Scots Olympics 2024 hopeful Charlie Aldridge reveals podium spot that left him starstruck

Charlie Aldridge admits sharing a podium with his boyhood hero Nino Schurter last month left him feeling ALIEN. But it’s securing a first Olympics spot with Team GB that the Scots mountain biking star insists would be out of this world.

Aldridge’s cycling career has hit top gear since he was crowned junior cross country world champion in 2019. The 23-year-old was snapped up by leading pro outfit Cannondale and last year won the U23 world championship on home soil in Glentress Forest in the Borders.

Now, with the Olympics starting line just six weeks away, he is in a strong position to nail one of the two mountain bike positions in Team GB for Paris.

And the Perth rider - currently competing in the shadow of the Dolomites in Italy’s Val Di Sole leg of the World Cup - admits that would be yet another career high as he continues to scale the charts alongside the world’s elite.

Last month’s fourth place finish in Nove Mesto, Czech Republic, saw him link arms with Swiss 10-times world champ Schurter on the podium.

And speaking to Record Sport from Italy, Aldridge said: “Nino Schurter was always a big role model. He still is. What’s quite cool is that I watched him closely when I was growing up then last month I was standing on the podium with him!

“That was a totally surreal moment, to be honest. He’d been on the podium 90-odd times in his career - that was my first! So that was definitely one of my career highs.

“It’s weird because I race with these guys all the time and, in competition terms, that has now become normal. But it wasn’t until I was standing on the podium I was taken aback thinking ‘wow… two years ago I would not have thought this is possible!’

“It felt so alien and far away. It was mega cool.” What’s not