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Tuesday, May 13
The Indiana Daily Student

sports little 500

Judah Thompson set on reclaiming top spot in 2025 Little 500

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After outracing Delta Tau Delta by .133 seconds and claiming the 2023 Little 500 championship, CUTTERS then-freshman rider Judah Thompson and his teammates looked to repeat their success in 2024 race.  

However, the team underwent changes in 2024 after graduating a pair of senior riders. As a result, CUTTERS fell short during Thompson’s sophomore season, earning a second-place finish behind Black Key Bulls. After missing out on back-to-back victories, Thompson, now a junior, and his teammates have a shot at redemption in this year’s event and reclaiming the Little 500 championship.  

Inspired by the 1979 Academy Award-winning film, “Breaking Away,” CUTTERS has been an integral part of the Little 500 experience, owning an event-record 15 championships and establishing itself as a premier team since its debut in 1984.  

Throughout his first two years at IU, Thompson’s speed around the track served as a valuable and consistent piece of the historic team. In this year's men's individual time trials, Thompson blazed to a 2:21:91 time, finishing in second place in the event for the second consecutive year. 

Since graduating from Harmony School in Bloomington, Thompson has had his eyes set on competing in the Little 500. 

“The Little 500 is my primary goal and it has been since the summer I graduated high school,” Thompson said. “I do other racing outside of Little 500 like crits and track but all in the aim of making me a little fiver.”  

Despite his determination to compete in the “World’s Greatest College Weekend,” cycling has not always been Thompson’s main sport.  

After participating in competitive swimming for 14 years, Thompson began cycling to stay active while the pools were shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.  

During his junior year of high school, Thompson helped launch a local junior development cycling team with a few of his friends. From there, he developed a passion. Through cycling, he began to meet new people with a shared interest in the sport, sparking his desire to compete in the Little 500.  

Thompson’s preparation for the acclaimed event involves a year-round commitment. Over the summer, his training primarily takes place on roads and with criterium races –– a type of cycling race that involves a closed circuit in addition to short and fast-paced laps.  

Even though this type of practice differs from racing on an actual track, it still offers Thompson valuable cycling experience and allows him to refocus on the Little 500 race.  

“That preparation is just all-year round and once the track opens, it’s all Little 500 focus from there,” Thompson said. “I’m not doing as much mileage on the road with the volume nor am I racing on the road too much. So, once I get on the track, it’s just all track focus both mentally and physically.” 

While training and staying in cycling shape during the summer is pivotal, CUTTERS head coach Jim Kirkham notes that Thompson has improved upon other basic necessities in daily preparation since his freshman year. 

“Since his freshman year he’s been backfilling some of the details and it’s fixing him into a more well-rounded and consistent cyclist,” Kirkham said. “So, his consistency has gotten a lot better. He’s taking care of himself better, focusing more on the details like recovery, eating well, sleeping well. This comes with maturity from an 18-year-old to a 21-year-old.” 

However, due to a lack of depth in 2024, Thompson’s team was forced to race defensively and felt a lack of control over the race.  

“We’d rather deliver the blows than go with the blows,” Thompson said. “So, this year we plan on delivering them rather than just going with them because we got a good group of 10 guys this year who have been training all year round and doing all the necessary stuff to be good on race day.” 

This year, Thompson and his teammates hope their year-round training allows them to reclaim the title as familiar faces in the crowd cheer them on to bring a 16th Little 500 championship to CUTTERS.  

To reclaim their top spot, Thompson and CUTTERS will have to improve upon their 2:31:873 men’s qualification time in this year’s event, which earned the team 12th place overall.  

Kirkham maintains faith that his team will enter this year’s competition with heightened attention and put up a competitive fight. 

“But we just need to pay a lot more attention this year and not let gaps open up on race day,” Kirkham said. “If we do that, we will be really competitive and have a great chance at winning in the end.” 

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