Brian Duffy and Kristen Kulchinsky earn 2024 Elite Esports USA National titles alongside age-group masters and collegiate athletes.
In partnership with Echelon Racing Promotions and Zwift, USA Cycling crowned the 2024 Cycling Esports National Champions across multiple categories on January 6 and 7, 2024.
The Elite Nationals was a three-race omnium format consisting of a 16.2 km rolling route on the 2015 UCI Worlds Course, followed by an 8 km uphill individual time trial on the Bologna ITT Course featured in the 2019 Giro d’Italia prologue, and culminated with six laps of the 3.9 km Neokyo Crit Course for the final of three races.
In dominant fashion, the Men’s Elite title went to NeXT Esport pb Enshored’s Brian Duffy of Philadelphia, PA, winning two of the three races. Duffy edged out Restart pb Alex Coh’s Neal Fryett on the final climb up Governor’s Street in race one.
He erased a sizable gap to Restart’s young sensation Hayden “Farmwatts” Pucker on the stiff Bologna climb to finish with a four-second win in the race two individual time trial. Duffy narrowly missed the sweep in the final race, edged in a wheel throw by Fryett.
The 2024 USA Cycling Esports National Championship title went to Duffy, followed by Fryett, and David Talbott of Saris-NoPinz took the podium’s final step.
Duffy has been waiting for this moment, “Since I started competitively eCycling in 2020, I had hoped for a USAC-sanctioned National Championship on the Zwift platform. When they finally announced this would be the case in 2024, it immediately became my priority for the year. I put in significant specific training over the last couple of months to prepare me for the unique omnium format.”
He continued: “I was fortunate to have had one of my career’s best series of races. But I couldn’t have done it alone. My team, NeXT pb Enshored, was there throughout the day to support me and help position me to be at my best.”
They each punched their ticket to the 2024 UCI Cycling Esports World Championships on the cycling esports platform MyWhoosh this October.
The above is based on the USAC 2024 UCI Cycling Esports World Championship Athlete Selection Criteria published by USAC in November, 2023. Sources close to the situation indicate that the criteria are subject to change. The details will be updated when they become available.
Virginia’s Blue Ridge-Twenty24’s Kristen Kulchinsky of Montauk, NY, battled illness and a talented field of elite esports racers to take the Women’s Elite national jersey. Kulchinsky showed why she is one of the best climbers in the world, winning race one by a sizable six-second margin over NeXT’s Liz Van Houweling.
Wahoo le Col’s phenom Elyse Gallegos figured to factor into the finale until a broke quick release skewer ended her bid in race one. She rallied to win the race two ITT by 11 seconds over Kulchinsky. Race three played out perfectly for Kulchinsky when a three-rider group went up the road to take the proportion of the points.
“The last race was a chess match,” says Kulchinsky, “and we knew we played it perfectly when three racers went up the road with the big points. I am thrilled, excited, and honored to win the US National Esports title.”
Her sixth-place finish was enough to climb to the podium’s top step, with Van Houweling in second and Jenn Real of Saris-NoPinz taking third. They joined 2023 UCI Cycling Esports World Championship bronze medalist Jacqueline Godbe as automatic selections to represent the US in the 2024 edition.
The elite raced the omnium while racers contested the Collegiate National title on three laps of the Park Perimeter Loop (29.5 km).
In the Collegiate division, Fred Meredith (Indianapolis, Ind.; Marian University) rode his way to gold in the Men’s Collegiate category, while Megan Lester (Eagle River, Wisc.; Lindenwood University) became the new Women’s Collegiate National Champion.
Zwift’s simulated Central Park course was also the site of the Age Group Master’s National title races on January 6, 2024. The well-deserved titles were hard-fought.
| Women's Categories | Winner | Hometown | Team |
|---|---|---|---|
| 35-39 | Stefanie Sydlik | Pittsburgh, Penn. | Coalition Alpha |
| 40-44 | Emily Nyquist | Herndon, Virginia | Team RIOT |
| 45-49 | Jenn Real | Fredericksburg, Texas | Team RIOT |
| 50-54 | Theia Friestedt | Glenview, Ill. | Revolution Velo Racing/Fairlife Racing |
| 55-59 | Andi Smith | Bend, Ore. | |
| 60-64 | Jennifer Slawta | Medford, Ore. | Team Landshark |
| 65-69 | Sherry Berde Townsend | Mendota Heights, Minn. | NorthStar Development |
| 70-74 | Margaret Thompson | Clinton, N.Y. | Team Hammer Nutrition |
| 80-84 | Wendy Skean | Nathrop, Colo. | Team Hammer Nutrition |
Master’s racer and lifetime USA Cycling license-holder Pete Butler shared his perspective on the event, saying, “So many of my friends that are legacy USA Cycling license holders view virtual racing with a high degree of skepticism. It was nice to say how confident I was that the organizers have measures to ensure fair play for all the participants.”
