Commonwealth Games gift keeps on giving for Grace Lister

What was already going to be a special day for Shrewsbury cyclist Grace Lister became unforgettable when it was confirmed she would be part of the Team England squad at Birmingham 2022.

“I don’t think it was deliberate,” she chuckles. “It just worked out that way. I was getting ready to go out and just happened to check my emails and there it was.

“I went and told my parents right away. I was so happy. I’d put my name forward for the squad and I knew there was a chance but it was still a shock. I’d actually said to my parents a few days before I didn’t think I’d get the call. Even to be nominated in the first place was special.”

Lister is among the youngest members of England’s 35-strong squad and the Games will be the biggest event of her burgeoning career so far.

Yet she has already experienced success on the international stage, having been part of the GB team which won team pursuit gold and set a new world record at last year’s European Junior Championships.

Her introduction to the sport came at the age of six when her dad Ian, a regular racer for Wolverhampton Wheelers, took her to training at Aldersley Stadium.

From there she has competed in cyclo-cross, on the road and the track, earning selection for GB’s junior academy aged 16, fitting her training around studies for a sports diploma at Shrewsbury College.

“We have camps once a month which are based in Derby at the moment, due to the refurbishment work going on in Manchester,” she says.

“On average I probably do around 12 to 15 hours training a week. I definitely fit everything around else in life around that.

“I enjoy the racing and competitive aspect the most. It is the whole experience of meeting people in cycling. It is a lifestyle and I enjoy that side to it.”

England’s track team will be led by Laura Kenny, a somewhat surreal experience for the likes of Lister and the sport’s emerging generation, for whom the five-time Olympic champion is an idol.

Following in the pedal strokes of Kenny and becoming an Olympian herself is one of Lister’s biggest goals, though she also has ambitions on the road where the rapid growth of women’s races has made a professional career a realistic target.

“In the recent past women cyclists needed to have other jobs alongside the racing,” she says. “Now it can be a career, 100 per cent. Trying to get a contract on the road and combining it with the track, that is where I see the future.”

For the next few days the focus is solely on London’s Lee Valley Velodrome, where Lister will again compete in the team pursuit (CONFIRM CLOSER TO PUBLICATION).

“The European Juniors was my first major event si I have a little bit of experience, not loads but a little,” she says.

“It was stressful. It was a lot bigger event than I am used to. With Covid we have not raced that much, so to go straight into it I found it hard to deal with, the pressure and expectation I put on myself really.

“What was most stressful? The nerves. I didn’t want to let my team-mates down.

“I just had to do the best I can and that is what I will aim to do again. For this to be a home Games is really special.”