Sammie Maxwell
New Zealand cyclist (born 2001)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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. She also became the first New Zealand woman to win an Elite Worldcup Event at the opening round of the 2025 season at Araxa.
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Taupō, New Zealand
Maxwell in 2024 | |||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Samara Louise Maxwell | ||||||||||||||
| Born | 27 December 2001 Taupō, New Zealand | ||||||||||||||
| Height | 168 cm (5 ft 6 in)[1] | ||||||||||||||
| Team information | |||||||||||||||
| Disciplines | Mountain biking | ||||||||||||||
| Role | Rider | ||||||||||||||
| Rider type | cross-country | ||||||||||||||
| Major wins | |||||||||||||||
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Medal record
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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]
In 2018, Maxwell was diagnosed as suffering from relative energy deficiency in sport (RED-S) which developed from an eating disorder earlier in her career. In early 2021, Maxwell was on a reduced training programme to deal with reduced energy levels.[3]
Maxwell is 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 began 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]
Maxwell was not selected by Cycling New Zealand for the 2024 Summer Olympics. She took a case against the sporting body with the Sports Tribunal of New Zealand, who ruled that Cycling New Zealand "is taking a discriminatory attitude towards athletes who have eating disorders". The tribunal further found that the sporting body had made its decision based on inaccurate and outdated medical information that had not been shared with Maxwell, who therefore had no ability to have the information corrected. As the tribunal's decision was made on 15 July 2024, they said there was insufficient time to refer the case back to Cycling New Zealand, and ruled for Maxwell to be nominated for the Olympic women's cross-country event.[12] At the Paris Olympics Maxwell finished eighth.[13]
At the Araxa leg of the UCI World cup Maxwell placed second in the short track event and first in the Cross Country Olympic, becoming the first New Zealand woman to win a World Cup event.[14]
Major results
Mountain bike
- 2018
- 1st
Cross-country, National Junior Championships - 2019
- 1st Cross-country, National Junior Championships
- 2nd
Cross-country, Oceania Junior Championships - 2020
- 2nd Cross-country, Oceania Under-23 Championships
- 2nd Cross-country, National Championships
- 2021
- 1st Cross-country, National Championships
- 2022
- National Championships
- 1st Cross-country
- 1st Eliminator
- 1st Marathon
- 1st
- 2023
- 1st
Cross-country, UCI World Under-23 Championships - 2nd Cross-country, Oceania Championships
- National Championships
- 1st Eliminator
- 2nd Marathon
- 1st
- 3rd Overall UCI Under-23 XCO World Cup
- 1st Les Gets
- 1st Snowshoe
- 2nd Leogang
- 2nd Val di Sole
- 4th Pal–Arinsal
- 5th Mont-Sainte-Anne
- UCI Under-23 XCC World Cup
- 2nd Pal–Arinsal
- 2nd Les Gets
- 2nd Snowshoe
- 2nd Mont-Sainte-Anne
- Ökk Bike Revolution
- 3rd Huttwil
- 2024
- 1st
Cross-country, Oceania Championships - National Championships
- 1st Cross-country
- 1st Marathon
- 1st Short track
- 2nd Eliminator
- 1st
- French Cup
- Swiss Bike Cup
- 1st Leysin
- 2025
- Oceania Championships
- 1st Cross-country
- 1st Short track
- 1st
- National Championships
- 1st Cross-country
- 1st Short track
- 1st
- 1st
Overall UCI XCO World Cup
- 1st Araxá I
- 1st Pal–Arinsal
- 2nd Araxá II
- 2nd Nové Město
- 2nd Leogang
- 2nd Val di Sole
- 2nd Mont-Sainte-Anne
- 3rd Les Gets
- 3rd Lake Placid
- 2nd
Cross-country, UCI World Championships - UCI XCC World Cup
- 2026
- 5th Cross-country, UCI World Championships
