Finlay Graham (born 24 September 1999) is a British

racing cyclist Cycle sport is competitive physical activity using bicycles. There are several categories of bicycle racing including road bicycle racing, cyclo-cross, mountain bike racing, track cycling, BMX, and cycle speedway. Non-racing cycling spo ...

from Scotland who competes in

para-cycling Para-cycling (or paracycling/para cycling) is the sport of cycling (sport), cycling adapted for cyclists who have various disability, disabilities. It is governed by the (UCI). The sport consists of seven different events which include Road bicy ...

road and track events. He is classified as a C3 cyclist. He has represented

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

at two

Paralympic Games The Paralympic Games or Paralympics is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of disability, disabilities. There are Winter Paralympic Games, Winter and Summer Paralympic Games, which since the 1988 ...

: in

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

, he won silver medals in the track individual pursuit and in the road race. In

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, he again took a silver medal in the individual pursuit, but took his first Paralympic gold in the road race. Graham is a multiple-time British and World Champion across

road A road is a thoroughfare used primarily for movement of traffic. Roads differ from streets, whose primary use is local access. They also differ from stroads, which combine the features of streets and roads. Most modern roads are paved. Th ...

and track disciplines.

Early and personal life

Graham grew up in the

Scottish Borders The Scottish Borders is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. It is bordered by West Lothian, Edinburgh, Midlothian, and East Lothian to the north, the North Sea to the east, Dumfries and Galloway to the south-west, South Lanarkshire to the we ...

and later

Strathpeffer Strathpeffer () is a village and spa town in Ross and Cromarty, Highland, Scotland, with a population of 1,469. Geography It lies in a strath west of Dingwall, with the elevation ranging from above sea level. Sheltered on the west and north, ...

in the

Scottish Highlands The Highlands (; , ) is a historical region of Scotland. Culturally, the Highlands and the Scottish Lowlands, Lowlands diverged from the Late Middle Ages into the modern period, when Scots language, Lowland Scots language replaced Scottish Gae ...

. He attended nearby

Dingwall Academy Dingwall Academy is the largest secondary school in the Highlands of Scotland, with an enrolment of 1,048 pupils as of August 2018. The academy is situated in the centre of Dingwall and brings in pupils from Conon Bridge, Maryburgh, Muir of O ...

. He has a younger brother, Rory. Graham was born with bilateral

club feet Clubfoot is a congenital or acquired defect where one or both feet are rotated inward and downward. Congenital clubfoot is the most common congenital malformation of the foot with an incidence of 1 per 1000 births. In approximately 50% of ca ...

and has limited calf muscle and little-to-no movement in his ankles. In 2017, aged 18, Graham was diagnosed with the autoimmune disease

lupus Lupus, formally called systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), is an autoimmune disease in which the body's immune system mistakenly attacks healthy tissue in many parts of the body. Symptoms vary among people and may be mild to severe. Common ...

. He started mountain biking at a young age at Glentress. He later competed in the Strathpuffer – a 24-hour mountain bike race in Strathpeffer – several times, including racing it solo at the age of 16. In 2016, having watched the paracycling at the Rio Paralympic Games on television, Graham attended a

British Cycling British Cycling (formerly the British Cycling Federation) is the main national sport governing body, governing body for cycle sport in United Kingdom, Great Britain. It administers most competitive cycling in Great Britain, the Channel Islands a ...

talent identification day in

Derby Derby ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area on the River Derwent, Derbyshire, River Derwent in Derbyshire, England. Derbyshire is named after Derby, which was its original co ...

. He caught the attention of the coaches and was selected for the Great Britain Cycling Team development programme at the age of 17. He has lived and trained in

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

, the home of British Cycling, since 2018.

Career

2017

In 2017, Graham competed at his first National Para-cycling Road Championships, claiming the C3 road race title and finishing second in the C3

time trial In many racing sports, an sportsperson, athlete (or occasionally a team of athletes) will compete in a time trial (TT) against the clock to secure the fastest time. The format of a time trial can vary, but usually follow a format where each athle ...

. He additionally medalled in track cycling at the

Paracycling International Meeting in November, taking a silver medal in the mixed

team sprint The team sprint (also sometimes known as the Olympic sprint) is a track cycling event. Despite its name, it is not a conventional cycling sprint event – it is a three-rider team time trial held over three laps of a velodrome. The riders use a ...

alongside Blaine Hunt and Ben Watson.

