Sammie Maxwell
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| Full name | Samara Louise Maxwell | ||||||||||||||
| Born | 27 December 2001 Taupō, New Zealand | ||||||||||||||
| Height | 168 cm (5 ft 6 in)[1] | ||||||||||||||
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| Disciplines | |||||||||||||||
| Role | Rider | ||||||||||||||
| Rider type | cross-country | ||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Samara Louise Maxwell (born 27 December 2001), generally known as Sammie Maxwell, is a cross-country cyclist from New Zealand. At the 2023 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships, she became the women's under-23 cross-country world champion.
Early life
Maxwell was born on 27 December 2001[2] in Taupō.[3] She received her schooling at Taupo Intermediate School[4] and Tauhara College.[5]
As a young woman, Maxwell suffered from an eating disorder that developed into relative energy deficiency in sport (RED-S); this was diagnosed during 2018. By early 2021, Maxwell was still on a reduced training programme to deal with reduced energy levels.[3]
Maxwell is now based in Wellington. She studied at Victoria University of Wellington, graduating with a bachelor's degree in biomedical sciences in 2023.[3][6] She aims to complete a PhD one day and work in cancer research.[3]
Cycling career
Maxwell got into mountain biking as an eight-year-old, inspired by her father who also got her brother riding.[7] She mainly competes in cross-country, but also races cyclo-cross and on the road.[1]
Maxwell competed at the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires, Argentina, alongside Phoebe Young in the combined team event; they came eighth.[3][8]
At the 2019 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships in Mont-Sainte-Anne, Canada, Maxwell came 14th in the junior cross-country race.[9]
At the August 2023 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships held in Scotland's Glentress Forest, Maxwell beat the two Swiss riders who had been seen as pre-race favourites: Ginia Caluori and Ronja Blöchlinger. In the world championship race, she held a lead from the beginning.[10] She is the first New Zealander to win the U23 world title.[11]
References
- ^ a b "Sammie Maxwell". New Zealand Olympic Committee. Retrieved 18 September 2023.
- ^ "Samara Maxwell". ProCyclingStats. Retrieved 18 September 2023.
- ^ a b c d e Rounce, Henry (19 April 2021). "Mountain bike champ's race against RED-S". Newsroom. Retrieved 18 September 2023.
- ^ Fullick, Milly (18 September 2023). "Waikato mountain bike rider becomes under-23 women's world champion". Waikato Herald. Retrieved 18 September 2023.
- ^ Marshall, Chris (29 July 2019). "Taupō's Sammie Maxwell has a mountain bike dream". Waikato Times. Retrieved 18 September 2023.
- ^ "Roll of graduates". Victoria University of Wellington. Retrieved 19 September 2023.
- ^ Shand, Matt (20 January 2016). "Super Sammie carving a reputation". Waikato Times. Retrieved 18 September 2023.
- ^ "Phoebe Young". New Zealand Olympic Committee. Retrieved 18 September 2023.
- ^ "Results – 2019 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships Junior XCO". Vital Media Network. Retrieved 18 September 2023.
- ^ "NZ's Sammie Maxwell wins world under-23 mountainbike championship". Stuff. 12 August 2023. Retrieved 18 September 2023.
- ^ "Sammie Maxwell wins historic U23 world mountain bike cross-country title". Cycling New Zealand. 12 August 2023. Retrieved 19 September 2023.