Elinor Jane Barker (born 7 September 1994) is a Welsh road and track

racing cyclist Cycle sport is competitive physical activity using bicycles. There are several categories of bicycle racing including road bicycle racing, cyclo-cross, mountain bike racing, track cycling, BMX, and cycle speedway. Non-racing cycling s ...

, who last rode professionally on the road for

UCI Women's Team A UCI Women's Team is a women's road bicycle team sanctioned by the International Cycling Union ( UCI). These teams compete in the major women's bicycle races including the UCI Women's Road World Cup and the team time trial for trade teams at the ...

. Representing

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It i ...

in international competitions, Barker is an Olympic champion, a two-time World champion and seven-time European champion in the team pursuit, as well as a three-time World champion in the points and scratch races, a two-time European Madison champion and one time European Elimination race champion. Representing Wales, Barker was also the 2018 Commonwealth Games Points race champion. Barker was appointed

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(MBE) in the

2017 New Year Honours The 2017 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours were awarded as part of the New Year celebrati ...

for services to cycling. She is the older sister of fellow international cyclist Megan Barker.

Career

Early life

Elinor Jane Barker from

Heath, Cardiff Heath ( cy, Y Mynydd Bychan) is a district, community and coterminous electoral ward in the north of Cardiff, capital of Wales. It is a predominantly affluent area with property prices being the third highest in the city. The area is known for ...

, is the daughter of Graham Barker, deputy headteacher at St Julian's Comprehensive School in Newport. She has two older siblings, Joe and Harri and a sister, Megan, three years her junior and also a successful racing cyclist. She attended Llanishen High School.

Junior career

Barker took up cycling with the Maindy Flyers at the age of 10, as a way of getting out of swimming classes. Taking the title at the

British National Track Championships The British National Track Championships are held annually and organised by British Cycling (formerly the British Cycling Federation). The main events are various track cycling disciplines for elite athletes to determine the British national cha ...

, Barker broke the under-16 British record in the pursuit, previously held by

Nicole Cooke Nicole Denise Cooke, MBE (born 13 April 1983) is a Welsh former professional road bicycle racer and Commonwealth, Olympic and World road race champion. At Beijing in 2008 she became the first British woman to win a Gold Olympic medal in an ...

. She was recruited into

British Cycling British Cycling (formerly the British Cycling Federation) is the main national governing body for cycle sport in Great Britain. It administers most competitive cycling in Great Britain, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. It represents Bri ...

's Olympic Development Academy, but remained based in Wales until she completed her A-levels in 2013, after which she moved to Manchester to train full-time at

Manchester Velodrome Manchester Velodrome is an indoor Olympic-standard cycle-racing track in Manchester, England, which opened in 1994. Part of the National Cycling Centre, the facility has been home to British Cycling since 1994, coinciding with the nations rise t ...

. She became the Junior Time Trial world champion in 2012, completing the course in Valkenburg, Netherlands in 22 minutes and 26.29 seconds, beating

Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (born 23 August 1995) is a Danish professional road cyclist, who currently rides for UCI Women's WorldTeam . Career As a junior, she competed at the 2012 UCI Road World Championships and the 2013 UCI Road World Champion ...

of Denmark by 35.87 seconds. Subsequently, Barker was named Carwyn James Junior Sportswoman of the Year at the

BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year The BBC Cymru Wales Sports Personality of the Year is a televised sporting competition, broadcast on BBC Two every year; and the most prestigious annual Sport in Wales, sport award in Wales. It was first awarded in 1954, and is currently organise ...

awards in 2012.

Professional career

In 2013, she became a senior world champion for the first time as a member of the

team pursuit The team pursuit is a track cycling event similar to the individual pursuit, except that two teams, each of up to four riders, compete, starting on opposite sides of the velodrome. Race format Both men's and women's events are competed over ...

squad at the

UCI Track World Championships The UCI Track Cycling World Championships are the set of world championship events for the various disciplines and distances in track cycling. They are regulated by the Union Cycliste Internationale. Before 1900, they were administered by the UCI ...

