Tara Whitten

Canadian cyclist

Tara Whitten

Personal information
Full name| Tara Alice Whitten
Born|  (1980-07-13) 13 July 1980 (age 44)
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Team information
Current team| Retired
Disciplines|

* Track
* Road

Role| Rider
Rider type| Endurance
Professional team
2011–2012| Team TIBCO–To The Top

Medal record

Representing  Canada
Women's track cycling
Summer Olympics
| 2012 London | Team pursuit
World Championship
| 2010 Ballerup | Omnium
| 2010 Ballerup | Points race
| 2011 Apeldoorn | Omnium
| 2009 Pruszków | Omnium
| 2012 Melbourne | Team pursuit
Pan American Championships
| 2009 Mexico | Omnium
| 2009 Mexico | Individual pursuit
| 2009 Mexico | Team sprint
| 2015 Puebla | Individual time trial
| 2009 Mexico | Individual time trial
| 2009 Mexico | Points race
| 2009 Mexico | Team pursuit
Women's road bicycle racing
Pan American Championships
| 2009 Hidalgo | Time trial
| 2015 León | Time trial
Women's cross-country skiing
U23 World Championships
| 2003 Valdidentro | Individual sprint

Tara Alice Whitten (born 13 July 1980) is a Canadian former racing cyclist.[1]

## Career

[edit]

A former cross-country skier from Edmonton, Alberta, Whitten began track racing seriously in 2008 having dabbled in it since 2005.[2] The same year she won the points race and individual pursuit at the Canadian National Track Championships, and also took the bronze medal in the scratch race and 500 meter time trial events.

Whitten began the 2008–2009 track cycling season strongly, winning two silver medals at first round of the Track World Cup in Manchester, United Kingdom, in October. She went on to take two bronze medals in the third round in Cali, Colombia, and a further two silver medals in the fifth and final round in Copenhagen, Denmark, in February 2009.

In March 2009, Whitten won the silver medal in the Omnium at the 2009 UCI Track Cycling World Championships in Pruszków, the first time the event was included in the championships.[2]

In December 2009, Whitten rode on the team that won the gold medal in the 2010 UCI Track Cycling World Cup Classics Women's Team Pursuit in Cali, Colombia, along with fellow Canadian National Team members Laura Brown and Stephanie Roorda, concurrently setting a new Canadian National Record in this event as well with a time of 3:27.289. Of note, the Women's Team Pursuit has been added as an Olympic event for 2012. She also won two silver medals, in the Individual Pursuit (time of 3:34.547) and Points Race.

In March 2010, Whitten won the gold medal in the Omnium and Points race at the 2010 UCI Track Cycling World Championships in Ballerup.

At the 2012 Summer Olympics, she was part of the Canadian team that won the bronze medal in the women's team pursuit.[3] She finished fourth in the omnium.[4][5]

In March 2016 Whitten was injured in Rio de Janeiro during a visit to inspect the road course for the 2016 Summer Olympics, running her bike into the back of a bus and being knocked unconscious and breaking a bone in the base of her skull. The interruption to her training delayed her qualifying for the Olympics,[5] but she was officially named to Canada's 2016 Olympic team.[6]

## Personal life

[edit]

Whitten was awarded a PhD in neuroscience from the University of Alberta on 10 June 2016, having first earned a science degree in 2006 and been accepted into an electrophysiology lab as a master's student in 2007, while taking periodic breaks from her studies to focus on cycling full-time. She began a post-doctoral fellowship in concussion research at the University of Calgary in fall 2016.[5]

## Major results

[edit]

### Track

[edit]

2008
National Track Championships

1st  Individual pursuit
1st  Points race
3rd 500m time trial
3rd Scratch
2008–09 UCI Track Cycling World Cup Classics

2nd  Individual pursuit, Manchester
2nd  Scratch, Manchester
3rd  Individual pursuit, Cali
3rd  Points race, Cali

2009
2009–10 UCI Track Cycling World Cup Classics, Cali

1st  Team pursuit
2nd  Individual pursuit
2nd  Points race
2nd  Omnium, UCI Track Cycling World Championships
2nd  Individual pursuit, 2008–09 UCI Track Cycling World Cup Classics, Copenhagen
2010
UCI Track Cycling World Championships

1st  Omnium
1st  Points race
Omnium, 2010–11 UCI Track Cycling World Cup Classics

2nd  Melbourne
2nd  Cali
Commonwealth Games

3rd  Individual pursuit
3rd  Points race
3rd  Team sprint
2009–10 UCI Track Cycling World Cup Classics, Beijing

