About Chris
At the age of 13, Chris Boardman rode his first bike race. Since then, he’s amassed an impressive tally of wins at Junior, Senior and National levels, alongside representing his country in 4 Olympic Games, the World Championships and the Commonwealth Games - not to mention the records he has broken along the way. Chris Boardman exploded onto the international cycling scene at the Barcelona Olympics in '92, where he captured the imagination of the British public by winning Gold in the 4,000m pursuit (the first cycling Gold medal for 72 years) on a specially built bike and wearing a futuristic looking aerodynamic helmet.
After Barcelona, Chris's career went from strength-to-strength. In 93, he broke the World Hour record in Bordeaux and caught the eye of the professional teams. Turning professional in 94, Chris rode for the French Gan team in the Tour de France and won the yellow jersey on his debut by riding the quickest prologue ever (Chris currently holds the top 2 fastest times for the prologue).
Chris has worn the prestigious 'maillot jaune' on three occasions and his highest overall finish in the world's greatest cycle race was 39th in 1996. The World Championships also saw Chris performing at his best against the best in the world - becoming the 4,000m pursuit champion in both 94 and 96 and the Time Trial champion in 94 (representing only his top podium finishes).
Throughout his career, records were challenged and broken - Chris has held the prestigious Hour record on three occasions, he currently holds the Performance Hour record (at a staggering 56.375 km/h, although the fastest he’s actually ridden is over 100km/h going through the Mont Blanc tunnel during the Tour de France). Chris also currently holds the World record for the 4km Pursuit at 4 minutes 11.114 seconds. National records were also broken throughout Chris's career, and his name has become synonymous with excellence in cycling.
In 2000, Chris retired from cycling on a high note, after representing his country for the 4th time in the Sydney Olympics and finishing 4th at the Worlds, he went on to break the legendary Eddie Merckx’s World Hour record (which had stood for almost 30 years) in front of a cheering home crowd at a packed Manchester Velodrome - a fitting way to end the career of Britain's most successful cyclist. After a long and rewarding career, Chris turned his attention to the other side of the track (so to speak) - becoming a TV commentator for the BBC, ITV and Eurosport, covering numerous international cycling events and as a regular contributor for Pro Cycling magazine (as well as writing and co-authoring 3 books, and producing and consulting on three documentary films for the BBC and Channel 4). Chris has also been a member of the English Sports Council, a member of the NCBS - a Government advisory board on sustainable transport, and an expert consultant to Cycling Ireland (responsible for the creation of a National Track team).Throughout Chris’s career, his knowledge and experience has become immense and invaluable.
Today, Chris’s involvement with cycling is greater than ever – he’s one of UK Sports’ Elite Coaches - Director of Coaching for Cycling, helping to develop (and inspire) the next generation of riders within GB cycling. Chris is also Director of Research & Development - ensuring that the current team of riders will benefit from all the technological advances and stay in front of the competition - as proved at the highest level by the success of the British Cycling team in Beijing.
Chris Boardman was born on the 26th August 1968 to Keith and Carol Boardman and today he lives on the Wirral with his wife Sally-Anne and their six children. In 1992, Chris was awarded an MBE by the Queen, awarded an Honorary Degree by Liverpool University for services to sport in 1994 and awarded an Honorary Doctorate by Brighton University for services to sports science in 1997. His passions are cycling, scuba diving (advanced technical and instructor level as well as Diver magazines training correspondent) and his family.
View Chris's racing career cv here...
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Image © Copyright Graham Watson