British Cycling, home to the GB Cycling Team, has announced their selection of 25 riders for the 2010-2011 Olympic Academy Programme to prime many young exceptional athletes for further riding success.
Seven female riders have been picked for the Academy Programme which aims to develop riders aged 18 to 23 that are exceptional athletes with the clear potential to become world-class performers.
It is an ideal stepping stone for riders who are ready to win medals at World Championships and Olympics to reach the Podium programme of world class-performers with a track record of success at the highest levels. For women it holds Endurance, Sprint and Mountain Bike Cross-Country elements.
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Endurance riders Laura Trott, Hannah Mayho and Katie Colclough have been chosen alongside mountain bikers Annie Last and Lily Matthews and sprint cyclists Becky James and Jess Varnish to make for a hugely promising team of riders.
All well-regarded athletes in their own right, the programme looks to build on their previous achievements. Trott, as with many of the chosen cyclists, isn’t a rider to have risen from the shadows. She’s been a competitor at the forefront of many junior events and was the youngest cyclist in England’s Commonwealth Games team.
Joining her at this year’s Commonwealths was James who secured a silver in the individual sprint and bronze in the 500m time-trial, and, together with team-member Jess Varnish, won gold at the British track cycling championships.
As with the whole cycling programme, from Talent Team through to Olympic Podium Programme (senior GB team), there is a gradual move from skills training to physical conditioning and as riders progress they will find themselves experiencing the progressive workload increases that they will have to handle if they are to succeed at the very highest levels.
Performance Manager Shane Sutton said: “Our under-23 squad continues to strengthen and this year Alex Dowsett and Lucy Martin have both been signed up to professional road teams for next season.
“We’ve also got an interesting situation on the Women’s Endurance programme with all the girls now being focussed on the Endurance track events rather than the road.
“The three Academy girls will be coached by Paul Manning, with Simon Cope becoming more involved in the training programmes for our Women’s Podium Endurance athletes and also working closely with the ODP female endurance riders in bringing them up to the high standard of performance that the Academy requires.”
Jessica Whittington, Sportsister,
The Women’s Sports Magazine
