Season 1, Episode 14: Leah Kirchmann, Part One
Two-time Canadian Olympian Leah Kirchmann joins the PedalCast to share the story of a career that took her from racing in Manitoba to the very top of the global cycling stage.
After discovering cycling as a teenager, Kirchmann quickly rose through the ranks, eventually building a 12-year professional career that included racing in the Olympic Games, finishing second overall in the Women’s WorldTour standings, standing on the podium at La Course in Paris, and winning a Team Time Trial World Championship with Team Sunweb in 2017.
In Part One of this conversation, Leah reflects on the twists and turns of her Olympic journey—from the pressure and expectations of competing on sport’s biggest stage to the resilience required to navigate the highs and lows of elite racing.
It’s an honest and thoughtful look at life inside the professional peloton—and the next chapter for one of Canada’s most accomplished cyclists.
Guests
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Leah Kirchmann
A two-time Canadian Olympian, Leah Kirchmann represented Canada at the Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. She first discovered cycling at age 13 as summer cross-training for cross-country skiing—but it didn’t take long before the bike took over. By 2008 she was representing Canada at both the Junior Road and Mountain Bike World Championships, and by 2011 she had turned professional with Colavita–Forno d’Asolo.
Kirchmann went on to build a remarkable 12-year professional career, racing in North America with Optum Pro Cycling (2012–2015) before moving to the European WorldTour with the Dutch-based Team Liv-Plantur, later Team Sunweb and Team DSM (2016–2022). In 2014 she became the first Canadian woman to sweep all three national road titles in a single season—winning the road race, time trial, and criterium championships. Her international highlights include a Team Time Trial World Championship with Team Sunweb in Bergen, Norway (2017), a podium at the inaugural La Course by Le Tour de France in Paris (2014), and second overall in the Women’s WorldTour standings in 2016.
Since retiring from WorldTour racing, Kirchmann has turned her experience toward coaching and athlete development. In September 2025 she was part of Canada’s staff at the UCI Road World Championships in Kigali, Rwanda—the first Worlds ever held on African soil—where Canada’s Magdeleine Vallières captured the country’s first elite women’s road race rainbow jersey.