2018

In 2018, Graham won his first national track cycling title in the C3

; he also took a silver medal in the C3

individual pursuit The individual pursuit is a track cycling event where two cyclists begin the race from a stationary position on opposite sides of the track. It is held at over for men and women. The riders start at the same time and set off to complete the rac ...

. At the National Road Championships in June he defended his road race title and again finished second in the time trial. His performances until this point meant that he was selected for his first Road World Championships, in

Maniago Maniago () is a town and (municipality) in the Regional decentralization entity of Pordenone, in the Friuli subregion of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, north-eastern Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, ...

, Italy, where he finished eighth in the C3 road race and eleventh in the C3 time trial. In an Instagram post shared on 19 October 2018, Graham shared that he had become a full-time professional cyclist with the British Cycling programme.

2019

Graham added two national track titles to his collection in 2019, winning golds in the C3 time trial and the C3 individual pursuit. At his debut Track World Championships in March, he finished fourth in the individual pursuit, fifth in the time trial and sixth in the

scratch race A scratch race is a track cycling race in which all riders start together and the objective is simply to be first over the finish line after a certain number of laps. UCI regulations specify that a scratch race should be held over 15 km for ...

. At the National Road Championships in July he again defended his road race title and took silver in the time trial.

2020

Though the cycling season was severely disrupted in 2020 by the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, the Track World Championships in Milton, Canada, in January were able to go ahead before restrictions were put in place. Graham left with similar results to 2019: fifth in the individual pursuit, sixth in the time trial, and seventh in the scratch race.

2021

Graham competed at the 2021 Road World Championships in

Cascais Cascais () is a town and municipality in the Lisbon District of Portugal, located on the Portuguese Riviera, Estoril Coast. The municipality has a total of 214,158 inhabitants in an area of 97.40 km2. Cascais is an important tourism in Port ...

, Portugal, coming away with a bronze in the road race. In the time trial he finished fifth. On 15 July 2021 Graham was announced as a member of the

ParalympicsGB The British Paralympic Association (BPA) is the National Paralympic Committee for ''Great Britain'' (GBR), and is responsible for the United Kingdom's participation in the Paralympic Games. The BPA select, prepare, enter, fund and manage the ...

cycling squad that would be competing at the postponed Tokyo Games. Here he medalled both in the velodrome and on the road, taking home silver medals in the

and the C1-3 road race. He was beaten to gold medals by his GB teammates in both events: by

Benjamin Watson Benjamin Seth Watson (born December 18, 1980) is an American former professional American football, football player who was a tight end in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Duke Blue Devils football, Duke B ...

on the road, and Jaco van Gass on the track. He additionally finished in a close fourth place in the C3 road time trial.

2022

He carried this success from his debut Paralympics through into the 2022 season. At the National Track Championships in March, he won the C3 time trial, the C3 individual pursuit and the C3 scratch race. He competed at two

UCI UCI most commonly refers to: * University of California, Irvine, a public university in Irvine, California, United States * Union Cycliste Internationale, the world governing body for the sport of cycling UCI may also refer to: * Uganda Cancer In ...

Para Road World Cup events – in

Ostend Ostend ( ; ; ; ) is a coastal city and municipality in the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It comprises the boroughs of Mariakerke, Raversijde, Stene and Zandvoorde, and the city of Ostend proper – the la ...

and Elzach – in May, winning both the C3 road race and C3 time trial at both events. At the UEC European Road Championships later that month, Graham won silver in the time trial and gold in the road race, making him a European Champion for the first time. He replicated these results later in the year at the Road World Championships in

Baie-Comeau Baie-Comeau () is a city in the Côte-Nord region of the province of Quebec, Canada. It is located on the shores of the St. Lawrence River, and is the seat of Manicouagan Regional County Municipality. It is near the mouth of the Manicouagan Ri ...

, Canada. At the National Road Championships, he did the double for the first time, winning the time trial and the road race. In October he competed at the Track World Championships in St-Quentin-en-Yvelines and took home four medals: three golds in the individual pursuit,

omnium An omnium (from Latin ''omnium'': of all, belonging to all) is a multiple race event in track cycling. Historically the omnium has had a variety of formats. In recent years, road racing has also adopted the term to describe multi-day races that f ...

and scratch race, and a silver in the time trial.

