PARIS, France -- Former Big Red three-sport athlete Taylor Knibb '20 has qualified as a member of the U.S. Olympic Triathlon Team for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, France.

Knibb, who placed fifth in the World Triathlon Olympic Games Test Event in Paris, will be making her second career Olympics appearance for Team USA. In 2021, the Cornell graduate became the youngest U.S. woman to qualify for the U.S. Olympic Triathlon Team for the 2020 pandemic-delayed Tokyo Olympic Games in Japan. She would go on to place 16th in the event with a time of 2:00:59, a little more than five minutes behind gold medalist Flora Duffy from Bermuda. 

It was not easy for Knibb to earn the automatic qualification to Paris, as she was in 23rd place after the second transition. But once she hit the pavement, Knibb made her move, posting the third fastest 10k to shoot up 18 spots to finish with a final time of 1:52:04, five seconds behind third-place Laura Lindemann of Germany. 

"It was a strange race, but it checked a box. It's frustrating because the podium was right there and that could have changed some things (for U.S. Olympic team selection)," Knibb told USA Triathlon. "I was trying to use them (Lindemann and Lombardi), even if you don't get there, use them to keep drawing you forward." 

Knibb, the fifth-ranked female triathlon athlete, according to triathlon.com, was one of five U.S. athletes to finish in the top 20 of the event, the most of any country competing. 

With qualification out of the way, Knibb now has her sights on preparing for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, which begin with the opening ceremonies on July 26, 2024. Knibb will officially compete in the Women's Triathlon on July 31, 2024. The course will start and end on the Pont Alexandre III Bridge, consisting of a 1500m swim, a 40k bike course, and a 10k run.

Knibb was a three-sport athlete during her time for the Big Red, competing for the cross country, track and field, and swimming and diving teams. A first-team All-Ivy honoree in cross country, Knibb competed in the NCAA Cross Country National Championships twice, finishing 109th in 2018 and 125th in 2019. She also competed in multiple distance events for the track and field and swimming and diving teams, including the mile and 1000m freestyle.