3rd  Individual pursuit
3rd  Team pursuit

2011
1st  Omnium, UCI Track Cycling World Championships
1st Overall, Omnium, 2010–11 UCI Track Cycling World Ranking
2010–11 UCI Track Cycling World Cup Classics, Beijing

1st  Omnium
2nd  Team pursuit
2nd  Omnium, 2011–12 UCI Track Cycling World Cup, Cali
2012
2nd  Team pursuit, 2011–12 UCI Track Cycling World Cup, London
3rd  Team pursuit, Summer Olympics
3rd  Team pursuit, UCI Track Cycling World Championships

### Road

[edit]

2009
1st  Time trial, National Road Championships
8th Time trial, UCI Road World Championships
2010
Commonwealth Games

1st  Time trial
7th Road race
National Road Championships

2nd Road race
3rd Time trial
6th Chrono Gatineau
7th Time trial, UCI Road World Championships
9th Grand Prix Cycliste de Gatineau
2011
2nd Time trial, National Road Championships
4th Time trial, UCI Road World Championships
6th Chrono Champenois
2012
4th Chrono Gatineau
2015
2nd  Time trial, Pan American Road Championships
8th Overall Joe Martin Stage Race
8th Chrono Gatineau
2016
1st  Time trial, National Road Championships
1st Overall Cascade Cycling Classic

1st Mountains classification
1st Stages 2 (ITT) & 5
2nd Chrono Gatineau
7th Time trial, Summer Olympics

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Tara Whitten at Cycling Archives (archived, or current page in French)
2. ^ a b "Track World Championships - Silver Medal for Tara Whitten". Canadian Cycling Association. 28 March 2009. Archived from the original on 8 July 2011.
3. ^ "London 2012 - Track Cycling - Women's Team Pursuit". olympic.org. IOC. Retrieved 22 December 2014.
4. ^ "London 2012 - Track Cycling - Omnium Women". olympic.org. IOC. Retrieved 14 June 2016.
5. ^ a b c Brown, Michael (13 June 2016). "There and back again: from the Olympic podium to the convocation stage". University of Alberta: News & Events. University of Alberta. Retrieved 14 June 2016.
6. ^ Tozer, Jamie (29 June 2016). "Returning Olympians highlight Canada's cycling team". olympic.ca. Canadian Olympic Committee. Retrieved 29 June 2016.

## External links

[edit]

* Tara Whitten at UCI
* Tara Whitten at Cycling Archives (archived)
* Tara Whitten at ProCyclingStats
* Tara Whitten at FIS (cross-country)
* Tara Whitten at Olympics.com
* Tara Whitten at Olympedia
* Tara Whitten at the Commonwealth Games Federation (archived)

* v
* t
* e

UCI Track Cycling World Champions – Women's points race

* 1988: Sally Hodge
* 1989: Jeannie Longo
* 1990: Karen Holliday
* 1991–94: Ingrid Haringa
* 1995–96: Svetlana Samokhvalova
* 1997: Natalya Karimova
* 1998: Teodora Ruano
* 1999–2000: Marion Clignet
* 2001–03: Olga Slyusareva
* 2003: Oksana Grishina
* 2004: Olga Slyusareva
* 2005–06: Vera Carrara
* 2007: Katherine Bates
* 2008: Marianne Vos
* 2009: Giorgia Bronzini
* 2010: Tara Whitten
* 2011: Tatsiana Sharakova
* 2012: Anastasia Chulkova
* 2013: Jarmila Machačová
* 2014: Amy Cure
* 2015: Stephanie Gaumnitz
* 2016: Katarzyna Pawłowska
* 2017: Elinor Barker
* 2018: Kirsten Wild
* 2019: Alexandra Manly
* 2020: Elinor Barker
* 2021: Lotte Kopecky
* 2022: Neah Evans
* 2023: Lotte Kopecky
* 2024: Julie Norman Leth

* v
* t
* e

UCI Track Cycling World Champions – Women's omnium

* 2009: Josie Tomic
* 2010–11: Tara Whitten
* 2012: Laura Trott
* 2013–14: Sarah Hammer
* 2015: Annette Edmondson
* 2016: Laura Trott
* 2017: Katie Archibald
* 2018–19: Kirsten Wild
* 2020: Yumi Kajihara
* 2021: Katie Archibald
* 2022–23: Jennifer Valente
* 2024: Ally Wollaston

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