Bio

Cycling runs in Taylor Phinney’s family.

Just six months after making his track debut, the 17-year-old prodigy from an American cycling dynasty is off to the Beijing Olympics.

The son of American road star Davis Phinney and 1984 Olympic gold medalist Connie Carpenter-Phinney was quick to express his disappointment after clocking 4:22.358 in the individual pursuit at the world track championships.

Especially considering that Phinney would have been found only on a soccer pitch two years ago.

That changed with an inspirational trip in 2005 to the Tour de France, where his father became the first American to win a stage in 1986. Within his first year of competitive cycling, he won 23 races. And despite pedaling in a velodrome for the first time in September, he has already set the sport alight.

Phinney feels a virus hindered his performance, but vows to get in peak shape before participating in junior races in Europe. Then next should be China, where he is determined to return with a medal and emulate his mother.