Most motocross riders finish their physically and mentally gruelling, five-month seasons of travelling and racing across the globe by heading home, and putting their feet up for a well-deserved rest. Not Courtney Duncan. The four-time Women’s Motocross World Champion is coming back to Dunedin, but not to spend the summer in the sun, drinking beer with her buddies, writes Catherine Pattison.
Courtney Duncan enjoying the lead up to the final WMX GP race for 2026 in Darwin, Australia. Photo: Ray Archer
Duncan’s going straight back to the gym. Back to the motocross track. Back into the cardio training routines. As always, Duncan has work to do.
“As of right now I have nothing locked in for next year, but nevertheless I still need to get home and just continue to train and build,” offers Duncan. “There’s no real time off for me. I’ve had enough time off, so there’s some things to work on.”
Courtney Duncan #151 was forced to race through the pack after crashes at the WMX GP round for 2026 held in the Netherlands. Photo: Ray Archer
Last year was literally the longest time Duncan has ever sat still. And it was definitely not by choice.
In April 2025, just as the Women’s World Motocross (WMX) season was about to roar to life, Duncan’s life had taken a devastating turn. Her announcement that she was forced to withdraw from the opening round in Sardinia after being hospitalised with a sudden heart condition pericarditis – swelling and irritation of the thin, saclike tissue surrounding the heart – sent shockwaves across the global motocross community.
The severe chest pains, shortness of breath, and dizziness that initially saw her rushed to the emergency room and in and out of the hospital multiple times before medical professionals could pinpoint the issue, would ultimately sideline Duncan for the entirety of the 2025 racing calendar. She turned her focus to recovery and rebuilding. Through sheer grit and determination, Duncan went from barely being able to walk around the block, to being back at the start gates of one of the toughest, most demanding motorsports within 12 months.
Confounding any critics, who thought her racing career might have taken a permanent back seat due to her illness, she travelled to Europe in April to begin her 2026 WMX campaign. However, it was not only the lingering effects of pericarditis Duncan was battling that opening weekend in Lacapelle-Mrival, France.
“I underestimated how tough it would be having the full year off,” Duncan admits. “And I had the broken ribs at the start of the season. The timings around that weren’t great as that injury meant another six, or seven weeks off the bike. So, I was rolling into round one very underprepared. We knew that but it was like, do the best you can do … but I was just so far off.”
“I underestimated how tough it would be having the full year off. And I had the broken ribs at the start of the season … I was rolling into round one very underprepared. We knew that but it was like, do the best you can do … but I was just so far off.”
Duncan had broken her ribs in a training crash at the beginning of March. The injury not only scuttled her final, crucial weeks of pre-season training, it voided her chance to gain some vital race intensity as part of Team New Zealand at the 2026 FIM Oceania Women’s Motocross Cup in Australia.
“I feel like I was tracking well before then and I knew I had another eight weeks before the season started,” Duncan recalls. “I had some races lined up and I was just starting to build in intensity and then bang; I had to sit out again.”
The timing could not have been much worse.
“It’s never ideal – no injury is ideal but I think given having the eleven months I had off the year before, it was just tough.”
Courtney Duncan back on the podium at the final WMX GP round for 2026 in Darwin, Australia. Photo: Ray Archer
Duncan does not have a mental performance coach who helps her process the often-constant setbacks that motocross throws at riders. It’s not her first rodeo navigating the highs and lows, and her take on them is to search for the gold nuggets amongst the slurry. In Duncan’s case, that was comparing where she was at the start of 2026 in France, to how she ended the season in Darwin. In short, there was a lot to be grateful for.
“I’m getting so much better and I think there’s a huge positive to where we were at the start of the year, to now – fitness,” she smiles. “In that sense, I’m able to train day in, day out, with no hiccups. At the beginning of the year, if I went too deep, I’d have to take a bit of time off so I can be really proud of that progression.”
“It’s been nice to be able to rack up the days and get some consistency back into my training but obviously at the beginning of the year, I was just so far off from that aspect.”
“I’m able to train day in, day out, with no hiccups. At the beginning of the year, if I went too deep, I’d have to take a bit of time off so I can be really proud of that progression.”
