Oisin O'Callaghan has moved on from the YT Mob, with whom he raced for six years, and is set to compete in 2026 for Trek-Unbroken DH. The 22-year-old Limerick man is a former junior world champion and winner on the senior UCI Downhill World Cup circuit.
However, he has not stood on the top step of the podium for over two years on the international scene and says his main aim in 2026 is to put that right. His old team struggled after bike company YT Industries GmbH entered self-administration insolvency last year.
O'Callaghan said he had stayed on with the team, even though he was offered bigger deals elsewhere, as he wanted to show loyalty. But when the struggles hit inside the YT Mob last year, he ditched his team racing livery in favour of kit of his own for racing as he did not want to continue promoting the brand.
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Still, some of the team's personnel and riders stayed together to finish the season, even after the money dried up. O'Callaghan now says he is delighted to sign with Trek-Unbroken DH in a bid to win big again.
"I have some big goals. It’s been two years since I was on the top of the podium, which will be the main goal. So I’d like to win a World Cup again, be on the podium at least once, outside of winning a race.
O'Callaghan winning the World Cup in Snowshoe, USA, in 2023 and celebrating an Irish 1-2 that day with Ronan Dunne, also competing for Ireland (Photos by Bartek Wolinski and Isac Paddock)
O'Callaghan, who went 1-2 with compatriot Ronan Dunne at the World Cup in Snowshoe in the US in 2023, on an historic day for Irish downhill, added while he was in talks with other teams while at the YT Mob, he decided to stay on for the 2025 season.
"Then my team folded, which wasn’t ideal, especially when you’re trying to race a season and you’re not being paid. I still had good connections with Trek from talking with Andrew [Shandro] and others... and luckily, Trek were fast to get contracts going. For me, I just wanted to go straight to Trek.
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"I actually rode Trek when I was younger. I had my mind set on Trek, really. It’s honestly just the whole group of people and everything is so good. And I feel like everyone’s dedication to win is a lot higher. They’re willing to do as much as they can.
“I just felt like everyone there was a good group of people. Everyone was doing their jobs. And obviously the set-up was what I was looking for, bike-wise and everything, going back to something that I was familiar with in 2018-2019 when I was on Trek. And to be honest, the minute I hopped on the bike, it felt so comfortable.”
As well as looking to get stuck in with the new team, on the new bike, he also said he was hoping he and Dunne could continue to put Irish downhill on the map. That was especially the case after their World Cup wins, his own junior world title win and Dunne's historic bronze at the senior Worlds in Valais, Switzerland, last September.
"The Irish scene has really kicked off more and more since 2020, you could say. I won Junior World Champs, and lots of young kids really took off into it," he said. O'Callaghan and Dunne have also both won senior World Cups since then, including that 1-2 in Snowshoe in 2023.
"There were no proper fast Irish downhill riders, to now, all of a sudden, we have two guys who go can 1-2 on the podium, and they’re doing top 5 or top 10 most weekends.
"Just those few results in a short period of time really made the sport more recognised and made it grow. Because even in the last two years, the amount of new funding for new trails has been unreal.
"And even nowadays, the amount of Irish people that come out to watch World Cups is getting bigger and bigger, which is a crazy thing too. There’s so many people coming out just for the weekends to support us.
"And obviously you feel the need to perform. When there’s people flying the whole way from your country to a race, you kind of feel — not pressure, but you want to deliver a good weekend."
