Vegans Thriving. Elite Vegan Athletes
The endurance and fitness needed for elite level cycling can be built on a vegan diet and there are
numerous world class competitive vegan cyclists. This includes track cyclists, BMX, cyclo-cross and
road cycling.
Belgian Mountain Biker Frans Claes competes nationally and internationally, and is established as a leading biker in his sport.
He has been Belgian Champion twice (2015 and 2016) and was the overall winner at the UCI World Series Marathon in 2017. Read More... “Frans Claes, vegan mountain biker”
Melissa Sundermann, has been competing in cycling, running and multisport events – completing epic distances at elite times.
She was the first Amateur woman at the REV3 Ironman triathlon where she finished with a personal best of 10:57:20, crossing the line with her husband and children. Read More... “Melissa Sundermann, vegan endurance racer”
Borja Ignacio Perez Batet is a multisport athlete from Spain who competes internationally. He’s competed in the European and World Duathlon Championships, taking the 30-34 age group World title in 2016.
He’s also run 10k in an extremely competitive 29:25, and among his results were a win in the San Silvestre Vallecana Amateur in 2017″, a race with 45,000 runners. Read More... “Borja Perez Batet, vegan runner”
Adam is a veteran cyclist who has travelled the world to participate in the top cycling events.
In 2003 the Australian competed in two tours and one classic, and by mid 2019 he had completed 28 grand tours and 12 classics. Read More... “Adam Hansen, vegan cyclist”
Paolo is an Italian cyclist known for his long distance cycling events. He competes in mountain biking and loves races of up to 24 hours.
In 2016 Paolo placed second in 24 hour Barbano Vicentino and took third in the Bellaria Igea Marina, also a 24 hour event. Read More... “Paolo Barbon, vegan cyclist”
Lisa is established as an active multisport athlete, representing Team GB in Duathlon and competing for European and World honours.
In 2017 Lisa qualified for the European Duathlon Championships for her age group, marking an achievement that she did not think she would beat. Read More... “Lisa Gawthorne, vegan duathlon competitor”
Swedish national triathlon champion Stefhan Andersen celebrates a decade as a vegan this year, having turned vegan in 2007.
Stefhan’s main motivation to go vegan was initially simply to not get sick: “I had like 20 days/year that I could not train on because I had a cold or something. Read More... “Stefhan Andersen, vegan triathlete”
Johanna has made an impact in two major sports since turning vegan. Following a successful period in which she captained her rugby union club team FC St. Pauli twice, she has established herself as a world class fixedgear cyclist.
While playing rugby she helped FC St Pauli Hamburg to 10 National Championships. Read More... “Johanna Jahnke, vegan rugby player and cyclist”
Antoine is a Canadian multisport athlete specialising in triathlon. His strongest distance is 70.3, half ironman, which is a 1.9 km (1.2 mile) swim, 90 km (56 mile) cycle and a 21.1km (13.1 mile) half marathon run.
In 2015 Antoine turned professional. Read More... “Antoine Jolicoeur Desroches, vegan triathlete”
Sebastjan is a Slovenian triathlete who has raced sprint, Olympic and Ironman distance events. He is best known for his performances at Ironman level.
His accomplishments include four full Ironman events, of which all four were completed in under ten hours. Read More... “Sebastjan Gergoric, vegan triathlete”
David Smith is a successful para rower and cyclist who has won Gold medals at international level. David has overcome enormous setbacks and recovered to extremely high levels of fitness thanks to determination and high standards of nutrition.
He was born in 1978 with a club foot and underwent repeated medical interventions to break and reset the foot. Read More... “David Smith, MBE, vegan paralympian”
Shea West is a BMX rider from Kansas USA. He started riding competitively in childhood and won several state championship titles and was placed fourth in the 1994 World championships. He was also part of the team which won a national team title in 1993. Read More... “Shea West, vegan BMX rider”
Madi Serpico is a Triathlete who at age 21 (in 2014) has already competed nationally and in international competition.
