Callum Skinner (born 20 August 1992) is a British former track cyclist. He won the silver medal in the individual sprint at the 2016 Summer Olympics, and was a member of the British team that won gold in the team sprint.
In 2008 he was national youth champion[3] and broke Hoy's British 200m record for his age group. Later that year he was the inaugural winner of the Chris Hoy Trophy,[2] an award presented to Edinburgh's most promising young track cyclist,[4] and received the award from Hoy himself.[2]
Career
In 2010 Skinner joined British Cycling's Senior Academy.[5] Skinner competed representing Scotland in the team sprint at the 2010 Commonwealth Games, finishing fourth.[6] The following year he took two medals at the Under-23 European Track Championships, winning a bronze in the individual sprint and a silver in the team sprint alongside Peter Mitchell and Philip Hindes.[5] He did not get the opportunity to compete at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London due to a lump in his neck in late 2011 which doctors initially thought was lymphoma. Biopsies later proved that the lump was not cancerous but the scare had caused him to take time away from the sport.[7][8] He was subsequently promoted to the British Cycling Olympic Podium Programme in 2013.[5]
In January 2014 he won his first World Cup medal, placing third in the team sprint in Guadalajara,[5] and once again represented Scotland at the Commonwealth Games.[9] He came to prominence at the 2014 British National Track Championships, winning a clean sweep of four national sprint titles.[10] In October 2014, he became European champion in the 1 km time trial.[11]
In a 2020 interview, Skinner stated that his mental health declined after the 2016 Olympics, culminating in what he described as a "mental breakdown" during the 2018 Commonwealth Games after he was disqualified from the keirin, although he did go on to take a medal in the kilometer time trial. He said that in 2019 he disclosed his mental health issues to a senior person at British Cycling, but that the official in question refused his request for time off to recover: he reflected that "that conversation finished me as a cyclist".[1]
In February 2019 it was announced that Skinner had been appointed to the position of Lead Athlete with Global Athlete, a self-described "athlete-led movement for change" aiming to advance the interests of sportspeople: in this role he would be responsible for recruiting other athletes to the organisation.[15] The following month he announced his retirement from competition in order to focus on advocating improvements in sportspeople's rights and working conditions. He also supports equality for LGBTQ athletes:[16] both his father and brother are gay.[1]
