Taylor Knibb 'still a little shocked' with US ITT title but ready to make Olympic history

In just her second appearance in the USA Cycling Pro Road Championships, Taylor Knibb piled up quite a collection of prizes for riding the fastest time in the elite women’s individual time trial (ITT) – the stars-and-stripes jersey, a gold medal and a hat with “MADE IT” stitched into the underside of the bill. That special embroidery signified her qualification to represent Team USA in the women’s time trial at the Paris Olympic Games in July.

“I’ll be perfectly honest, I’m just in shock,” was Knibb’s reaction shortly after the final rider among the elite women, Lauren Stephens (Cynisca Cycling), crossed the line and stopped the clock well over a minute-and-a-half off her time of 41:54. Knibb was the only rider to go under 42 minutes on the 33.6km out-and-back, flat course, and by doing that she earned her first national championship in road cycling.

A Cornell University graduate who now lives in Colorado, she is no stranger to victories. She has won multiple world triathlon titles as a junior and the past two years won back-to-back Ironman 70.3 World Championships. Last August she finished fifth in the Paris Olympic Games test event for triathlon and qualified for her second Olympic appearance. Now she can be one of the rare athletes to compete for Olympic glory  in separate sports.

“I definitely had thoughts about the possibility. But it didn’t seem like a reality. I think my team and I are still a little shocked. But we’re incredibly grateful and excited for the opportunity,” she told Cyclingnews a day after a dream-like ride in West Virginia on a course created to replicate the ITT at the Paris Olympics, in both distance and the lack of climbing. 

“Heading to the last turnaround, I could tell I was closer to the two strong riders ahead of me [Amber Neben and Stephens] than the previous lap. But I wasn’t getting splits or anything, so I was just focused on executing the best ride I possibly could and seeing where the cards fell against some very strong women,” Knibb said.

“Last year, there were so many turns and my coach said, ‘You're really good at holding race pace. Your weakness is getting to race pace’. So, there were only four times that I had to get to race pace, and that was a relief for me. If it was a little bit more surging, it would have probably favored some other women a lot better.”

Before Wednesday, USA Cycling had one of two spots left to fill for the time trial at the Paris Olympic Games. Chloé Dygert, last year’s US Pro ITT winner and not at this year’s championships, earned the first spot with an automatic selection through her victory at the Road World Championships in the ITT last year. After the celebrations in downtown Charleston, Knibb said she received a congratulatory message from Dygert. 

The time trial duo make an interesting pair, as they both have qualified to compete in multiple events in Paris – Dygert in road cycling and track cycling, while Knibb can go for the double in road cycling and triathlon. NBCSports.com noted that the only other US triathlete to have competed in multiple sports at the Olympic Games was Sheila Taormina, who was also the first woman to qualify for the Olympics in three different sports. Taormina won a gold medal in swimming in 1996, as part of the 4x200-metre freestyle relay team, then finished sixth in triathlon in 2000, and then competed in modern pentathlon in 2008.

Knibb improved on her fourth-place ride from Knoxville the year before, her first foray into cycling nationals, and attributed her performance to a new bike that allows for a different position and a wide-open field, not just the flatter course. 

“There were a number of differences between this year and last year. I’ll start off with the fact that Chloé was racing last year and she didn’t race this year. The course and conditions were also quite different. I also rode a lot better,” she said. 

“I made some big changes to my bike and position: I rode the Trek TT Speed Concept vs. the Triathlon Speed Concept and I had a much better front end and position thanks to work with Matt Bottrill. I’m working with a new coach this year and he prepared me very well with the time we had. My training looks pretty different, but I’m really enjoying [it] and trust the process.”

The elite women’s time trial in Paris, 33km, is set for Saturday, July 27. Four days later will be the individual women’s triathlon event, covering a 1.5km swim, 40km bike and 10km run. Knibb said two of the three women competing in the individual event will be selected by USA Triathlon the day before the mixed relay, which is on August 5. At the Tokyo Olympics, Knibb finished 16th in the individual triathlon for women and helped Team USA to the silver medal in the mixed relay.

Just days before arriving in Charleston, West Virginia for Pro Road Nationals, she finished second at the World Triathlon Championship Series in Yokohama, Japan. So what did she do after winning the US Pro time trial, maybe go for a run?

“No, I didn’t! I had a 30-minute cool down and then I had the afternoon off from training," said Knibb. "But the day after the race [Thursday], I just swam and ran and I didn’t touch my bike.”