PROGRAMS & INITIATIVES

The Athlete Development Fund supports USA Cycling’s High Performance programs to identify world class talent and fuel success on the podium across the Olympic disciplines of Road, Mountain Bike, Track, BMX Race, and BMX Freestyle.  

From Potential to Podium 

• Talent Identification  

• Training Camps  

• Exposure to International Competition  

• Centers of Excellence grants 

The average aspiring Olympian earns just $25,000 a year, while spending over $40,000 to train and compete. The opportunities are even more scant for Paralympians.  

Direct athlete support is vital to Team USA’s success and allows athletes to choose development over survival. 

Through our Grants & Scholarships Program, USA Cycling’s goal is to eliminate the economic pressure that overshadows the dreams of our National Team by providing direct athlete grants for:  

Winning at the highest level requires more than talent—it demands a multidisciplinary team of experts who optimize every detail of performance. 

The Integrated Performance Fund supports the specialists, research partnerships, medical systems, and innovation pipelines that give Team USA a competitive edge. 

 Women have long been USA Cycling’s superpower, earning 95% of our Olympic medals since 2012—including 100% of Olympic and 75% of Paralympic medals in Paris.  

Recognizing this advantage, the Hellman Foundation made a transformative $2.5 million commitment to establish the Women’s Cycling Fund in 2024, including a $1 million gift to support current programming and a $1.5 million challenge match to build a lasting quasi-endowment for sustained investment in women’s cycling. 

Key Elements of the Women’s Cycling Fund: 

Paracycling first debuted at the 1984 Games, and in 2025 Paracycling Road and Paracycling Track transitioned to USA Cycling’s management.  

With almost no professional opportunities in Para sport, many Paralympic hopefuls have historically self-funded their entire athletic careers. Where resources may have been limited, our para athletes have relied on perseverance to succeed. Now we have the opportunity to rethink, personalize, and elevate every aspect of training, competition, and technology –fueling our aspirations to earn 12 Paralympic medals at the LA28 Games. 

Key Elements of the Para Excellence Fund: 

• Invest in National Team with training stipends  

• Increase valuable international race experience  

• Improve adaptive equipment with highly specified tech and innovation  

Cyclocross has long been a key entry point into bike racing for young American riders and has proven instrumental in developing the technical, physiological, and mental skills that translate across all cycling disciplines. This makes cyclocross one of the key disciplines for long term athlete development.  

The MudFund exists to support America’s most promising young cyclocross riders. It fuels USA Cycling’s core cyclocross programming, including international racing opportunities, domestic skills camps, and athlete coaching and services.