. Barker represented

Wales at the Commonwealth Games Wales is one of six countries to have competed in every Commonwealth Games since 1930, the others being Australia, Canada, England, New Zealand and Scotland. At the Commonwealth Games, Wales takes part as a separate entity, as in the Six Nations R ...

in Glasgow, 2014, winning silver and bronze medals. In September 2014 it was announced that Barker would follow in the footsteps of teammate Laura Trott and join the team for 2015. At her home world championships in London, Barker was part of the pursuit team along with Ciara Horne,

Joanna Rowsell Shand Joanna Katie Rowsell MBE (born 5 December 1988) is a retired English cyclist on the Great Britain Cycling Team who competed on track and road. Her greatest successes were the gold medals won in the women's team pursuit at the 2012 London Olym ...

and Trott to claim the bronze medal; after a disappointing qualifying ride. At the 2016 Olympic Games, Barker along with

Katie Archibald Katie Archibald, (born 12 March 1994) is an elite Scottish and British Cycle sport, racing cyclist, specialising in endurance track cycling events in which she represents British Cycling, Great Britain and Scotland. A member of the Great Brita ...

, Rowsell Shand and Trott claimed the gold medal in the team pursuit in a world record time of four minutes and 10.236 seconds. Returning to the track after the Olympics, Barker claimed the silver medal at the European Championships. Barker followed this by winning the points race at the world cup in Apeldoorn. Barker then claimed the title at the

Six Days of Amsterdam The Six Days of Amsterdam ( nl, Zesdaagse van Amsterdam) is a Six-day racing, six-day track cycling race held at the Amsterdam Velodrome in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The recordholder for the Six Days of Amsterdam is the Dutch cyclist Danny Stam ...

. Barker closed 2016 with success in the national Madison championships alongside

Laura Kenny Dame Laura Rebecca Kenny, Lady Kenny ( Trott; born 24 April 1992) is a British track and road cyclist who specialises in track endurance events, specifically the team pursuit, omnium, scratch race, elimination race and madison disciplines. Wi ...

. Starting 2017 Barker finished second in the ominium event and third in the scratch race at the national championships. Barker finished an impressive third in the points race at the world cup event in Los Angeles, despite having just 15 minutes rest after the Madison event. At the Six days series final, despite not winning a race in Mallorca, Barker won the title. At the World Championships, Barker claimed two silver medals, one in the scratch race and the other in the Madison alongside Emily Nelson. Barker went on to win her first individual world title in the points race. For the 2018 season Barker decided to join , and joined for 2019, after folded. At the 2018 Commonwealth Games on the

Gold Coast Gold Coast may refer to: Places Africa * Gold Coast (region), in West Africa, which was made up of the following colonies, before being established as the independent nation of Ghana: ** Portuguese Gold Coast (Portuguese, 1482–1642) ** Dutch G ...

, Australia, Barker took the gold in the

points race A points race is a mass start track cycling event involving large numbers of riders simultaneously on track. It was an Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 18 ...

for Wales, ahead of Scots Katie Archibald and Neah Evans. Barker's win was the first Commonwealth Games title for a Welsh track cyclist since 1990. Later that year she was part of the Team GB squad that took the gold in the

at the

European Track Championships The European Track Cycling Championships are a set of elite level competition events held annually for the various disciplines and distances in track cycling, exclusively for European cyclists, and regulated by the European Cycling Union (UEC ...

on home ground in Glasgow. At the 2019 Track Cycling World Championships in

Pruszków Pruszków ( yi, ‏פּרושקאָוו) is a city in east-central Poland, situated in the Masovian Voivodeship since 1999. It was previously in Warszawa Voivodeship (1975–1998). Pruszków is the capital of Pruszków County, located along t ...

, Barker won the rainbow jersey in the

scratch race A scratch race is a track cycling race in which all riders start together and the objective is simply to be first over the finish line after a certain number of laps. UCI regulations specify that a scratch race should be held over 15 km for ...

, her first world title in that discipline. At the 2020 Track Cycling World Championships in Berlin, Barker won the gold in the

on the final day of the championships, taking Team GB's only title of the meeting. She was also part of the team that took silver in the

. Later that year Barker took two titles at the

, one as part of the

squad alongside Katie Archibald, Neah Evans, Laura Kenny and

Josie Knight Josie Knight (born 29 March 1997) is an English professional racing cyclist who has represented Great Britain and England since 2018. Knight was part of the Great Britain team that won the silver medal in team pursuit at the 2020 Summer Olympics ...

, and an individual gold in the

elimination race Elimination races or "snap-dragon" races in bicycle racing are a form of race wherein during the course of the race, certain participants are eliminated through various criteria. The most common types of elimination races are the miss and out and ...

