Josie Knight (born 29 March 1997) is an English professional racing cyclist who has at various stages represented Ireland, Great Britain and England. Born in Buckinghamshire in England, her family moved to Dingle, Co. Kerry in Ireland during her early infancy. Josie competed for Ireland prior to 2018, winning silver with the Irish team in the European Junior Championships in team pursuit in Anadia, Portugal.
Following her transfer to the UK team in 2018, Knight was part of the Great Britain team that won the silver medal in team pursuit at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan. She is a World and double European champion in team pursuit, and in 2024 became European champion in individual pursuit, her first international title. She has won further silver and bronze medals for Great Britain in the World and European Championships, and at the European Games.
Representing England, Knight won bronze in team pursuit at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England.
Life
Knight was born in 1997 near Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire[1] but moved to Ireland shortly afterwards. She spent her childhood in Dingle, County Kerry, Ireland. She attended Scoil an Ghleanna Primary School and Pobalscoil Chorca Dhuibhne Secondary School in Dingle. She said that she became a cyclist for Ireland as a youth but decided to transfer to the UK to further enhance her cycling career.
Knight switched from Ireland to Great Britain in 2018. She did so as she felt that she could better progress her cycling career in the UK. At that time Ireland had no prospects of entering a team for Olympics 2020 and neither had they an indoor Velodrome to train on. Knight became British champion when winning the Individual Pursuit Championship at the 2020 British National Track Championships.[3]