Results include 15th at the International Edmonton World Cup, 2012, 13th in the 2012 Pan American Cup (Magog) and 10th in the Canadian National Championships. Read More... “Madi Serpico, vegan triathlete”
Maureen (Mo) Bruno-Roy is a cyclocross cyclist who has competed at the elite level for many years. She began racing at that level in 2004 and has registered some impressive highlights.
In 2005 she finished third in the Elite Women’s National Championships and she also became National Champion in the 30-34 age category. Read More... “Mo Bruno-Roy, vegan cyclist”
Kevin Selker is an American track cyclist. Kevin has competed in sprint events for a number of years and since age 20 (2005) has been recording placings at national collegiate level.
In December 2006 Kevin was selected in the US national squad as by then he was National Senior champion. Read More... “Kevin Selker, vegan track cyclist”
Zak Covalcik is a track cyclist competing at US national level.
He has won twenty six medals at Elite National level and is ten times Oregon state champion. He has been US National Champion five times. He’s also successfully raced in Trinidad & Tobago, Germany and Tasmania. Read More... “Zak Covalcik, vegan track cyclist”
Laura Kline is a multisport athlete from Pasadena, USA, best known for her success in Duathlon. Duathlon is an endurance event which starts with a run, changes to cycling, then returns to running.
She participated in hockey, softball, basketball and boxing while at high school and college, then at age 26 started competing in the demanding sports of Duathlon and Triathlon. Read More... “Laura Kline, vegan duathlon competitor”
Jack Linquist is a professional track-racing cyclist who won his first race in 2007 when the 26 year old cycle messenger won the 2007 Puma Velocity race in New York City. The win entitled him to a place in international competition, and he soon joined the U.S. Read More... “Jack Lindquist, vegan cyclist”
Ruth Heidrich is a prolific runner who has maintained an astonishing level of fitness into her senior years.
A survivor of an aggressive breast cancer, Ruth turned vegan in 1982 aged 47 in response to the diagnosis. She has won over 900 medals for running of all distances, some of her most prestigious include:
Christine ias a former US national team member with many successes including a win at the 2004 Santa Cruz Classic Criterium.
In 2001 she made the US national team and competed at the Cyclo-Cross World Championships, and later that year she took 9th in the Heerlen World Cup (Netherlands) and 8th in the Wetzikon World Cup in Switzerland, The following year saw her finishing 29th in the World Championships in 2004 she took the win at Santa Cruz Classic. Read More... “Christine Vardaros, vegan cyclist”
Molly won the 2004 and 2011 Cross Crusade Singlespeed Series and has been Oregon state champion twice. She has achieved a large number of individual race victories in her career.
Finding vegan
“When I turned 15 or 16 I realized that I did not have to eat meat, so I stopped. Read More... “Molly Cameron, vegan cyclist”
Rich Roll’s transition to world-recognised athlete started when at 40 he realised his health was being threatened by a poor lifestyle that involved use of alcohol and other drugs, poor diet and inactivity. Unable to climb his stairs, he adopted a whole food vegan diet and began to train. Read More... “Rich Roll, vegan ultraman”
Canadian triathlete and endurance runner Brendan Brazier has won triathlons at Olympic distance, Half Ironman and full Ironman. Ironman consists of a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile cycle and marathon (26.2 mile) run. He has set the Bigfoot Half Ironman course record twice and was twice Canadian 50k champion, in 2003 and 2006. Read More... “Brendan Brazier, vegan triathlete”
The cyclocross champion has been vegan since 22 (1998) after several years of vegetarianism and on/off veganism.
“I did not want to cause suffering to animals. I knew that animals often lived under horrible conditions on factory farms, and that they do not have voices to scream and yell to their abusers, leaving them totally without the power to save themselves. Read More... “Catherine Johnson, vegan cyclist”