Wellington-based Sammie Maxwell rose to the occasion superbly to finish eighth in the women’s cross-country mountain biking today.
The 23-year-old improved from 18th to 10th to 9th to 8th over the first four laps of the gruelling course and maintained that position until the finish.
Her reward for 90 minutes of hard slog was a place among the elite of her sport.
“In my last World Cup race, I came 20th so anything in the top 20 was a goal," she said. "This is my best placing ever in an elite race. I’m stoked.”
Maxwell, who won the world under-23 title last year, said she felt good physically throughout.
The race was won by home country hero Pauline Ferrand Prevot, whose time of 1h 26min 02s gave her a 2min 57s advantage over her nearest challenger and 4min 41s over Maxwell.