Who is Tom Pidcock? The Team GB cyclist who won mountain bike gold at Tokyo Olympics 2020 - and where he’s from

Pidcock triumphed in MTB at the Olympic Games, after swimmer Adam Peaty and diving duo Tom Daley and Matty Lee also became British Olympic champions

Tom Pidcock has won Olympic gold for Team GB in the cross-country mountain bike race.

The 21-year-old won the MTB event by 20 seconds after powering past Switzerland’s Mathias Flueckiger and Nino Schurter at the Tokyo Olympics 2020.

When asked on how he felt to bag a gold medal, Pidcock told Eurosport: "Not real really. It's pretty crazy that I became an Olympian and I was trying to tell myself at the start of the race it's special just to be here."

So, who is Tom Pidcock, where is he from and when did he win his gold medal?

Here’s everything you need to know.

Who is Tom Pidcock?

Tom Pidcock powered to victory in the men's cross-country mountain bike race at the Tokyo Olympic Games (Getty Images)

Team GB’s Pidcock, who has skills in MTB, road-racing and cyclo-cross, fell in love with cycling at an early age.

The versatile sportsman started cycling when he was only three-years-old, and would often be told off for riding his bike around the playground at school by his head teacher.

Pidcock then started racing at age seven, hundreds of miles away from his Yorkshire home at the Castle Combe circuit near Swindon, although he ultimately lost the competition.

But his love for cycling persisted and at age 10 he would get up early in the morning to knock out a couple of circuits round the playing fields on the way to school, with the dream of becoming professional one day.

Graphic: Kim Mogg/JPI Media

He would go on to race in his home county of Yorkshire, which has a reputation for producing strong riders.

As he got older, his parents would transport him around the country to national level races, and he won his first major competition in Scarborough, the toughest race of the British National Youth Road Series, at age 14.

Pidcock went on to represent Great Britain on the road, the track and in cyclo-cross, clinching the Junior Cyclo-Cross World Championship in 2016, the Under-23 Paris-Roubaix Classic in 2019 and Baby Giro d’Italia in 2020.

He also triumphed in the Nove Mesto World Cup MTB event in May 2021 - the first World Cup win by a British man since 1994.

Pidcock has now made history as the youngest Olympic mountain bike champion, smashing the record set by Jenny Rissveds from Sweden at Rio by 79 days.

Where is Tom Pidcock from?

Pidcock is English, hailing from Leeds, West Yorkshire.

He still lives there with his parents, also keen cyclists, and his younger brother Joe.

When did he win Olympic gold?

Pidcock’s victory in Tokyo came on Monday 26 July, after he conquered the notoriously technical Izu Mountain Bike Course.

His win is Britain's first ever Olympic mountain biking medal.

The spectacular achievement came less than two months after Pidcock suffered a broken collarbone after being struck by a vehicle when training.

"I haven't done a good race since,” he told Eurosport.

“I've trained really hard, I knew I was in great shape but there's always doubt when I haven't performed in a race.

"But once the race started, I knew I was in a good place. The heat, I mean, obviously I didn't feel good but everyone just told me no-one will feel good."

The Olympian has already won world titles in cyclo-cross, road and mountain bike events at under-23 level.

Who else from Team GB has won gold medals?

Pidcock’s win was Team GB’s third gold medal in a matter of hours after swimmer Adam Peaty and diving duo Tom Daley and Matty Lee also became Olympic champions.

Peaty, 26, won the first gold medal of the Tokyo Games for Britain, becoming the first British swimmer to retain an Olympic title in the 100m breaststroke.

His time of 57.37 meant he just missed his own world record in the 100m breaststroke final, but it was enough to secure his status as a double Olympic champion.

The swimmer, from Uttoxeter in Staffordshire, dedicated his victory to the GB swimming team and his family who were watching nervously back home.

Meanwhile, Daley and his partner Lee won gold in the 10-metre synchronised dive.

The duo finished with 471.81 points after never dropping out of the top two and clinched the Olympic title 1.23 points ahead of China.

The win became Daley’s third Olympic medal, after he secured bronze at the Games in London and Rio, although it’s his first gold.