British Cycling can today announce the five athletes that have been selected to compete in the first ever Olympic Qualifier Series (OQS) over two events in Shanghai from Thursday 16th – Sunday 19th May and Budapest from Thursday 20th – Sunday 23rd June.
The brand new, two-part qualifier series gives athletes a chance to secure a named spot at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, with the top six male and top six female athletes after both events bagging a direct ticket to this summer’s Games.
Current world champion Kieran Reilly will lead the men’s squad and will be sure to showcase a range of impressive and perfectly executed tricks that he is known for, with the aim of making his Olympic debut. Also keen to secure a spot at their first Olympics will be previous national champion Jude Jones and 2023 bronze medallist Dylan Hessey.
Current Olympic champion Charlotte Worthington will be back on the park, with the goal of getting a direct route to Paris for her second Olympics, while 18-year-old Sasha Pardoe will be hot on her heels in a bid to claim her own ticket to the French capital.
Great Britain Cycling Team Performance Director, Stephen Park CBE, said:
“Since the incredible success of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, with Great Britian returning home with the first ever female Olympic champion in Charlotte Worthington and a bronze medallist in Declan Brooks, we have seen the passion for the sport in this country ignited even further.
“This has been reflected in our own programme as we now fund 14 athletes from Olympic Development Squad level up to elite podium and have seen these athletes go from strength-to-strength with Keiran Reilly becoming the first ever British world champion in Glasgow last year.
“This puts us in an incredibly exciting position where we are hoping to qualify our biggest ever Olympic squad and I’m excited to see how the athletes show up in this new series with the goal of taking a coveted named spot in Paris.”
Each nation can qualify up to two male and two female athletes through the OQS series, with any additional nation’s spots being determined by qualification points gained over a number of past events.
The OQS series will see the sports of breaking, sport climbing, skateboarding and BMX freestyle come together for two events that will be a celebration of sport and culture, with music, fashion and art.
Great Britain Cycling Team squad for the 2024 OQS Series:
Men
Dylan Hessey
Jude Jones
Kieran Reilly
Women
Sasha Pardoe
Charlotte Worthington
