Christopher Blevins

Christopher Blevins (born March 14, 1998) is an American cyclist, who currently rides for UCI Mountain Bike Team Specialized Factory Racing. Specializing in cross-country mountain biking, Blevins has also previously competed in road cycling (for Hagens Berman Axeon) and cyclo-cross,[2][3] before choosing to solely focus on mountain biking in preparation for the 2020 Summer Olympics.[4]

Christopher Blevins
Blevins in 2017
Personal information
Born (1998-03-14) March 14, 1998
Durango, Colorado, United States
Team information
Current teamSpecialized Factory Racing
Disciplines
  • Mountain bike
  • Road
  • Cyclo-cross
RoleRider
Professional teams
2017–2018Axeon–Hagens Berman
2017–2020Specialized Racing
2021Trinity Racing[1]
2022–Specialized Factory Racing
Major wins
UCI XCC World Championships (2021)
Cape Epic (2023)
Medal record
Men's mountain bike racing
Representing  United States
World Championships
Gold medal – first place 2021 Val di Sole Cross-country Short Track
Silver medal – second place 2021 Val di Sole Team relay
Silver medal – second place 2018 Lenzerheide Under-23 Cross-country
Silver medal – second place 2020 Leogang Under-23 Cross-country
Silver medal – second place 2019 Mont Saint-Anne Cross-country Team relay
Bronze medal – third place 2021 Val di Sole Electric MTB Cross-country

Biography

Early life

Blevins was born on March 14, 1998, in Durango, Colorado, son of Field and Priscilla[5] His father is an orthopedic surgeon with a specialty in sports medicine[6] and his older sister Kaylee was also a member of the U.S. National mountain bike team.[5] He went to college in San Luis Obispo, CA graduating from Cal Poly in 2021 with a degree in business administration with a concentration in entrepreneurship.[7] Additionally, he teaches voluntarily spoken-word poetry in a local juvenile hall and is a lyricist of rap music.[6]

Career

Blevins began participating in the sport of cycling at the age of five by competing in BMX races. He managed to win eight national championships in the age divisions between elementary and high school. His BMX career ended at the age of sixteen however, and by the age of twelve he had already begun to compete in both mountain bike and road cycling. He had great success from the ages of thirteen to nineteen where he won the national Cross Country championship in his age group. At sixteen he was able to win the road cycling national championship as well.[8]

When Blevins became eighteen he won one of the most important races of the junior category in road cycling, the famous Course de la Paix. This race provided him the opportunity to join the team Axeon–Hagens Berman. In the same year, he signed another contract with the Specialized Racing team to participate in the U23 World Cross-Country Championship. In 2018 he managed to win the U23 national cyclo-cross championship. In the same age group, he finished 2nd in the World Cross-Country Championship and also won a stage of the Tour of the Gila. In 2019, aiming for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, he decided to dedicate himself to mountain biking.[8] At the 2020 U23 World Cross-Country Championship he finished 2nd and after the postponing of the Olympic Games due to COVID-19, he signed a 2021 contract with Trinity Racing.[1][9]

In August 2021, he became the inaugural men's cross-country short track world champion, taking the title at the 2021 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships in Val di Sole, Italy.[10]

Major results

Mountain bike
2015
2nd Team relay, Pan American Championships
2016
1st Cross-country, National Junior Championships
2017
1st Cross-country, National Under-23 Championships
2018
2nd Cross-country, UCI World Under-23 Championships
3rd Cross-country, National Championships
2019
Pan American Championships
1st Under-23 Cross-country
2nd Team relay
2nd Team relay, UCI World Championships
2020
2nd Cross-country, UCI World Under-23 Championships
3rd Overall UCI Under-23 XCO World Cup
2nd Nové Město II
2021
UCI World Championships
1st Short track
2nd Team relay
UCI XCO World Cup
1st Snowshoe
3rd Cross-country, UCI World E-MTB Championships
2022
UCI XCC World Cup
1st Snowshoe
2nd Cross-country, National Championships
3rd Team relay, UCI World Championships
3rd Overall Cape Epic (with Matthew Beers)
2023
1st Overall Cape Epic (with Matthew Beers)
1st Prologue & Stages 2, 3, 4 & 6
UCI XCC World Cup
3rd Mont-Sainte-Anne

Road
2015
1st Stage 4 Tour de l'Abitibi
6th Overall Trofeo Karlsberg
1st Mountains classification
2016
1st Overall Course de la Paix Juniors
2018
4th Overall San Dimas Stage Race
1st Stage 2
9th Overall Tour of the Gila
1st Points classification
1st Stage 2

Cyclo-cross
2014–2015
3rd Pan American Junior Championships
2017–2018
1st National Under-23 Championships
Under-23 CXLA Weekend
1st Day 1 & 2
2021–2022
USCX Series
3rd Baltimore Day 2

References
  1. "Trinity Racing MTB". UCI.org. Union Cycliste Internationale. Archived from the original on March 1, 2021. Retrieved March 1, 2021.
  2. "Christopher Blevins". ProCyclingStats. Retrieved February 21, 2021.
  3. "Christopher Blevins". FirstCycling.com. Retrieved February 21, 2021.
  4. Cash, Dane (November 16, 2018). "Blevins leaves road behind to focus on Olympic MTB dream". VeloNews.com. Retrieved February 21, 2021.
  5. "Κaylee Βlevins". USA CYCLING. Retrieved April 30, 2021.
  6. Malach, Pat (November 26, 2018). "Christopher Blevins: Cycling's slam poet". cyclingnews. Archived from the original on December 6, 2018. Retrieved April 30, 2021.
  7. "'I've Been Dreaming of This Every Day.' Recent Grad Heads to Tokyo to Cycle for Team USA | Cal Poly".
  8. "CHRISTOPHER BLEVINS". USA CYCLING. Archived from the original on September 21, 2020. Retrieved April 30, 2021.
  9. "Trinity Racing launches mountain bike program around Americans Christopher Blevins and Haley Batten". VeloNews. December 21, 2020. Archived from the original on December 21, 2020. Retrieved April 30, 2021.
  10. Jones, Rob (August 26, 2021). "MTB Worlds: Blevins, Frei win short track titles". CyclingNews. Retrieved August 27, 2021.
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