Callum Skinner (born 20 August 1992) is a British former track cyclist. He won the silver medal in the individual sprint at the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

, and was a member of the British team that won gold in the team sprint.

Early life

Skinner was born to mother Judith and father Scott, the elder of two boys with a younger brother, Roy in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

, Scotland. He moved to

Bruntsfield Bruntsfield is a largely residential area around Bruntsfield Place in Southern Edinburgh, Scotland. In feudal times, it fell within the barony of Colinton. Location Bruntsfield Place is less than south on the A702 main road from the West e ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

at the age of 12 and attended

James Gillespie's High School James Gillespie's High School is a state-funded secondary school in Marchmont, Edinburgh, Scotland. It is a comprehensive high school, educating pupils between the ages of 11 and 18, situated at the centre of Edinburgh. Edinburgh Castle and H ...

. His academic career was hampered by

dyslexia Dyslexia, also known until the 1960s as word blindness, is a disorder characterized by reading below the expected level for one's age. Different people are affected to different degrees. Problems may include difficulties in spelling words, r ...

. He took up cycling in 2004, inspired by

Chris Hoy Sir Christopher Andrew Hoy MBE (born 23 March 1976) is a former track cyclist and Racing driver from Scotland who represented Great Britain at the Olympic and World Championships and Scotland at the Commonwealth Games. Hoy is eleven-times a wor ...

's success in the sport at the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

in Athens. In 2008 he was national youth champion and broke Hoy's British 200m record for his age group. Later that year he was the inaugural winner of the Chris Hoy Trophy, an award presented to Edinburgh's most promising young track cyclist, and received the award from Hoy himself.

Career

In 2010 Skinner joined

British Cycling British Cycling (formerly the British Cycling Federation) is the main national governing body for cycle sport in Great Britain. It administers most competitive cycling in Great Britain, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. It represents Bri ...

's Senior Academy. Skinner competed representing Scotland in the team sprint at the

2010 Commonwealth Games The 2010 Commonwealth Games (Hindi: 2010 राष्ट्रमण्डल खेल), officially known as the XIX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Delhi 2010, was an international multi-sport event that was held in Delhi, India, f ...

, finishing fourth. The following year he took two medals at the Under-23 European Track Championships, winning a bronze in the individual sprint and a silver in the team sprint alongside

Peter Mitchell Peter or Pete Mitchell may refer to: Media *Pete Mitchell (broadcaster) (1958–2020), British broadcaster *Peter Mitchell (newsreader) (born 1960), Australian journalist *Peter Mitchell (photographer) (born 1943), British documentary photographer ...

and

Philip Hindes Philip Hindes MBE (born 22 September 1992) is a British track cyclist, specialising in sprints. He holds dual nationality, having been born in Germany to a British father. Having initially competed for Germany at a junior level, in 2010 he swi ...

. He did not get the opportunity to compete at the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

in London due to a lump in his neck in late 2011 which doctors initially thought was

lymphoma Lymphoma is a group of blood and lymph tumors that develop from lymphocytes (a type of white blood cell). In current usage the name usually refers to just the cancerous versions rather than all such tumours. Signs and symptoms may include enlar ...

. Biopsies later proved that the lump was not cancerous but the scare had caused him to take time away from the sport. He was subsequently promoted to the British Cycling Olympic Podium Programme in 2013. In January 2014 he won his first World Cup medal, placing third in the team sprint in

Guadalajara Guadalajara ( , ) is a metropolis in western Mexico and the capital of the list of states of Mexico, state of Jalisco. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population of 1,385,629 people, making it the 7th largest city by population in Me ...

, and once again represented Scotland at the

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the exce ...

. He came to prominence at the 2014 British National Track Championships, winning a clean sweep of four national sprint titles. In October 2014, he became European champion in the 1 km time trial. In January 2016 Skinner was a member of the team that won the overall title for the men's team sprint at the

UCI Track Cycling World Cup The UCI Track Cycling World Cup (formerly known as the UCI Track Cycling World Cup Classics) is a multi race tournament held over a track cycling season - usually between October and February. Each series is divided into several rounds, each held i ...

in Hong Kong. In March he finished eighth in the individual sprint in the

2016 UCI Track Cycling World Championships The 2016 UCI Track Cycling World Championships were the World Championships for track cycling in 2016. They took place in London in the Lee Valley VeloPark from 2–6 March 2016. As the last major track cycling event prior to the 2016 Summer Ol ...

in London. At the

he was part of the team that won gold in the men's team sprint along with

and

Jason Kenny Sir Jason Francis Kenny, (born 23 March 1988) is an English former track cyclist, specialising in the individual and team sprints. Kenny is the holder of most Olympic gold medals (7) and medals (9) for a British athlete. His wife, Laura Kenn ...

