17-year-old U.S. national team racer Magnus White killed by driver in Colorado

Rising U.S. off-road star Magnus White was killed while on a training ride near his Boulder, Colo. home, USA Cycling confirmed on Sunday. The 17-year-old was in his final preparations for 2023 UCI cycling world championships when he was hit by the driver of a motor vehicle.

White was set to compete in the junior men’s cross country events in Glasgow in early August. His skills were not limited to mountain biking, though. White also excelled at cyclocross, earning the 2022 U.S. junior men’s national title.

Rising star of U.S. Cycling

“He was a rising star in the off-road cycling scene and his passion for cycling was evident through his racing and camaraderie with his teammates and local community,” USA Cycling said in a statement on Sunday.

White followed up his national cyclocross title with a strong 2022/23 cyclocross season. He won two USCX races at the 2022 Really Rad cyclocross weekend and was second in the junior men’s race at U.S. national championships in Hartford, CT. In Europe, White added top 10 finishes at Superprestige Heusden-Zolder, X20 Trofee Baal (GP Sven Nys) and Oodenaarde and Exactcross Loenhout – Azencross before representing the U.S.A. at world championships in Hoogerheide in The Netherlands in February.

In mountain biking, the Colorado racer won the Fayetteville US Cup (UCI HC) as well as a C2 XCO race in Missoula, Mont. in June.

Friends of the White family have started a GoFundMe in memory of Magnus White. In the first six hours, it has raised over $40,000.

White is not the only high-level cyclist to die in Colorado in recent years. In 2020, Clif Pro Team racer Ben Sonntag was killed by a driver while on a training ride outside Durango. That driver was sentenced to serve jail time in late 2021. In 2021, U.S. masters champion Gwen Inglis was killed by a driver outside Lakewood, Colorado.