Mari Holden

Mari Kim Holden (born March 30, 1971) is an American Olympic medalist and World Champion in the sport of cycling. She won a silver medal in the 2000 Olympic Games time trial in Sydney, Australia and the world time trial championship later that year. She also won six U.S. championships, becoming the first American woman to win three consecutive U.S. time trial championships (1998–2000) and scoring a double by winning the U.S. time trial and road championships in 1999. In 2016 she was inducted into the U.S. Bicycling Hall of Fame as a Modern Road and Track Competitor and presently works as a community director at USA Cycling.

Career Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Holden was a two-time member of the U.S. junior world triathlon team, and was named junior triathlete of the year in 1991 by the Triathlon Federation USA. That year she finished seventh in the junior triathlon world championship.

She began cycling with a club in high school as part of a fitness program centered on triathlon, and did not make competitive cycling her focus until 1992 when she moved to Colorado Springs and began training with the U.S. cycling team to improve her triathlon. She also transferred to University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, where she majored in philosophy.

After finishing sixth in the national time trial championship in 1993, Holden sat out much of 1994 with a compression fracture in her back. She came back the following two years, winning the time trial championship in 1995 and 1996.

The 1996 event was part of the trial to select members of the Olympic team. Selection was on overall performance in time trials and road races, and although Holden won both time trials, she did not fare so well in the road race and failed to qualify.

Holden raced in Europe. In 1999, she finished second in the Women's Challenge against an international field and in the top 10 in the Grande Boucle.

The following year, she won a silver medal at the Olympics, followed by a victory two weeks later in the world time trial championship in Plouay, France.

That year (2000), Holden was elected to the board of directors of USA Cycling and re-elected in 2004. She formerly served on the athletic advisory committee to the U.S. Olympic Committee and was athlete ambassador to the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency.

Holden coaches and holds cycling clinics and cycling camps as well as serves as a consultant on women's cycling issues and products. She was called one of the "greatest ambassadors in the sport of cycling" by Ride Magazine (March, 2008).

She joined the staff of USA Cycling in 2019 and is a community director, leading Let's Ride, a nationwide youth cycling program.

Career achievements Major results

1991 7th ITU Junior World Triathlon Championships

1995

1st John Stenner Memorial time trial 1st Louisville Criterium 1st Point Mogu Criterium 3rd Overall Women's Challenge 1 stage win 3rd Redlands Bicycle Classic National record — time trial: 51 minutes, 36.24 seconds

1996

1st Overall 89er stage race 2 stage wins 1st US Olympic Trials Time Trial #1 Bohemia Crystal Tour 2 stage wins 2nd Overall Tour of Tucson 1 stage win 2nd Can/Pro Cycling Series

1997 1st Overall Red River Classic Stage Race 1st Meridian Bicycle Classic National Road Championships 2nd Road race 2nd Time trial 7th Time trial, UCI Road World Championships

1998

1st Overall Street Skills Stage Race 1 stage win 1st Overall Redlands Bicycle Classic 1st Mountains classification Women's Challenge 2nd Vuelta International a Majorca Feminas 3rd Grand Prix des Nations 7th Time trial, UCI Road World Championships

1999 National Road Championships

2nd Overall Women's Challenge 1st Mountains classification 1st Stage 3 2nd Trofeo Alfredo Binda-Comune di Cittiglio 4th Overall Street Skills Stage Race 7th Overall Tour de Snowy 1st Stage 2 (ITT) 8th Overall Grande Boucle Féminine Internationale 8th La Flèche Wallonne Féminine

2000 – Timex

1st Overall Tour of the Gila 1st Overall Tour of Willamette 1st Stages 3 & 4 (ITT) 1st Mountains classification Thüringen Rundfahrt der Frauen 2nd Time trial, Olympic Games 2nd Overall Sea Otter Classic 4th Overall Tour de Snowy

2001 1st Mountains classification Giro d'Italia Femminile 2nd Time trial, National Road Championships 6th New Zealand World Cup

2002 8th Australia World Cup

2004 1st New York City Invitational

Awards 1991: United States Junior Triathlete of the Year

Personal Her last name was Holden-Paulsen while married as a young adult.