NZ’s Sammie Maxwell wins world under-23 mountainbike championship

New Zealand’s Sammie Maxwell crushed the field to win the gold medal in the women’s under-23 cross-country at the UCI Mountain Bike World Championships in Scotland on Saturday morning (NZ time).

The national champion became the first NZ female to claim the under-23 world title, winning by a minute at Glentress Forest near Peebles in the Scottish Borders.

The Wellington based rider from Taupo came into the championships on the back of two impressive podium performances in the UCI MTB World Cup, and took the challenge to pre-race Swiss favourites, Ginia Caluori and Ronja Blochlinger.

The 21-year-old attacked from the start to hold a narrow lead over Blochlinger after the first lap and from there stamped her authority over her opposition, building her advantage each lap. She was 30 seconds clear at the midway point and doubled that on the remaining six laps to win in 1:16.28, with 1:01 back to Calluori and a further 26 seconds to Blochlinger.

“It’s incredible. I’m speechless. Honestly from the start, six laps are a long time to tell yourself ‘I can do this, I can keep going’,” Maxwell said.

“It means so much. You spend your whole life thinking about what it takes, what you sacrifice to be the best in the world. This year I have focussed on being healthy, sustainable training, enjoying what I do. That’s what it takes, not sacrificing or missing anything or suffering – just being happy and loving what you do.”

Maxwell joins elite NZ stars Anton Cooper and Sam Gaze, who both won the under-23 world crown, although the super-climber was not as confident with the more benign climbs at Glentress.

“I didn’t think the course suited me coming in here. Louis (NZ MTB Academy coach, Louis Hamilton) helped me and it meant on race day I was able to recover, link everything up together and attack when it mattered and recover when I couldn’t.

“One hour 15 is a long time to tell yourself that you can keep going and I just had to keep believing in myself, count off the laps one by one and not think too far ahead.”

Earlier Christchurch rider Ethan Rose finished an impressive sixth in the under-23 men’s cross-country, working his way through the field with consistently fast lap times. He was in a pack of four riders with two laps remaining but upped his pace to claim sixth place, two minutes behind winner Charlie Aldridge of Great Britain.