Anna Morris did not take the straight road to becoming a double world champion cyclist.

By comparison, at the age of 20, Laura Kenny was a double Olympic champion, whereas Morris was two years into studying for a medical degree at the University of Southampton, did not own a road bike and had not so much as set foot in a velodrome.

Morris did not even get a podium spot at national level until 2022, making her rise winning two golds at the 2024 World Cycling Championships even more remarkable.

“It was just a hobby,” Morris says.

“Cycling was something that I just dabbled in and out of. Welsh Cycling came on board in my last year of university, so at the end of 2018 and into 2019, I started getting coaching and just being involved in a bit more of a performance environment that accelerated things a lot.

“Growing up, gymnastics was my main sport. I did a bit of triathlon at Cardiff Junior Triathlon Club and borrowed a road bike.”

A University Education

Morris was not plucked from obscurity as a talented youngster like Kenny, but instead built her cycling journey slowly through the university ranks.

“Individual pursuit was the event that I just took to,” Morris explains.

“I won at university level the first time I did it. The next four years I then won it, and each year my time was getting quicker. It was always my aim to break the British University Record and then go and work full time as a doctor.

“It was during that final part of my course that Welsh Cycling offered me the opportunity to do what I thought would be a hobby and turn it into something much more.”

Morris’ breakout year in cycling came in 2022, where the then-26-year-old came second in the individual pursuit and scratch race, as well as taking bronze in the points competition.

From there, she made it onto the formidable British team pursuit squad, with cycling royalty Katie Archibald and Josie Knight, as well as fellow Welsh riders Elinor and Megan Barker.

First Gold Medal

In Glasgow 2023, the team won gold at the World Championships, dominating New Zealand, winning the final by over four seconds. By comparison, France beat Italy for bronze by 0.275 seconds.

“We’ve just got a super strong squad across the board,” Morris says when asked how the team is so successful.

“We have five or six excellent riders aiming for the four riding spots and a few strong youngsters coming up.

“I think all that together, along with the support we get through British Cycling, means we can train full time with funding from National Lottery, and that just culminates in a team that’s able to consistently be up there competing.”

Achieving An Olympic Dream

2024, though, would be the biggest year of Morris’ career so far. On top of the usual European Championship curtain raiser and Worlds to end the year, the prospect of a first Olympic Games loomed large.

“As you get closer to competition, you feel those different pressures a bit more,” Morris admits.

“We have psychologists in the team that we all work with, and they help with dealing with the normal emotions of big races.

“I think it’s good to recognize that you are going to feel that pressure and predict that you’re going to feel certain ways at certain periods of times and come up with strategies that are going to help you get the best out of yourself.

“Most of the time, you don’t get the perfect lead into competitions. So, you start learning to deal with that and still go and put together a really good performance.”

Silver in the team pursuit at the European Champs in Apeldoorn in the Netherlands was a slight underperformance for such a formidable team. However, Morris took the bronze and teammate Josie Knight took the gold in the individual pursuit, pointing to a strong showing for the British team in Paris.

With no individual pursuit at the Olympics, Morris was selected for the team event, along with the rest of the 2023 gold medal winning squad.

The Welsh trio of Morris, Elinor Barker, and Jessica Roberts, along with Josie Knight, missed out on a spot in the final by 0.09 seconds, but rallied to win the bronze medal race against Italy.

“It was incredibly special, going through the whole process with Team GB and realising that so few people get to have this experience,” Morris says.

“We made the most of the experience. I was surprised at how calm I was on race day. I think a lot of that was down to how much preparation we had done.

“We had such confidence in each other. Breaking the national record in the first round was awesome and getting so close to the winning American team was a cool moment.”

Colour Conundrum

Having missed out to the New Zealand team for the final, only to watch them lose it to the US team, was Morris happier to win a bronze or lose the final and take silver?

“You should ask Elinor because she won silver at Tokyo,” Morris replies with a smile.

“It is a funny race, because you do technically win the race to win a bronze, and you lose the race to get silver. We were just pleased with the performances and happy to celebrate the bronze medal.”

Following the Olympics, Morris turned her focus to the next big event on the horizon: the World Championships in Ballerup, Denmark.

With such good memories of previous years, Morris went one better, winning not only the team pursuit, but also the individual.

‘I’d not even won nationals before’

Morris was the underdog in the individual pursuit final, racing against Chloé Dygert – a member of that Olympic gold medal winning US team.

Oh, and she had broken the world record in qualifying.

“I went into that day not really focused on the outcome,” Morris says.

“After I did the first ride, I felt quite confident that I had more to give. I didn’t ever think that that would be enough to bridge the gap to Chloé who was two seconds in the lead.

“I didn’t think that it would flip my direction and turn into a win, so I was focused on just trying to execute the best possible ride I could.”

Morris shaved over a second off her time from the qualifying race and beat Dygert to the line by 0.317 seconds.

“I had not even won Nationals before,” Morris reflects.

“It was a shock when I crossed the line and I’m still feeling a bit shocked now. I could sense that it was close in the last few laps, just from the reaction of my teammates and the crowd.

“It’s hard to not let the emotions take over in the last few laps. I was just trying to stay focused on things that were going to help me execute that ride well. It was hard to not get too distracted when your teammates are shouting at you!”

Two days prior to Morris’ personal triumph, the team retained their title with three Welsh riders in the team of five.

“It was an amazing week. We wanted to go and try and win that second title in the team pursuit and those rides went much better than we could have expected,” Morris says.

“I didn’t expect to be coming away with a second win at all. I think I could have only ever dreamed of something like that happening!”

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