At the start of Mental Health Awareness Week, Sporting Wellness is thrilled to announce that Elinor Barker, MBE, is the latest talented young sportsperson to join the charity as an Ambassador.
Elinor is an Olympic, World, Commonwealth and National champion track and road cyclist, and world record holder, and is still only 25.
Elinor won gold in the team pursuit event at the 2016 Rio Olympics and has played a pivotal role in the team breaking the world record numerous times – at a UCI Track Cycling World Cup in Mexico and then again in Rio. At the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games, Elinor won a silver medal in the points race, and a bronze medal in the scratch race while racing individually for her native Team Wales. Success has continued. Most recently, before the lockdown of all our various sports, in March of this year at the Track World Championships in Berlin, again Elinor won gold in the Points Race, being the only rainbow stripes that GB came away with in this year’s World Championships. And looking ahead now, Elinor is working hard towards success in Tokyo 2021. Off the track, Elinor was voted the 2012 BBC Wales Junior Sportswoman of the Year, received a nomination for 2016 & 2018 BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year and received an MBE from the Queen in the New Year Honours 2016.
Elinor said “My sport is literally fast moving and with that comes lots of highs and the opportunity of achievements, of which I’ve been lucky enough and proud to have many. However, I also know the mental pressure all this can put you through, and I wholeheartedly back the great work that Sporting Wellness is doing to raise awareness of positive mental health in young sportspeople. As an Ambassador for the charity, I’ll also be helping to spread the word of Sporting Wellness’s unique one to one mental health support mechanism for young sportspeople, which is particularly welcome and much needed in these more difficult times.”