Toddler bikers from around the world race in Salt Lake City

Little racers at the 2017 Strider Cup World Championship.

(Image credit: Courtesy of Strider Bikes.)

last updated 25 July 2017

Last weekend in Salt Lake City, some of the world's youngest bike riders faced off in the 2017 Strider Cup World Championship.

100 2-year olds are underway!! @danonewave @intermountain @competitivecyclist @chickfila @thecolorrunA post shared by Strider Bikes (@striderbikes) on Jul 22, 2017 at 8:46am PDT

Toddler balance-bike racing is "the country's cutest sport," Strider Bikes said, and nearly 400 racers, from 18 months to 5 years old, participated in the championship. They came from all over the United States, plus 14 countries, including Japan, Australia, Thailand, Tahiti, and Sweden, taking on a 750-foot course filled with obstacles, water features, and ramps. This year, each division was won by a Japanese racer — Kaisei Nishimura won the 2-and-under class; Raito Kaneko finished first in the 3-year-old class; Taiga Kuwahara was on top for the 4-year-old class, and Waku Kunitate won the 5-year-old class.

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

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