Have any elite runners become elite cyclists?

Mike Woods for EF is the main rider that comes to mind initially.

Didn’t Steve Ovett’s son run at Oregon and then become a pro-cyclist?

Also it’s mentioned in the Alan Webb book by Chris Lear that Paul McMullan (RIP) became a good regional cyclist after very little training

Mike Woods, the Canadian that ran at U of Michigan, was the first that came to my mind but someone already mentioned him.

Lukas Verzbicas quit running for the triathlon. I don't know if you need to be an elite cyclist to be good in the triathlon but you had better be a damn good one.

The infamous Lance Armstrong was a damn good triathlete before becoming an elite cyclist. I know that he got to his highest elite level with the help of EPO and other PEDs but even without all of that, he was an elite cyclist. Also, when Armstrong was doing all of that, just about everyone else was also. The playing field was pretty much level. His sin was bullying, intimidation, etc. But I digress.

This probably is not what you're looking for but Frank Shorter became an avid cyclist as he got older and considered it to be a vital part of his training. I don't believe that he ever became "elite" for his age, though.

One of the NAU guys is really into cycling. If I remember who it is, I'll post.

Slim Whitman wrote:

One of the NAU guys is really into cycling. If I remember who it is, I'll post.

Blaise Ferro?

The fact is that running at an elite level is infinitely harder than cycling at an elite level. An elite runner like Woods can become an elite cyclist, but an elite cyclist will never be able to become an elite runner. The doping cheater Armstrong was never a good runner; he was slow in high school when he tried running, and was slow in the marathon when he tried that.

The definitive answer is Mike Woods. I know he’s been named already, but I must emphasize how incredible his case is.

Sub-4 college miler. That’s not world-elite anymore, but still darn impressive.

Injuries forced him to quit and take up cycling in his twenties. He’s not just elite, he became one of the best cyclists in the world. Podium at the World Championships after a few years of training. On short, steep climbs, few in the world can match him.

One wrinkle: because he had such a late start and did not grow up racing bikes, he is a notoriously bad bike handler and his fellow pros know to avoid him in technical situations. He has caused crashes for himself and others and has been terribly injured, like breaking hip and femur terrible.

gramps wrote:

The fact is that running at an elite level is infinitely harder than cycling at an elite level. An elite runner like Woods can become an elite cyclist, but an elite cyclist will never be able to become an elite runner. The doping cheater Armstrong was never a good runner; he was slow in high school when he tried running, and was slow in the marathon when he tried that.

Yes, running is more competitive, more people run than bike.

But, it takes special talent to become an elite cyclist. Brent Steiner was a pretty good runner, 8:45 2 mi in HS, became a duathlete after college and was good but not one of the top guys on the bike, Kenny Souza destroyed him. Many runners have switched to cycling usually due to injuries and don't get to the top.

Darren Baker ran at Maryland in college and became a top US cyclist, but he was a bull, skinny little runners don't generate enough power.

gramps wrote:

The fact is that running at an elite level is infinitely harder than cycling at an elite level. An elite runner like Woods can become an elite cyclist, but an elite cyclist will never be able to become an elite runner. The doping cheater Armstrong was never a good runner; he was slow in high school when he tried running, and was slow in the marathon when he tried that.

Every word in this ^^ post is 1) hysterical and 2) screams troll. Did you all know the earth is flat?

gramps wrote:

The fact is that running at an elite level is infinitely harder than cycling at an elite level. An elite runner like Woods can become an elite cyclist, but an elite cyclist will never be able to become an elite runner. The doping cheater Armstrong was never a good runner; he was slow in high school when he tried running, and was slow in the marathon when he tried that.

I am pretty sure that can't be true.

