Annie Last
Annie Last (born 7 September 1990), is an English professional cyclist, representing Great Britain and England, who specialises in mountain biking and cyclo-cross. She was chosen as a female competitor in the cross country mountain bike event for the Great Britain team at the 2012 Summer Olympics, going on to take 8th place. Last won the silver medal in the mountain bike cross-country event at the 2017 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships, before taking the gold medal in the same event at the 2018 Commonwealth Games. She competed at the 2018 Cross Country European Championships. Career . Last was introduced to mountain biking by her father and brother, Tom as she accompanied them on racing trips. In 2009, she joined the British Cycling Olympic Academy programme, and was originally expected to be a potential athlete for the 2016 Summer Olympics. During the two-year-long build up for the 2012 Summer Olympics, she elected to compete in full adult competition instead of the under-23 events she was normally entitled to enter. This was in order to enhance her chances of competing at the Games. At the World Cup event in Dalby Forest during May 2011, she finished  a career best of 14th place. At the first World Cup event of 2012, in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, she placed ninth, although at one point she was leading the race. She finished one place better, in 8th place, at the World Cup event in La Bresse, and later another 9th-place finish in Windham in the United States. Her qualification for the 2012 Olympics came down to the World Cup event in La Bresse in May 2012. Great Britain did not get an automatic qualification spot for the women's mountain biking event, and so finishes in international events were  required for the team to gain a place at the Games in the event. She finished eighth at the event, giving Great Britain a spot at the Olympics in her event, and was expected to be announced in the British team for the Games. Her place in the women's cross country was later confirmed along with Liam Killeen, who will compete in the men's competition. In March, 2017, Last took part in the eight-day Absa Cape Epic stage race for the first time and finished second with South African partner Mariske Strauss. It was Last’s first  Cape Epic, which takes place in the Western Cape, South Africa, every year. The 2017 route was 651 km in total. She continued her good form later that season by taking her first UCI Mountain Bike World Cup win in Lenzerheide, Switzerland in July, becoming the first British woman to win a cross-country World Cup event since Caroline Alexander's victory in Sankt Wendel, Germany in 1997. She went on to finish second at the 2017 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships in Cairns, Australia in September, becoming the first British female medallist in the elite cross-country event. Annie  Last and her partner Mariske Strauss worked to stay on GC podium at the 2018 Cape Epic after Strauss fell ill before the second last stage. Last broke through Canada's hold of, and earning England's first Commonwealth Games gold medal in the women's cross country at the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games. She has been a member of professional mountain bike teams Milka-Superior, Trek Factory Racing, and Silverback OMX Pro Team. Personal life. Last has deferred attending university to study medicine in order to be a professional mountain biker. Her brother, Tom, was also a professional  mountain bike and road cyclist before becoming a presenter for Global Cycling Network.