Isla Short believes there’s plenty more to come after she continued her strong start to the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup season in the Czech Republic with yet another top-25 finish.

The 22-year-old backed up her 22nd-place world cup debut last weekend with an improved 15th in the elite women’s competition at Nove Mesto.

Short and sweet for Isla

Short, who competed for Scotland in the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, only came into the senior women’s team for the season’s second world cup in Germany last weekend.

But she rode with youthful vigour in the Czech woods, completing her seven laps of the course in 1:30:35, 3:04 back from eventual winner Kate Courtney, to cap what has been a thrilling fortnight for the Carluke native.

“The past two weeks have been mad,” she said after the race.

“I knew I had the potential to mix it up in the world cups, but a lot of things have to fall into place for that to happen and I didn’t expect to perform so soon.

“It gives me huge confidence that I can be at the front in time.”

The result sees Short claim 76 points towards the overall rankings, adding to the 62 she won in Germany to leave her sitting 56th in the general classification.

Elsewhere in the women’s elite race, Annie Last finished 42nd (1:36:41), while Kerry MacPhee was 68th and Angela Laycock 72nd.

In the men’s race, Grant Ferguson finished 73rd overall, 9:29 behind winner Mathieu van der Poel to cross the line in 1:31:23.