, setting an Olympic record of 42.440 in the final against New Zealand. He won the silver medal in the men's individual sprint, beating Matthew Glaetzer 2–0 in the semi-final but he was beaten 2–0 by defending champion Kenny in an all-British final. In a 2020 interview, Skinner stated that his mental health declined after the 2016 Olympics, culminating in what he described as a "mental breakdown" during the

2018 Commonwealth Games The 2018 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXI Commonwealth Games and also known as Gold Coast 2018, was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth that were held on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, bet ...

after he was disqualified from the

keirin – literally "racing cycle" – is a form of motor-paced cycle racing in which track cyclists sprint for victory following a speed-controlled start behind a motorized or non-motorized pacer. It was developed in Japan around 1948 for gamblin ...

, although he did go on to take a medal in the kilometer time trial. He said that in 2019 he disclosed his mental health issues to a senior person at British Cycling, but that the official in question refused his request for time off to recover: he reflected that "that conversation finished me as a cyclist". In February 2019 it was announced that Skinner had been appointed to the position of Lead Athlete with Global Athlete, a self-described "athlete-led movement for change" aiming to advance the interests of sportspeople: in this role he would be responsible for recruiting other athletes to the organisation. The following month he announced his retirement from competition in order to focus on advocating improvements in sportspeople's rights and working conditions. He also supports equality for

LGBTQ ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...

athletes: both his father and brother are gay.

Major results

;2011 :

UEC European Track Championships (under-23 & junior) The European Track Cycling Championships (under-23 & junior) are a set of competition events held annually for the various disciplines and distances in track cycling, exclusively for European cyclists under the ages of 23 and 18, and regulated by ...

:: 2nd

Team sprint (with

and

) :: 3rd

Sprint ;2014 : 1st UEC Champion Jersey

Kilo KILO (94.3 FM broadcasting, FM, 94.3 KILO) is a radio station broadcasting in Colorado Springs, Colorado, Colorado Springs and Pueblo, Colorado, Pueblo, Colorado. It also streams online. History KLST and KPIK-FM The 94.3 signal signed on th ...

UEC European Track Championships The European Track Cycling Championships are a set of elite level competition events held annually for the various disciplines and distances in track cycling, exclusively for European cyclists, and regulated by the European Cycling Union (UEC ...

: National Track Championships ::1st MaillotReinoUnido

Kilo ::1st MaillotReinoUnido

Keirin ::1st MaillotReinoUnido

Sprint ::1st MaillotReinoUnido

Team Sprint (with

) : 2013–2014 Track Cycling World Cup ::3rd Team Sprint, Round 3 : 2014–15 Track Cycling World Cup ::1st Team sprint (with

and

), Round 1 ;2016 :

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

::1st

Team sprint The team sprint (also sometimes known as the Olympic sprint) is a track cycling event. Despite its name, it is not a conventional cycling sprint event – it is a three-rider team time trial held over three laps of a velodrome. The current men's ...

::2nd

Sprint : 2015–16 Track Cycling World Cup ::1st Team sprint (with

and

), Round 4 ;2017 : 2017–18 Track Cycling World Cup ::2nd Team sprint (with

Jack Carlin Jack Carlin (born 23 April 1997) is a Scottish track cyclist, who competes in sprinting events and won two medals at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Cycling career In 2016, Carlin won his first senior international medal when taking silver at the Euro ...

and

), Round 3 ::3rd 1km time trial, Round 2 ;2018 : 3rd bronze medal blank

1km time trial,

References

External links

* * * * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Skinner, Callum 1992 births Living people Scottish male cyclists Scottish track cyclists Olympic cyclists for Great Britain Olympic gold medallists for Great Britain Olympic silver medallists for Great Britain Olympic medalists in cycling Cyclists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Commonwealth Games medallists in cycling Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for Scotland Cyclists at the 2010 Commonwealth Games Cyclists at the 2014 Commonwealth Games Cyclists at the 2018 Commonwealth Games Scottish Olympic medallists Scottish LGBT rights activists Sportspeople with dyslexia Cyclists from Glasgow Medallists at the 2018 Commonwealth Games

Early life

Career

Major results

See also

References

External links