2023

Success continued for Graham on the road and track throughout his 2023 season. At the National Track Championships in January, he defended all three of his titles (in the time trial, individual pursuit and scratch race). He competed at every UCI Para Cycling Road World Cup meet, in Maniago, Ostend and

Huntsville Huntsville is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Alabama. The population of the city is estimated to be 241,114 in 2024, making it the 100th-most populous city in the U.S. The Huntsville metropolitan area had an estimated 525,465 ...

. He medalled in all six of his events (one time trial and one road race per meet), winning all but the Maniago road race, in which he took silver, beaten only by GB teammate Jaco van Gass. Van Gass would prove to be a consistent rival throughout the season. At the Track World Championships in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

in August, Graham won gold in the individual pursuit. He took silvers in the time trial, scratch race and omnium, each of which was won by Van Gass. At the Road World Championships in

Dumfries & Galloway Dumfries and Galloway (; ) is one of the 32 unitary council areas of Scotland, located in the western part of the Southern Uplands. It is bordered by East Ayrshire, South Ayrshire, and South Lanarkshire to the north; Scottish Borders to the no ...

a week later, Graham won the road race but was second in the time trial, which was narrowly won by

Matthias Schindler Matthias Schindler (born 28 March 1982) is a German para-cyclist who represented Germany at the 2020 Summer Paralympics. Career Schindler represented Germany in the men's road time trial C3 event at the 2020 Summer Paralympics The , bran ...

with a margin of less than two seconds.

2024

Graham competed at the 2024 National Track Championships in February, defending his individual pursuit title and taking silver in the time trial. The following month, at the Track World Championships in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

, he won three medals: a silver in the individual pursuit (beaten only by teammate and close rival Jaco van Gass) and two bronzes in the time trial and the omnium. On 22 July 2024 it was announced that Graham would be competing at the Paris Paralympic Games, his second Paralympics. He competed in one event in the

velodrome A velodrome is an arena for track cycling. Modern velodromes feature steeply banked oval tracks, consisting of two 180-degree circular bends connected by two straights. The straights transition to the circular turn through a moderate easement ...

, the C3 individual pursuit, and came away with a silver medal – GB teammate Van Gass won gold. On the road, Graham rode in both the C1-3 road race and the C3 time trial. In the time trial he finished sixth. Three days later, in the road race, he claimed his first Paralympic gold, beating Frenchman

Thomas Peyroton-Dartet Thomas Peyroton-Dartet (born 9 July 1985) is a French para-cyclist. Career Peyroton-Dartet began competing at the age of thirteen. He is the son of a police officer. In 2017, Peyroton-Dartet was the victim of a serious accident with a scooter wh ...

in a sprint to the finish line. At the Road World Championships in

Zurich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

later that month, Graham successfully defended his C3 world road race title and again won silver in the C3 time trial, bested only by Florian Bouziani. Graham was appointed

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(MBE) in the

2025 New Year Honours The 2025 New Year Honours are appointments by King Charles III among the 15 Commonwealth realms to Orders and decorations of the Commonwealth realms, various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The ...

for services to cycling.

Major results

;2017 :National Para-cycling Road Championships ::1st MaillotReinoUnido

C3 Road Race ::2nd Silver medal blank

C3 Time Trial ;2018 :National Para-cycling Track Championships ::1st MaillotReinoUnido

C3 Time Trial ::2nd Silver medal blank

C3 Individual Pursuit :National Para-cycling Road Championships ::1st MaillotReinoUnido

C3 Road Race ::2nd Silver medal blank

C3 Time Trial ;2019 :National Para-cycling Track Championships ::1st MaillotReinoUnido

C3 Time Trial ::1st MaillotReinoUnido

C3 Individual Pursuit :National Para-cycling Road Championships ::1st MaillotReinoUnido

C3 Road Race ::2nd Silver medal blank

C3 Time Trial ;2021 :

::2nd

C3 Individual Pursuit ::2nd Silver medal blank

C1-3 Road Race :

UCI Para-Cycling Road World Championships The UCI Para-cycling Road World Championships are the world championships for road cycling where athletes with a physical disability compete, organized by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI). The Championships were earlier administered by the ...

::3rd

C3 Road Race ;2022 :

UCI Para-Cycling Track World Championships The UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships are the world championships for track cycling where athletes with a physical disability compete, organized by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI). The Championships were earlier administered by ...

::1st