Elite anything is very hard to do.

gramps, your statement about running at an elite level being infinitely harder than cycling at an elite level is ignorant and misinformed. Both are extremely difficult. There are probably some elite cyclists that could become elite runners if they chose to. The fact is, though, most elite cyclists that are classics cyclists are not built to be elite runners. They have far too much muscle weight in their legs. The sprinters are built more like linebackers and are just carrying too much weight to be elite runners. Perhaps they could be good 400 or 800 runners that would be about their top. The mountain cyclists, guys like José Rujano, Nairo Quintana, and Egan Bernal, have a huge VO2 max, probably higher than most elite distance runners, and if they chose to could run at an elite level. The mountain cyclists are the rarest of cyclists, though.

Grampa Surf wrote:

I've never really heard of an elite cyclist changing to running and having success.

You've never heard of Zersenay Tadese, with multiple olympic and world running medals and former half marathon world record holder?

I'm also sure there are plenty of European runners who were competitive junior cyclists at the national level. The U.S. has practically no junior cycling compared to Europe and practically no professional cycling too, so our perceptions are skewed.

Ian Stewart may qualify.

2000 NCAA Cross Country Champ Keith Kelly became an accomplished (if not elite) cyclist after injuries derailed his running career.

Distance running is affected by the elasticy of the tendons etc. Cycling is basically about having as much strenghtas possible without gaining weight. Very similar to light weight rowing. A big aerobic engine is important, but economy much less than in running. It takes three years to become world class cyclist if you have the engine

James Whelan ran 3.50 as a 17 year old for the 1500, before rupturing his Achilles and taking up cycling, and now has a professional contract with EF.

General consensus is that running helps with your cycling, but cycling does not do much for your running.

Personally, as someone who was forced to train on a bike for many years the transfer was not much, and some of it was negative.

What cycling (and swimming) did was get my 5k down from like ~24 minutes from just jogging 1-2x a week to 20:30. But even as a fit cyclist, my HR would be totally maxed out while running, legs would hurt, etc. I had no running strength and no aerobic fitness for running. I still had natural speed, but that's just talent/neuromuscular strength.

I had a resting HR in the low-mid 40s but would max out at 200+ at 6:30/mile pace during a 5k. Zero efficiency/economy.

All the biking also led to overdeveloped quads, so in running I had no hip strength and was sitting back a lot when I fatigued. Currently working a lot with deep squats and deadlifts to improve the posterior chain that got weak during all the sitting and cycling.

Lastly, cycling also falsified lactate tests in running, assuming a higher fitness than I actually had (my cardiovascular system was well developed, but running muscles weren't so I got oxygen deprived quickly). This also led to me training too intense in running which turned me into a lactate machine (very fast kick/high lactate tolerance but bad threshold/stamina).

Sadly, my engine is not that big so any sport is tough for me, but I respond very well to training so I can become a quite decent cycling and also runner.

With a big engine, I'm sure I could be a good cyclist and runner, swimmer only if I would start training it early (unfortunately in Europe kids are still being taught the breaststroke only and not freestyle in school which is super silly).

Would it be reasonable to assume that a high percentage of elite distance runners could make the transition (Physically) to be elite level cyclists?

I know the technical skills might be a challenge for a true distance runner that had little to no cycling experience.

There really are no examples of elite cyclists becoming elite runners, without having a distance running history anyway. It sounds like even being forced to cross train on a bike due to injury, creates a degrade in running performance.

It also sounds like an elite trained distance runner could make the change to cycling.

So a Lance Armstrong can dominate cycling (PED discussion not included), but cannot compete at an elite level in distance running.

Could most fringe elite distance runners, upper tier but not Olympic/World Champs qualifier level, transition to cycling and be an Olympic/World Champs/Grand Tour qualifier?

1

Grampa Surf wrote:

I've never really heard of an elite cyclist changing to running and having success. I would think the physical impact of running would be hard for a cyclist to adapt to.

Emma Pooley was a 2010 World Champion, 2008 Olympic medalist, and won a half dozen UCI world cup races and is the current Everesting record holder as a cyclist. She ran a 2:44 marathon while still signed to a cycling team in 2013 and before going back to the Olympics in 2016 again as a cyclist. Shehe has won four long distance duathlon championships, several big triathlons, and is currently a Salomon running athlete, competing in mountain running/ultras.