Tokyo Olympic Team - Track

Gavin Hoover

Elite Men's National Team Member, Tokyo 2020 Olympian

D.O.B	July 12, 1997
Hometown	Manhattan Beach, California

Residence

Colorado Springs, Colorado

Pro Teams

Legion of Los Angeles

Meet the Athlete

At twenty-two Gavin Hoover is close to attaining his long-term goal of competing for the United States in the Olympics. After a stunning third place podium in only his third World Cup Omnium competition, followed up by a 7th place finish at the World Championships, he has secured an automatic nomination to the 2020(1) Tokyo Olympics long team.

Gavin got his start racing on the track with Connie Paraskevin and her development program based at the Carson Velodrome in LA. Through random coincidence he was lucky enough to grow up less than thirty minutes from a world class training and racing facility, and develop under the guidance of multiple Olympic medalists. He races with the Jr. National team on the track and the road before focusing on the track program as a U23 rider with the goal of making the 2020 Olympic team.

A high performance athlete, Gavin is a force on both the velodrome and the road. He is the Current National Omnium Champion as well as a former National record holder in the Individual and Team Pursuit. He represented the US at the 2019 Pan Games in Lima Peru, winning two medals, and made multiple appearances at the World Championships. Racing for the highly successful KHS-Elevate team on the road he has been instrumental in their domination of the US Pro Road Tour for the last two years, playing a key role in controlling and setting up race finishes. Comfortable with setting tempo at the front or leading through the final corner he is an all round threat and dependable teammate.

Exceptionally goal oriented and driven Gavin has focused on his training and preparation for the Olympic games day in and day out over the last three years. He deals well with adversity and thrives in the competitive atmosphere of elite sport. Throughout his journey Gavin has also continued to pursue an under-graduate degree and is passionate about sharing his journey through the sport with written and visual storytelling

Growing up, how did youth sports impact who you are today?

Sports provided an outlet for me as a kid to allow an the extremely competitive side of my personality to develop and flourish. It was a setting that encouraged that cutthroat competition in a healthy way while allowing me to build lasting friendships with the kids I raced and trained with.

What is your favorite post-ride snack/meal?

I love a smoothie after a hard ride. I normally chuck whatever looks good in the fridge into the blender with a scoop of protein powder and see what happens.

What are your pre-race rituals?

I try to avoid building any superstitions around race day but I always have headphones on and music pumping to help focus and put me in my own little world.

Points of Interest

My first world cup medal in the Team Pursuit was extremely special. There was so much work that went into it with a close group of teammates, it felt like the culmination of so much effort and suffering.

Winning the Omnium National Championships in 2019 was something I'd had marked on my calendar all year. I wanted to show that I could race more than just the team pursuit on the track and winning at Nationals made that argument.

My first individual World Cup Podium in the Omnium earlier this year in Milton. I'd been progressing quickly through world cup Omnium's this year but I didn't think reaching the podium would be possible. To do it in a strong field a month before the world champs was the perfect end to my 2019-2020 World cup season.

Felicia Stancil

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Gavin Tomlinson

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