Nothing prepares a racer for competing at full pace for the 25-minute motos – controlling a 100kg motorbike through ruts, over three-metre jumps and jostling other competitors around berms – better than the intensity of racing itself. A next-level cardio and weights workout rolled into one and best described by Duncan as “like nothing else”.
Courtney Duncan’s 2026 WMX GP season has been as much about rebuilding as it has been hunting points. Photo: Ray Archer
Having missed the 2025 season, she was in deficit from the get-go.
“The first few [2026] GPs were in 35-degrees, so you chuck that into the mix, and it just becomes physically pretty demanding,” Duncan explains. “Chucked in the deep end but I’d rather do that than sit on the couch for another year.”
Duncan’s mindset is firmly focused on the mantra “it is what it is”.
“You can only do the best you can do and make the best of it. We knew it would be a big building year and I feel like I’ve done it well. So, yes, we just continue to use this off-season to keep building and locking in some hours.”
“We knew it would be a big building year and I feel like I’ve done it well. So, yes, we just continue to use this off-season to keep building and locking in some hours.”
Duncan’s 2026 WMX campaign was a complex mix – combining flashes of brilliance with moments of frustration.
In just her second GP back racing, she scored a third spot on the opening moto’s podium in Teutschenthal, Germany. Moto 2 looked promising and she ran as high as second before two crashes disrupted her rhythm. Although she finished fifth for the weekend, Duncan moved up to third in the overall standings.
Courtney Duncan showed plenty of promise at the WMX GP round held at Teutschental, Germany. Photo: Ray Archer
Then Great Britain’s Foxhills track saw Duncan deliver her standout performance of the season. That trademark never-give-up discipline and perseverance paid off with her 2-3 results earning her a third spot on the podium at the WMX’s third round.
Riding for the England-based DRT Kawasaki MX2 Racing Team, Foxhills doubles as Duncan’s home-away-from-home and the result, while satisfying, left her hungry for more. She was also able to reflect on the fact that it was only 12 months prior that she was struggling to do an indoor spin bike session for 30 minutes.
Duncan’s fans, and the rider herself, expected more of the same when the MXGP rolled around to the sandy circuit of Arnhem, in The Netherlands. Falls in both motos made for a tough round however, and she dropped down to fourth place in the championship standings heading into the final round in Australia.
Courtney Duncan on form in the WMX GP round for 2026 held at Foxhills, Great Britain. Photo: Ray Archer
No one is harder on herself than Duncan.
“There were a lot of mistakes. There were too many. Too many crashes. Too many points given away at times, so that wasn’t cool,” she reveals. “I feel like I should have been a whole lot better there. But it’s easier said than done when you’re running out of breath and you’re getting tired during the motos, like it was at the beginning and everything just falls out the window.”
Rounding off the season at the recent Darwin-based finale, Duncan was again featured on the podium with a 3-4 results set giving her third for the Australian round and securing fourth for the WMX Championship.
Courtney Duncan back on the podium at the final WMX GP round for 2026 in Darwin, Australia. Photo: Ray Archer
“It was definitely nice to finish the season on the podium,” Duncan offers. “It’s been a bit of an up-and-down year, so it was nice to get back on the box. A little bittersweet in terms of results though. I think my speed was probably a little bit better than third for the weekend but I just made a few costly errors. I didn’t get the best of starts in moto one, but there’s a lot of good to take away and a lot of positives after having a year off.”
“There’s a lot of good to take away and a lot of positives after having a year off.”
Friends and family lined the circuit to support Duncan at the final round – racing in Australia is the closest the MXGP circus ever comes to New Zealand. It also means a nine-hour series of flights home to Dunedin, rather than the usual full day of travel back from her European base.
Reflecting on the five-round WMX season, there was one constant Duncan could always count on.
“I’m grateful for everyone that stuck behind me and supported me,” she smiles. “My sponsors – Kawasaki, Monster Energy, Fox and High Performance Sport New Zealand.”
While nothing is set in stone for 2027, you can bet Courtney Duncan won’t be sitting idle and when the next motocross season rolls around, this hard-hitting motocross star will come out swinging.
Courtney Duncan #151 showed flashes of her former self during the 2026 World Motocross Championship and nothing is surer: she’s determined to come back fighting for her fifth world title. Photo: Ray Archer
