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Taylor Knibb

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Taylor Knibb
Personal information
NationalityAmerican
Born (1998-02-14) February 14, 1998 (age 26)
Sport
SportTriathlon
Medal record
Women's triathlon
Representing the  United States
Olympic Games
Silver medal – second place 2020 Tokyo Mixed relay
Silver medal – second place 2024 Paris Mixed relay
Ironman 70.3 World Championship
Gold medal – first place 2022 Individual
Gold medal – first place 2023 Individual
Bronze medal – third place 2021 Individual

Taylor Knibb (born February 14, 1998) is an American triathlete and the 2022 and 2023 Women's Ironman 70.3 World Champion.[1][2] She competed in the women's event at the 2020 Summer Olympics, held in Tokyo in 2021, finishing sixteenth.[3] Later that same Olympics, she won a silver medal in the mixed relay event.[4] Knibb is the youngest woman ever to qualify for the US Olympic triathlon team.[5][6] Knibb qualified for two sports at the 2024 Summer Olympics, triathlon and the cycling time trial.[7]

Early life

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Knibb began participating in triathlons at age 11, inspired by watching her mother, Leslie Knibb, compete in the Ironman triathlon. At age 15, she began competing on the youth and junior elite circuit.[8] At Sidwell Friends School for high school, she participated in swim and cross country, while continuing to compete in triathlon. In 2014 and 2015 she was named both the Washington D.C. Gatorade Cross Country Runner of the Year and the D.C. State Athletic Association Runner of the Year.

Following in the footsteps of many of her family members, she attended Cornell, where she ran NCAA track and cross country for four years, and competed on the swim team her senior year. She graduated in 2020.[9]

Her role models include her mother, Tamara Gorman, and Gwen Jorgensen.[8]

She joined the national team in 2017, and remains the youngest athlete on the team.[10]

Athletic career

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In her junior career, she won the USA Triathlon Junior National Championship in 2015 and 2016, the Junior World Championships in 2016 and 2017, and the U23 World Championships in 2018. She is one of three women to ever hold both Junior and U23 world titles.[9] At the 2017 ITU World Triathlon Series in Edmonton she finished second to become the youngest woman to ever podium in the series.[11]

Knibb earned her spot on the US Olympic team after she won gold in the season opener of the 2021 World Triathlon Championship Series, held on May 15, 2021, in Yokohoma, Japan.[5]

In October 2022 Knibb won the Women's Ironman 70.3 World Championship, held in St George, Utah, becoming the youngest woman to ever win the race.[12] One year later, Knibb successfully defended her title, winning the Ironman 70.3 World championship for the second year in a row.[citation needed]

Knibb made her Ironman World Championships debut in 2023, finishing in fourth place as the first American finisher.[13]

At the Paris Test Event in August 2023, Knibb placed fifth, qualifying her to compete in Triathlon for team USA at the 2024 Summer Olympics.[14] In May 2024, she won the Time Trial at the USA Cycling National Road Championships, qualifying her for the Time Trial cycling event Paris 2024 and making her a rare dual-sport Olympian.[7] She finished nineteenth in the event, after crashing multiple times.[15] For the triathlon events, she finished nineteenth in the women's event before anchoring the US team to a repeat silver medal in the mixed relay.[16]

In 2024 so far, Taylor Knibb has won three out of the three races she has competed in, in the PTO's T100 World Tour. She won in San Francisco, Ibiza and Las Vegas. She won each time by powering away from the rest of the field on the bike in impressive fashion.

References

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  1. ^ Slowtwitch.com. "Taylor Knibb Dominates IRONMAN 70.3 Worlds". Slowtwitch.com. Retrieved October 29, 2022.
  2. ^ "Taylor Knibb". Olympedia. Retrieved July 27, 2021.
  3. ^ "Triathlon - Results". Tokyo 2020. Archived from the original on October 6, 2021. Retrieved July 27, 2021.
  4. ^ "Triathlon - Results". Tokyo 2020. Archived from the original on July 30, 2021. Retrieved July 30, 2021.
  5. ^ a b "Taylor Knibb is youngest U.S. Olympic female triathlete ever | NBC Olympics". www.nbcolympics.com. Retrieved July 28, 2021.
  6. ^ "D.C. native Taylor Knibb makes U.S. Olympic triathlon team". RunWashington. May 25, 2021. Retrieved July 28, 2021.
  7. ^ a b "U.S. Elite Triathlete Taylor Knibb Wins Time Trial at 2024 USA Cycling Pro Road National Championships, Qualifies for U.S. Olympic Cycling Team". www.usatriathlon.org. May 15, 2024. Retrieved May 22, 2024.
  8. ^ a b "Taylor Knibb". TRI247. January 24, 2024. Retrieved March 8, 2024.
  9. ^ a b "Taylor Knibb 877191". www.usatriathlon.org. November 7, 2023. Retrieved March 7, 2024.
  10. ^ Maconi, Caryn (March 22, 2021). "Taylor Knibb is USA Triathlon's youngest Olympic qualifier". USA Triathlon. Archived from the original on March 22, 2021.
  11. ^ Triathlon, World. "Taylor Knibb (USA)". World Triathlon. Retrieved March 7, 2024.
  12. ^ "Taylor Knibb Powers to Victory at 2022 Ironman 70.3 World Championships". sports.yahoo.com. October 28, 2022. Retrieved October 28, 2022.
  13. ^ "2023 Ironman World Championships Results". NBC Sports. October 15, 2023. Retrieved March 7, 2024.
  14. ^ "Taylor Knibb Qualifies for 2024 U.S. Olympic Triathlon Team at World Triathlon Olympic Games Test Event Paris". www.usatriathlon.org. August 17, 2023. Retrieved May 22, 2024.
  15. ^ Davidson, Tom (July 27, 2024). "'I'm probably the worst bike handler out there': Taylor Knibb crashes four times in Olympics time trial". cyclingweekly.com. Retrieved July 28, 2024.
  16. ^ "US conquers murky Siene for silver in mixed triathlon relay: Don't care 'if I get sick'". USA Today. August 5, 2024.
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