'Thrown in at the deep end' - Meet the youngest cyclist on Team GB's Olympic squad

The past two summers couldn't have been more different for Ella Maclean-Howell. Last year, back home in South Wales, the 19-year-old was finishing her A-Levels, having studied history, maths and the Welsh Baccalaureate. Now, she's riding her mountain bike at the Olympic Games in Paris. 

Few athletes can boast having made their Olympic debut as a teenager. For Maclean-Howell, the youngest rider on Team GB's cycling squad, hers has come "earlier than expected".

"A first Olympic Games at 19. I'm just overwhelmed," she said following Sunday's cross-country mountain bike event. The Brit finished 23rd in the race and, under the searing sun at the foot of Élancout Hill, couldn't stop smiling afterwards. 

"The crowds were incredible. There are so many Brits here that it almost felt like a home Olympics for me."

It was, in fact, a home Games that first turned Maclean-Howell onto the sport. In 2012, just weeks before her eighth birthday, she watched the mountain bike and track events at the London Olympics. She then signed up to an outdoor velodrome session in Cardiff, where she rode her bike off-piste, onto the grassy infield, and flipped over her handlebars. Still, she wouldn't be deterred. 

"I started with Maindy Flyers, and a lot of good riders have come from there, such as Geraint Thomas and Elinor Barker," she said. "It's a good place to start, and definitely helped with my progression."

Maclean-Howell also kept good cycling company growing up in South Wales. “Me and Zoe [Bäckstedt] are super close,” she said. Today, one is an Olympian, the other a former junior world champion across four disciplines. 

"We grew up in the same town, basically. We went to school together, rode together. It's a shame she can't be here, but she's a really good friend, and has definitely pushed me throughout my career.

"It'll be so good if she can come to LA [Olympics in 2028], and hopefully, at that point, both of us could be going for medals." 

As Maclean-Howell moved up through the British Cycling system, her talent came to the fore. She won the junior cross-country mountain bike National Championships in 2022, before taking back-to-back under-23 titles over the next two years. Then came the Paris Olympics, and the biggest race of her life. 

"I came in with not much of a plan, just to empty myself, give my best and just see where I came," she explained. She did, after all, only become a full-time cyclist last year. 

"Normally I'm not racing with these girls. Normally I'm in the under-23 category, so to race at this level is a new experience, and almost getting thrown in at the deep end at the Olympic Games. I'm happy to hold my own in the first few laps."

Determined to reach the finish, Maclean-Howell ended up placing as the last rider in the seven-lap race, 10 minutes down on the winner, France's Pauline Ferrand-Prévot. Eleven other riders were, however, pulled from the field early. 

When the Welshwoman crossed the line, 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 same warm welcome, the teenager said, that she has felt all week living in the GB squad house. 

"It's been so good being here this week with Evie, Tom [Pidcock] and Charlie [Aldridge], who are all just incredible riders, and to be able to learn from them has been so useful, especially coming into this race," she said. "I'm just chuffed. This set-up has been so good, and really helped me be my best today." 

Now an Olympian, A-Levels feel like a distant memory for Maclean-Howell. Although, she admits, there are still some moments when she feels like the baby of the squad. 

"When people talk about buying houses and stuff, that's a bit far away for me," the teenager laughed. "Other than that, everyone's welcomed me, and it’s been just such a learning experience."