Chloe Woodruff has resigned her spot on the US Women’s Olympic mountain bike team for Tokyo 2020, and Boulder, Colorado athlete Erin Huck will take her place. According to USA Cycling, Woodruff has resigned for personal reasons and USAC did not include any additional information in their press release.
Kate Courtney had qualified for the team in 2019, and Haley Batten qualified after a 2nd place finish in Nove Mesto, Czech Republic, but the third spot on the women’s team would be decided by USAC.
At the first UCI XCO race of the season in Albstadt, Germany, Huck placed 15th while Woodruff placed 30th. Batten placed 3rd.
One week later in Nove Mesto, Czech Republic Huck placed 16th, while Woodruff placed 64th. On June 10, when USAC announced the remainder of the team, it was Woodruff who was given the spot.
According to the UCI’s World Cup rankings after 2020, Huck placed 9th with 672 points whereas Woodruff had placed 91st with 220 points. In 2019 however, Woodruff ranked 15th after the season with 1,154 points and Huck ranked 38 with 775 points.
When news broke yesterday about Huck replacing Woodruff, Huck posted on Instagram and alluded that she had challenged the decision and won. Information on that post has since been edited.
Huck’s original post, screen-shotted by Ryan Simonovich said that USAC did not “appropriately follow selection procedures” and that she had to fight for answers. We’ve reached out to Huck for comment but haven’t heard back. An anonymous source told NBC Sports that USAC’s decision was close enough that Huck did request an arbitration hearing.
A rep for USAC has said that the arbitration was not completed and that Woodruff’s reasons for resigning her place were independent from Huck’s arbitration.
Mountain biking at the Olympics is set to kick off on July 26 and 27th with Kate Courtney, Haley Batten, Erin Huck, and Christopher Blevins on the US team.
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