. In 2021, Barker was part of the British team that won silver in the women's team pursuit at the delayed

Tokyo 2020 Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the 1 ...

. During the Games she signed a two-year deal to join the Uno-X team from 2022.

Personal life

Barker revealed in 2019 that she was suffering from endometriosis, which nearly caused her to retire, as well as potentially affecting her chances of having a child. In October 2021 Barker announced that she was pregnant, and had been so when she competed in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

Major results

Track

;2011 : National Junior Championships ::1st MaillotReinoUnido

Individual pursuit ::2nd Silver medal blank

Scratch race : 2nd Silver medal blank

Individual pursuit, UEC European Junior Championships ;2012 : UEC European Junior Championships ::1st UEC Champion Jersey

Individual pursuit ::1st UEC Champion Jersey

Team pursuit (with

Lucy Garner Lucy May van der Haar (née Garner; born 20 September 1994) is a British former professional racing cyclist, who rode professionally between 2013 and 2020 for the , and teams. Van der Haar is a double junior world road race champion, winning ...

and

Amy Roberts Amy Rose Roberts (born 24 December 1994) is a Welsh racing cyclist, who last rode for UCI Women's Team . Career Born in Llanelli, Roberts was brought up in Pontyberem. She attended Queen Elizabeth High School, Carmarthen. Roberts took up triathl ...

) : 2nd

Team pursuit, 2012–13 UCI World Cup, Cali :

UCI Junior World Championships The UCI Juniors World Championships were a set of UCI World Championships events for junior bicycle cyclists in 2005 to 2009. In 2010 it was divided into: *The Junior men's road race at the UCI Road World Championships *The UCI Juniors Track Worl ...

::2nd

Omnium ::2nd Silver medal blank

Individual pursuit ::3rd Bronze medal blank

Team pursuit ;2013 : 1st Jersey rainbow

Team pursuit The team pursuit is a track cycling event similar to the individual pursuit, except that two teams, each of up to four riders, compete, starting on opposite sides of the velodrome. Race format Both men's and women's events are competed over ...

UCI World Championships The UCI world championships are annual competitions promoted by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) to determine world champion cyclists. They are held in several different styles of racing, in a different country each year. Championship winne ...

: 1st

Team pursuit, UEC European Championships : UEC European Under-23 Championships ::2nd Silver medal blank

Individual pursuit ::2nd Silver medal blank

Points race : 3rd Bronze medal blank

Team pursuit, 2012–13 UCI World Cup, Aguascalientes ;2014 : 1st Jersey rainbow

: 2014–15 UCI World Cup ::1st Gold medal blank

Team pursuit, Guadalajara ::1st Gold medal blank

Team pursuit, London ::3rd Bronze medal blank

Points race, London : 1st UEC Champion Jersey

, UEC European Championships : Revolution ::1st Scratch Race – Round 3, Manchester ::2nd Points Race – Round 2, Manchester ::3rd Points Race – Round 3, Manchester ::3rd Scratch Race – Round 4, Manchester : 1st MaillotReinoUnido

Team pursuit, National Championships (With Dani King, Joanna Rowsell and Laura Trott) :

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the exce ...

::2nd

Points race A points race is a mass start track cycling event involving large numbers of riders simultaneously on track. It was an Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 18 ...

::3rd

Scratch race A scratch race is a track cycling race in which all riders start together and the objective is simply to be first over the finish line after a certain number of laps. UCI regulations specify that a scratch race should be held over 15 km for ...

;2015 : 1st European champion jersey 2014

, UEC European Championships :Revolution ::1st Points Race – Round 6, Manchester ::1st Scratch Race – Round 3, Manchester ::2nd Points Race – Round 3, Manchester : 2nd Silver medal blank

: 3rd

Team pursuit, 2015–16 UCI World Cup, Cali ;2016 : 1st Gold medal olympic

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a vari ...

: 2016–17 UCI World Cup ::1st Gold medal blank

Points race,

Apeldoorn Apeldoorn (; Dutch Low Saxon: ) is a municipality and city in the province of Gelderland in the centre of the Netherlands. It is located about 60 km east of Utrecht, 60 km west of Enschede, 25 km north of Arnhem and 35 km south of Zwolle. Th ...

