British Cycling has announced the riders who have been named as part of the Great Britain Cycling Team (GBCT) World Class Programme for the 2023/24 season.
In a pivotal year which will see riders go for gold at the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, a total of 133 riders will be supported by UK Sport through National Lottery funding, with an additional 16 Olympic Development Squad riders being supported by Talented Athlete Scholarship Scheme (TASS) funding.
Two new riders to the programme are paralympic tandem stoker Lizzi Jordan and C4 rider Archie Atkinson. who join the Paralympic Podium World Class Programme after breakthrough performances at the 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships, where each returned home with a rainbow jersey.
Riders who this year have progressed into the Podium squads include Charlie Aldridge, who stormed to his own world title in the under-23 men’s mountain bike cross-country race in the summer. He is joined by up-and-coming BMX freestyle park riders Sasha Pardoe, track sprinter Ed Lowe and female endurance rider Sophie Lewis. After a number of impressive results including a sixth-place finish at the 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships, we also welcome BMX freestyle park rider Jude Jones to the Podium programme.
Moving into the new season, the GBCT performance pathways have been renamed to better reflect the rider experience and expectations through each programme. The Senior Academy is now the Podium Potential Squad (PPS), with a goal of further developing riders to ensure they are equipped to compete for medals at world championships and Olympic Games in the future. The Junior Academy will now be known as the Olympic Development Squad (ODS) and is focused on developing the country’s best young riders, ensuring that they are ready for life as full-time athletes.
Podium Potential Squad
The nine riders who have moved up from ODS to the PPS are men’s endurance riders Ben Wiggins and Matthew Brennan who, amongst a number of other accolades, became junior men’s Madison world champions in 2023. Progressing alongside them are Jed Smithson (men’s endurance), Izzy Sharp (women’s endurance), Harry Radford (men’s sprint), Miller Temple (men’s BMX freestyle park), Holly Pipe (women’s BMX freestyle park), Max Greensill (men’s mountain bike cross-country) and Emily Carrick-Anderson (women’s mountain bike cross-country).
Callum Russell, Eddie Moore and Matthew Gilston will form the newly-created men’s BMX racing Podium Potential Squad, the latest stage of our commitment to developing a strong pathway of BMX racers. Michael Gill will also join the programme as part of the men’s endurance Podium Potential Squad.
Olympic Development Squad
This season sees 17 ODS riders welcomed onto the programme after being identified by the GBCT Pathway and British Cycling Talent teams and progressing through Regional and National Schools of Racing. as having the potential to be the next generation of great British riders.
The women’s endurance squad welcomes Arabella Blackburn, Lucy Glover, Abigail Miller, Erin Boothman and Evie Smith. Tom Morrissey, Adam Murray and Archie Gill join the men’s track sprint squad, while Max Standen and Evie Strachan and Madeline Moorhouse-Smith join the men’s and women’s mountain bike cross-country squads, respectively.
Tyler Wainwright and Alfie Crooker hope to follow in the footsteps of world champion Kieran Reilly as they join the BMX freestyle park programme, while young talent Elsa Rendall-Todd will be part of both the BMX racing and BMX freestyle park programmes, predominantly sitting in the freestyle park squad. Rounding out this year’s newcomers are BMX racers Harry Tanner, James Criddle and Sienna Harvey, who has already seen age group success on the international stage in the past 12 months.
Great Britain Cycling Team Performance Director, Stephen Park CBE, said: “The start of a new season always brings with it a level of excitement as we see riders taking their first steps into the world of elite sport as they step into the programme, developing through the programme or moving on to careers in other areas.
“As we head into an Olympic and Paralympic year, this is even more pertinent as our new recruits get to see up-close what it takes to become an Olympian or Paralympian through training alongside them.
“I have no doubt that riders in the 2023/24 Podium Potential and Olympic Development Squads will be stood atop an Olympic or Paralympic podium at the LA Games and beyond, but there is a huge amount of hard work and determination required before then, and this is where the work begins.”