| Men's Categories | Winner | Hometown | Team |
|---|---|---|---|
| 35-39 | Scott Catanzaro | Washington, D.C. | NeXT eSport pb Enshored |
| 40-44 | Jadon Jaeger | Wauwatosa, Wisc. | Restart Racing p/b Alex Coh |
| 45-49 | Mason Rocca | Evanston, Ill. | Restart Racing pb Alex Coh |
| 50-54 | Scott Cunningham | Salt Lake City, Utah | |
| 55-59 | David Henderson | Columbia, Miss. | World Elite Zwifters |
| 60-64 | Kevin Metcalfe | Pleasant Hill, Calif. | Creative Blue Racing |
| 65-69 | Jeffrey Moreton | San Gabriel, Calif. | SC Velo |
| 70-74 | Michael Kurtz | Lisle, Ill. | EMC2 |
| 75-79 | Scott Bulfinch | Lincoln, Neb. | Team KAOS |
| 80-84 | Dominic Rossetto | Grafton, Wisc. | Project Echelon Vanguard |
Butler continued: “For proof, just look at the results. It’s no surprise that Category 1 and 2 racers with winning IRL resumes filled the podiums. These are the very same people that would compete at the front of any traditional bike race.”
Eric Hill and his Echelon Racing Promotions team oversaw every aspect of the qualification and championship in partnership with the team at indieVelo. The group has set a standard for equipment requirements and is working with indieVelo for performance verification and governance.
Hill expressed pride in setting the performance verification standard and the event’s success.
“The USA Cycling Esports National Championships was an extremely rewarding experience for Echelon Racing Promotions, USA Cycling, and everyone involved in its production. We are incredibly proud to have promoted the largest Esports National Championship event in the history of Zwift and to have such a high level of competitive integrity throughout the competition.
We all know that esports has a bright future as a discipline in the cycling ecosystem. Events like this show what is possible, the level of professionalism these teams and athletes have, and the highly engaging content we can produce through it.”
Nathan Guerra’s Zwift Community Live broadcasted the Elite event, and it impacted co-host Dave Towle, who stated, “In my mind, this event was a turning point. The vibe, the format, the broadcast effort, and the race together created a synergy in the racing that I had never felt before. The afterglow of an event like the USA Cycling Esports National Championships is part of why I love the sport so much. These people rock!”
Hill echoed the sentiment: “In collaboration with Zwift Community Live, we put virtual racing front and center for the cycling community, with over 10k concurrent viewers tuning in across platforms to watch the events. The fact that we were able to make it an equitable and accessible competition for Masters categories and even several athletes with disabilities also shows what is possible through this dynamic discipline.”
Hill continued: “It’s just the beginning. We are just starting but have moved the needle on esports through our work with the Echelon Racing League and USA Cycling National Championships events this season.”
Zwift Community Live’s Guerra agreed, stating, “It’s a great start in the right direction for our sport! In a highly entertaining display, champions proved their grit as the best esports racers. A further highlight of this step forward is community partners winning as well.”
Guerra continued: “The more people and organizations allowed to invest their passion with real payoff from their hard work, the more this sport will thrive. We saw this from athletes to all the organizations coming together to pull this off! Kudos to everyone on an amazing 2024 kickoff with USA National Champs!”
That it was!
Semi-retired after more than 20 years as the owner and director of a private Orthopedic Physical Therapy practice, Chris now enjoys the freedom to dedicate himself to his passions—virtual cycling and writing.
Driven to give back to the sport that has enriched his life with countless experiences and relationships, he founded a non-profit organization, TheDIRTDadFund. In the summer of 2022, he rode 3,900 miles from San Francisco to his “Gain Cave” on Long Island, New York, raising support for his charity.
His passion for cycling shines through in his writing, which has been featured in prominent publications like Cycling Weekly, Cycling News, road.cc, Zwift Insider, Endurance.biz, and Bicycling. In 2024, he was on-site in Abu Dhabi, covering the first live, in-person UCI Cycling Esports World Championship.
His contributions to cycling esports have not gone unnoticed, with his work cited in multiple research papers exploring this evolving discipline. He sits alongside esteemed esports scientists as a member of the Virtual Sports Research Network and contributes to groundbreaking research exploring the new frontier of virtual physical sport. Chris co-hosts The Virtual Velo Podcast, too.
