ESRA KÜRKCÜ AKGÖNÜL

Turkish National Champion and a powerful women’s racer in XCO and XCM Racing. A unique and prolific Mtb champion.

Esra KÜRKCÜ AKGÖNÜL, showcased a superior performance in the world rankings in the 2018 and 2020 seasons from a country without Olympic experience and without any team support. With guts and determination she set out achieve some big goals.

After achieving an incredible 12 championships in Turkey, Esra will set her sights on in October 2022 to become world champion.

Esra found cycling in 2005 and went straight in at an international level after training at UCI cycling centre in 2006. Since then Ersa has been racing on road and Mtb wining multiple races and has over 300 UCI races to her name.

When not racing Esra continues her doctoral studies at Ankara University, Faculty of Sport Sciences, and also conducts research and lectures on cycling as a research assistant at Dokuz Eylul University Faculty of Sport Sciences. She plans to complete her PhD at the beginning of 2022 and then continue her research on elite performance in cycling.

Esra has managed to balance studies and riding to continue to perform at an elite level and has become known as "Iron Lady” for her superior strength and commitment to her goals.

Follow @esrakurkcakgonul