down to breakfast, a succession of people approached her, wishing her an enthusiastically bright “happy birthday.”
From breakfast, it was time to transfer to the course and settle into the familiar pre-race routine: a warm-up on the trainer, another snack and some mental preparation. Nothing new, nothing different. Birthday thoughts could wait.
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But the birthday greetings returned when she took her place on the top step of the podium, where the crowd sang “Happy Birthday” to the now two-time world champion. For her 35th birthday, she’d given herself another year in rainbow stripes.
With two silver medals, a bronze and a gold already to her name, the headlines about birthday rainbows may practically have written themselves, but victory was by no means a shoo-in. Nor is a birthday always granted.
Great Britain’s Zoe Bäckstedt was faster at both the first and second intermediate time checks. But Reusser turned the tide over the second half of the course, ultimately finishing 40 seconds ahead of the young Welsh rider.
Close enough that Reusser’s first thought at the line was “did I win?”
Birthdays and World Championships have coincided before for Reusser. Five years earlier, in Flanders, she had lined up for the time trial on her 30th birthday with the same ambition, only to finish one step short of the top of the podium.
“I remember Flanders 2021, it was my 30th birthday also exactly the day of the ITT,” she said. “It was a big goal to win there, and I just came second.”
This time, gold came on a course Reusser had grown to enjoy, even if its demands initially left her feeling overwhelmed. Having studied the route before leaving Europe, she rode it as soon as she could after arriving in Montréal.
“I really liked it because it’s adventurous. It has different parts and technicals,” she said. “So you were not bored at any point, and this I really loved.”
Enjoying the challenge was one thing; choosing it for a world title bid was another.
“To win, I wouldn’t choose necessarily this parcours,” Reusser admitted.
Yet on a course she might not have picked, her birthday wish came true.
“Either way, there would be be something to celebrate today,” Reusser said.
