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Reigning U.S. cross-country MTB champion Chloe Woodruff has formally resigned from her position as a member of the U.S. women’s cross-country MTB team for the Tokyo Olympics.
The news was announced Thursday afternoon by USA Cycling.
Woodruff’s resignation has opened the door for Coloradan Erin Huck to be named as the third member of the U.S. team for Tokyo.
According to USA Cycling’s release, Woodruff cited personal reasons for her decision to step away from the Olympic team. But the move came after Huck launched a legal appeal against USA Cycling’s selection for the three-person team, the Associated Press reported.
Woodruff was named to the team last month by USA Cycling’s selection committee as the one discretionary choice for the three-member squad. She joined Kate Courtney and Haley Batten, both of whom had secured spots through automatic qualification criteria.
Woodruff represented the U.S. at the 2016 Olympics in London, where she finished 14th. Woodruff also won a round of the UCI short-track cross-country World Cup in 2019.
Huck, 40, was a member of the U.S. Olympic long team alongside Lea Davison, Hannah Finchamp, Woodruff, Courtney, and Batten. Huck missed much of the 2019 World Cup season due to injuries. In 2021 Huck scored top-20 results at the World Cup rounds in Germany and the Czech Republic.
The news marks a bizarre chapter in the years-long story around which riders would get the coveted three spots for the U.S. Olympic team. Over the past few seasons the six members of the U.S. Olympic long team have chased after UCI points together in an effort to win the U.S. the maximum three spots for Tokyo.
Earlier this year the riders chronicled the chase and the team-like approach in an episode of The VeloNews Podcast.
Huck and Woodruff teamed up at the end of 2020 to chase points together, and they competed as a team in the Israel Epic in an attempt to earn more UCI points.