From Marathon To Peloton

Former runner Leah Thorvilson was thrown in at the deep end of bike racing after winning the Zwift Academy series. Swapping sneakers for wheels wouldn’t be straightforward…

- Maria David

Leah Thorvilson was a gritty, ambitious long-distance runner. The American had won her hometown marathon in Little Rock, Arkansas, four years in a row, achieving a personal best of 2:37:26 in 2012. However, a string of injuries followed, leading to a bone graft operation and 12 weeks on crutches. No longer able to run, she began using a turbo trainer and for 2016 joined the Zwift Academy series of virtual races — the winner of which is offered a pro contract with Canyon-SRAM.

“Being confined to indoor training for two months, I saw the Zwift programme as a way to make the training tolerable, fun, and motivating,” Thorvilson recalls. “My aerobic fitness transferred to cycling very easily, but I had never thought what it might be like to be a professional cyclist.”

Almost by accident, she won the series and, just like that, secured a spot on Canyon-SRAM.

“It was like a dream come true. Suddenly I had the chance to be a professional athlete.” As a former runner, the learning curve was inevitably steep. “Until you’re in it, you can’t imagine everything that’s involved. I had the engine, but that alone wouldn’t make me a good cyclist.”