USA Cycling added three members to the Sports Performance staff. Craig Griffin is the new senior director of Track, Tanner Putt is the director of Road and German Medina is the BMX Racing National Team coach.
“With the addition of Griffin, Putt and Medina, the organization is in a great position as we quickly approach the Paris 2024 Olympic Games,” said Jim Miller, chief of Sport Performance, USA Cycling. “We are looking forward to growing our development programs as we look ahead to our home Olympic Games, as well as investing in the current talent pool to be ready to win medals at the upcoming UCI Cycling Worlds in Glasgow and the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.”
Griffin returned to USA Cycling in January 2023 as senior director of Track. He brings 33 years of elite coaching experience leading Track Endurance programs for USA Cycling, U.S. Paralympics, Canada, Japan National and Olympic Teams. He is an eight-time Olympic coach with numerous podium successes. In 1994, Griffin coached the U.S. Men’s Pursuit Team to its first World Championship medal. He led the U.S. Paralympic Team to win the cycling nations’ medal count at the London 2012 Paralympic Games and awarded Team USA’s highest coaching recognition award, the Order of Ikkos, as well as coaching athletes to Olympic medals for Canada (Rio 2016) and Japan (Tokyo 2020). Before his first national coaching job with USA Cycling in 1990, Griffin competed on the road and track teams for Team New Zealand.
Putt comes to USA Cycling after eight years as a professional road cyclist, five years of which were on the USA Cycling National Team. After racing, he went on to pursue directing domestic elite teams. In 2022, Tanner worked as the USA Cycling U23 National Team Director at Tour de l’Avenir and the Road World Championships in Wollongong. He became the full-time director of Road in January 2023. With his 15 years of combined competitive and coaching experience, Putt will support USA Cycling by growing the competitive opportunities for the next generation of riders and creating a deeper pool of talent in the U.S.
Medina recently joined the organization to run the USA Cycling BMX Racing National Team program. Medina has raced BMX since 1983 and pioneered science-based training in the early years of BMX Racing in Columbia. Medina worked for the Columbian Olympic Committee from 2007 to 2022, coaching the BMX Racing team since the sport’s Olympic debut in 2008. Over the past four Olympic Games, the Colombian BMX Team has raced to six Olympic medals under his guidance, including two gold medals won by Mariana Pajon. Medina will relocate from Bogota, Columbia, to Tulsa, OK, where he will help grow the next generation of BMX racers.
