Taylor Knibb stepped down on Tuesday as head of the U.S. cycling team competing in the road races at the Paris Olympics and will be replaced by Kristen Faulkner, who had already been selected for the U.S. pursuit team in the velodrome.
Knibb's decision wasn't entirely surprising: Triathlon is her specialty, and the two-time Women's Ironman 70.3 World Champion had always planned to compete in the event at back-to-back Summer Olympics.
Knibb, 26, from Washington, D.C., was the surprise winner of the U.S. Time Trial Championships earlier this year, earning an automatic berth in the Olympic road race and time trial along with Chloe Dygert. However, due to her relative lack of experience in the pack and the demands of a multi-sport schedule, Knibb has elected to sit out the road race on August 4.
Knibb plans to compete in the time trial on July 27, the day after the opening ceremony, which will give him three days to recover before competing in the triathlon on July 31, in which he finished 16th at the Tokyo Olympics.
Last week, Paris Olympic organisers unveiled alternative plans if the triathlon and marathon swimming events cannot take place in the Seine, where dangerous levels of E. coli have been detected in recent weeks. One option would be to postpone the events, which would potentially throw Knibb's carefully crafted multi-sport schedule into disarray.
Organizers said that in a worst-case scenario, the triathlon could become a duathlon without the swimming portion.
Forkner, the reigning U.S. road race champion, is certainly a medal contender here: The 31-year-old Alaskan has won three Grand Tour stages in the past two years, including a stage win at the Vuelta Femina in May.
Dygert will compete in the road race and time trial, where the reigning world champion is considered a gold medal contender, before switching to the velodrome to join the pursuit team. Qualifying races will be held on Aug. 6, with the medal round the following day.
