Jonathan
Copsey

Athlete Bio#

Career Highlights

2013: UCI Para-cycling Road World Championships, 4th (road race), 8th (time trial); UCI Para-Cycling Road World Cup – Matane, 4th (road race), 6th (time trial); UCI Para-Cycling Road World Cup – Cantimpalos, 4th (road race, time trial); USA Cycling Amateur & Para Road Nationals, 1st (road race, time trial), 2nd (criterium)

2012: UCI Para-cycling Road World Cup – Rome, 5th (road race), 7th (time trial); USA Cycling Elite Track Nationals, 2nd (road race, time trial); USA Cycling Juniors U23 Elite Road Nationals, 1st (criterium, road race), 2nd (time trial)

2011: UCI Para-cycling Road World Championships, 6th (road race), 19th (time trial); USA Cycling Paralympic Road Nationals, 1st (road race)

Quick Facts

Jonathan Copsey is a cowboy-turned-soldier-turned-cyclist. Having grown up in Carmel Valley, California, Copsey competed in rodeos throughout high school and college. During college, however, he felt compelled to enlist in the U.S. Marine Corps. While stationed at Camp Pendleton in 2008, Copsey was involved in a car accident that left him with a severe traumatic brain injury, migraines and memory loss.

Since he was unable to drive following his accident, he initially took up long-distance running as an alternate mode of transportation. Soon, though, Copsey became hooked on cycling through the Wounded Warrior Battalion and the Ride 2 Recovery Foundation. Mike Durner, military coach for the U.S. Paralympics Cycling program, met Copsey on a Wounded Warrior Ride and encouraged him to enter the 2011 National Championships. In Copsey’s first-ever national competition, he won the road race.

Since that first victory, Copsey has gone on to win two more national titles and earn three top-five world cup finishes. At the 2013 Road World Championships, he tied his best-ever result in international competition with a 4th-place finish in the road race.

Learn more:
U.S. Para Cycling