Magnus White, a 17-year outdated “rising star” in aggressive biking, has died after being hit by a automobile in Colorado whereas he was coaching for the world championships, state police and U.S.A. Biking, the game’s governing physique, mentioned.
White excelled in cyclocross, a world sport by which racers compete on a course of a number of surfaces, together with pavement and trails, and carry their bicycles over off-road obstacles. He was a junior member of U.S.A. Biking, the Colorado Springs group said.
White was struck by a automobile on Saturday in Boulder County, which has a inhabitants of about 320,000 and is within the north-central a part of the state identified for its rugged mountains, foothills, trails and the College of Colorado campus in Boulder.
He was on a north-south stretch of Freeway 119 generally known as the Diagonal, which runs between Boulder and Longmont. The highway is so steadily utilized by cyclists that native and state authorities are engaged on a long-term plan so as to add a separate bike path in the midst of it.
At about 12:30 p.m., White was driving his endurance highway bicycle southbound on the shoulder of the freeway when a Toyota Matrix struck him from behind, ejecting him from the bicycle, Trooper Gabriel Moltrer, a public info officer for the Colorado State Patrol, mentioned on Monday. White was taken to a hospital, the place he was pronounced useless, Mr. Moltrer mentioned.
There was no indication that medication, alcohol or extreme pace have been concerned, and the driving force was not injured within the accident, which came about northeast of Boulder, Mr. Moltrer mentioned.
White was a junior member of the 2023 Cyclocross World Championship workforce, U.S.A. Biking mentioned. He was making closing preparations earlier than leaving for Glasgow to compete within the Junior Males’s Mountain Bike Cross-Nation World Championships on Aug. 10, it mentioned.
“He was a rising star within the off-road biking scene,” the group mentioned, “and his ardour for biking was evident via his racing and camaraderie along with his teammates and area people.”
Cyclocross was invented about 100 years in the past in Europe as an low season coaching routine for road-bike racers. Its attraction gained momentum in the US within the early 2000s.
Most rivals modify their highway bikes with knobby tires and different structural alterations to permit for higher clearance as they navigate paved roads, hills, stairs and different obstacles through the race.
“For the reason that cyclocross season usually takes place from September to February, races are sometimes instances plagued with opposed climate situations equivalent to snow, rain, wind and dust — all of which add to the game’s attract,” U.S.A. Cycling said.
White began biking when he was 8, and the game turned his “best pleasure in life,” his household said in a statement. He acquired aggressive coaching with Boulder Junior Biking, which develops younger athletes within the sport. White was spurred on by his Colorado childhood of biking and snowboarding, he wrote on his website, and later developed into an bold athlete who was rising on the worldwide stage.
On his Instagram account, White described the rugged challenges of the game, whether or not pushing via a muddy ride, battling food poisoning or overcoming a snapped chain throughout a race.
In 2021, White received the U.S.A. Cycling Cyclocross National Championships, and in 2022, he participated in his first world championship in Fayetteville, Ark., putting 25th within the junior division. In 2023, he competed in his second world championship in Hoogerheide, the Netherlands, coming in 20th within the below 19 group.
“These world occasions supplied me with a deeper understanding of the worldwide dynamics of the game and allowed me to measure myself towards the world’s greatest riders,” White wrote.
White had described the upcoming mountain bike race championship in Scotland as a “new and thrilling chapter of my biking profession.”
