The previous two summers could not have been extra totally different for Ella Maclean-Howell. Final yr, again dwelling in South Wales, the 19-year-old was ending her A-Ranges, having studied historical past, maths and the Welsh Baccalaureate. Now, she’s using her mountain bike on the Olympic Video games in Paris.
Few athletes can boast having made their Olympic debut as a young person. For Maclean-Howell, the youngest rider on Staff GB’s biking squad, hers has come “sooner than anticipated”.
“A primary Olympic Video games at 19. I am simply overwhelmed,” she stated following Sunday’s cross-country mountain bike occasion. The Brit completed twenty third within the race and, beneath the searing solar on the foot of Élancout Hill, could not cease smiling afterwards.
“The crowds have been unimaginable. There are such a lot of Brits right here that it virtually felt like a house Olympics for me.”
It was, in reality, a house Video games that first turned Maclean-Howell onto the game. In 2012, simply weeks earlier than her eighth birthday, she watched the mountain bike and monitor occasions on the London Olympics. She then signed as much as an outside velodrome session in Cardiff, the place she rode her bike off-piste, onto the grassy infield, and flipped over her handlebars. Nonetheless, she would not be deterred.
“I began with Maindy Flyers, and quite a lot of good riders have come from there, akin to Geraint Thomas and Elinor Barker,” she stated. “It is a good place to begin, and undoubtedly helped with my development.”
Maclean-Howell additionally saved good biking firm rising up in South Wales. “Me and Zoe [Bäckstedt] are tremendous shut,” she stated. At the moment, one is an Olympian, the opposite a former junior world champion throughout 4 disciplines.
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“We grew up in the identical city, principally. We went to high school collectively, rode collectively. It is a disgrace she will’t be right here, however she’s a extremely good buddy, and has undoubtedly pushed me all through my profession.
“It’s going to be so good if she will come to LA [Olympics in 2028], and hopefully, at that time, each of us might be going for medals.”
(Picture credit score: SWPix)
As Maclean-Howell moved up by way of the British Biking system, her expertise got here to the fore. She gained the junior cross-country mountain bike Nationwide Championships in 2022, earlier than taking back-to-back under-23 titles over the following two years. Then got here the Paris Olympics, and the largest race of her life.
“I got here in with not a lot of a plan, simply to empty myself, give my greatest and simply see the place I got here,” she defined. She did, in spite of everything, solely turn into a full-time bike owner final yr.
“Usually I am not racing with these ladies. Usually I am within the under-23 class, so to race at this stage is a brand new expertise, and virtually getting thrown in on the deep finish on the Olympic Video games. I am glad to carry my very own within the first few laps.”
Decided to achieve the end, Maclean-Howell ended up inserting because the final rider within the seven-lap race, 10 minutes down on the winner, France’s Pauline Ferrand-Prévot. Eleven different riders opponents have been, nevertheless, pulled from the sphere early.
When the Welshwoman crossed the road, she was met by her teammate, fifth-placed Evie Richards, who had waited with a cheery grin, and congratulated her with a hug. It was the identical heat welcome, {the teenager} stated, that she has felt all week residing within the GB squad home.
(Picture credit score: Getty Pictures)
“It has been so good being right here this week with Evie, Tom [Pidcock] and Charlie [Aldridge], who’re all simply unimaginable riders, and to have the ability to study from them has been so helpful, particularly coming into this race,” she stated. “I am simply satisfied. This set-up has been so good, and actually helped me be my greatest at the moment.”
Now an Olympian, A-Ranges really feel like a distant reminiscence for Maclean-Howell. Though, she admits, there are nonetheless some moments when she feels just like the child of the squad.
“When individuals discuss shopping for homes and stuff, that is a bit far-off for me,” {the teenager} laughed. “Aside from that, everybody’s welcomed me, and it’s been simply such a studying expertise.”