::2nd

Team pursuit, Hong Kong : 1st Omnium,

: 1st

Madison Madison may refer to: People * Madison (name), a given name and a surname * James Madison (1751–1836), fourth president of the United States Place names * Madison, Wisconsin, the state capital of Wisconsin and the largest city known by this ...

, National Championships (with

) : 2nd

, UEC European Championships :Revolution Series ::2nd Points Race – Round 1, Manchester ::2nd Points Race – Round 5, Manchester :Revolution Champions League ::2nd Points Race, Round 2 – London ::3rd Omnium, Round 1 – Manchester ::3rd Points Race, Round 1 – Manchester ::3rd Scratch Race, Round 2 – London : 3rd Bronze medal blank

;2017 :

::1st

::2nd

(with Emily Nelson) : UEC European Championships ::1st European champion jersey 2016

(with

Ellie Dickinson Eleanor May "Ellie" Dickinson (born 4 June 1998) is an English road and track cyclist, who last rode for UCI Women's Team , and represents Great Britain at international competitions. As a junior, she competed at the 2015 UCI Road World Champi ...

) ::2nd

: 2017–18 UCI World Cup ::1st Madison, Manchester ::1st Team Pursuit, Manchester ::2nd silver medal blank

Madison,

(with Emily Nelson) : 1st Omnium, Six Day Final, Mallorca : National Track Championships ::2nd Silver medal blank

Omnium ::3rd Bronze medal blank

Scratch race : 3rd Scratch Race, Revolution Series – Champions League – Round 1, London ;2018 : 1st European champion jersey 2016

UEC European Track Championships The European Track Cycling Championships are a set of elite level competition events held annually for the various disciplines and distances in track cycling, exclusively for European cyclists, and regulated by the European Cycling Union (UEC ...

: 1st

, National Championships (with

) : 2nd Scratch Race, Revolution Series – Champions League – Round 3, Manchester ;2019 : 1st Jersey rainbow

;2020 : 1st Jersey rainbow

::1st

Elimination race Elimination races or "snap-dragon" races in bicycle racing are a form of race wherein during the course of the race, certain participants are eliminated through various criteria. The most common types of elimination races are the miss and out and ...

::1st

(with Katie Archibald, Neah Evans, Laura Kenny and Josie Knight) ;2021 : 2nd Silver medal olympic

Road

;2011 : 1st Stratford-upon-Avon Team Series : 1st Stage 1 Essex Giro : 2nd Silver medal blank

Time trial, UCI World Junior Championships ;2012 : 1st Jubilee Road Race : 1st Duncan Murray Wines Road Race : 1st Jersey rainbow chrono

Time trial, UCI World Junior Championships : 2nd Hillingdon Grand Prix : 2nd Overall 2 Days of Bedford ::1st Stage 4 ;2013 : 1st Otley Grand Prix ;2014 : 4th

Time trial In many racing sports, an athlete (or occasionally a team of athletes) will compete in a time trial against the clock to secure the fastest time. The format of a time trial can vary, but usually follow a format where each athlete or team sets off at ...

, National Road Championships ;2017 : 1st Jersey pink

Overall

Rás na mBan Rás na mBan is an international stage cycle road race for women in Ireland. It was first run in 2006 and has run annually since. The event began as a two-day race based in Dublin and became a three-day event in 2008 when it moved to a new base ...

::1st Queen of the Hills classification ::1st Stages 3 & 4 : 3rd Ljubljana–Domžale–Ljubljana TT : National Road Championships ::4th Road race ::5th

: 7th Overall

BeNe Ladies Tour The Baloise Ladies Tour (formerly the BeNe Ladies Tour) is a women's staged cycle race which takes place in Belgium and the Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovere ...

::1st Stage 2a

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Barker, Elinor 1994 births Living people Sportspeople from Cardiff Welsh female cyclists Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Cyclists at the 2014 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games silver medallists for Wales Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for Wales UCI Track Cycling World Champions (women) Cyclists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Cyclists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic cyclists of Great Britain Olympic gold medallists for Great Britain Olympic silver medallists for Great Britain Olympic medalists in cycling Commonwealth Games medallists in cycling Members of the Order of the British Empire Welsh Olympic medallists People educated at Llanishen High School Welsh track cyclists European Championships (multi-sport event) gold medalists Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Medallists at the 2014 Commonwealth Games People with Endometriosis