'I have bigger things to care about now’ - Team GB’s new mothers on their return to racing
Elinor Barker and Katy Marchant are excited to be back on the big stage, and have set their sights on the Olympics
- (opens in new tab)
- (opens in new tab)
- (opens in new tab)
- Sign up to our newsletter Newsletter

Later this week, Elinor Barker and Katy Marchant will head off to Grenchen, Switzerland in what will be their first major track event since giving birth last year.
“It’ll be really nice that we can be there to support each other,” says Barker. “As much as I think other team-mates can be really supportive, no one really knows how it feels to leave your baby at home for such a long period of time if they’ve not done it themselves before.”
When she’s away with her trade team Uno-X, Barker’s son Nico is part of the family. He spends his days being looked after, before joining up with the squad in the evenings for a chit chat and some dinner.
“He would eat everything from the buffet,” Barker laughs. “He had olives one night and he’s 10 months old. He’s just a bottomless pit.”
Spending time with her son on training camps has served Barker well. She’s excited to take on the season, and feels her best form is quickly returning. Still, she knows the stakes will be high in Grenchen.
“If I didn’t go to Euros and compete in these events, I can’t do the Olympics, because that’s how the qualifying works,” she says.
This week, she’s set herself the task of collecting all of her qualifying points in one fell swoop. To do so, Barker will ride the Elimination race, before teaming up with Olympic champion Katie Archibald in the Madison. She’s keen to win, but admits her outlook on racing has changed since having a child.
“I used to get really nervous about races because I’d think ‘Oh God, what if I lose?’ and then I’ll just have to come home and sit with that disappointment,” she says. “I still care exactly the same amount as I did before, I just don’t have enough time to think about it.”
When Barker first found out she was pregnant, she and Marchant were sharing a room in Tokyo, Japan at the 2021 Olympics. “[Marchant] got pregnant not long after getting back,” she says. “We’ve been really close through that whole period, so it’s been really nice that we’ve been able to be there for each other.
“She literally just sent me a picture of her little boy in her National Champs jersey, which is so cute.”
The jersey in question came from Marchant’s title-winning ride in the team sprint at last month's British Track Championships, only her second competition back since becoming a mother. Once the 30-year-old stepped off the podium in Newport, Wales, she headed straight towards her son, Arthur, picking him up in one hand, while clutching her victory bouquet in the other.
“I’m feeling a little bit rusty,” Marchant tells Cycling Weekly after the race, “but it’s so good to be back.”
Like Barker, the sprinter’s perspective on racing has changed. “I’ve stepped away for 18 months. I’ve had a child. I don’t care any less about cycling, but I have bigger things to care about now,” she said. “It allows me to come to training and that’s my time away, that’s time for me.”
Over the past two years, Marchant has tried to ride her bike as much as possible. She trained right up until the end of her pregnancy, and then returned to the track shortly after childbirth.
“Don’t get me wrong, it’s been a challenge,” she says. “But to me, I thought there was no way that I was going to stop. I really wanted to push my body to the boundaries and just see where I can get to really.”
That place, she hopes, is next year’s Olympics in Paris.
Barker, too, would like to be there, but for the team pursuit gold medallist, there’s another big event circled on her calendar.
“Every race, my target will be trying to prove that I’m good enough to go to the Tour,” she explains. “That’s what I really want to get from this season.”
Barker describes the newly introduced Tour de France Femmes as a “shining beacon of light”, which has left a lasting impact on her and the wider world of women’s cycling. “It’s already made a huge difference,” she says. “The changes in the professionalism of teams over the last few years has just been huge.
“I started my career 10 years ago, not being paid. Now I’m on a team where I’ve got maternity pay and a pension.”
When Barker and Marchant take to the track in Grenchen later this week, they'll follow in a line of British Olympians - including Lizzie Deignan, Laura Kenny and Sarah Storey - who have taken time out to have children, and returned to the top tier of racing.
The duo's day-to-day lives are different to what they were before, and training time is precious, but they're excited to race once again on the international stage.
The European Track Championships (opens in new tab) start this Wednesday 8 February, and run until Sunday 12 February.
Thank you for reading 10 articles this month* Join now for unlimited access
Enjoy your first month for just £1 / $1 / €1
*Read 5 free articles per month without a subscription
Join now for unlimited access
Try first month for just £1 / $1 / €1
Tom is one of Cycling Weekly's news and features writers. In 2020, he started The TT Podcast, covering both the men's and women's pelotons and featuring a number of British riders.
An enthusiastic cyclist himself, Tom likes it most when the road goes uphill and actively seeks out double-figure gradients on his rides.
He's also fluent in French and Spanish and holds a master's degree in International Journalism.
-
-
Strava recognises French velociraptor as largest GPS drawing ever made by bike
Velociraptor measuring 1,024.72 kilometres took more than 43 hours to complete
By Tom Thewlis • Published
-
Primoz Roglic takes yet another win, this time at Volta a Catalunya stage one
Slovenian makes it four wins this year already, outsprinting the rest of the field with Remco Evenepoel second
By James Shrubsall • Published
-
British Cycling names four new Hall of Fame inductees
The quartet's achievements were recognised at an awards dinner in Manchester on Saturday
By Tom Davidson • Published
-
Extinction Rebellion stages anti-Shell protest at British Track Champs
Two people carried a banner through the stands at Newport's Geraint Thomas National Velodrome
By Vern Pitt • Published
-
Inside British Cycling's £1 wind tunnel
Cycling Weekly goes behind the scenes of the new medal factory on British Cycling's doorstep
By Tom Davidson • Published
-
Brian Cookson says British Cycling has been ‘damaged’ by outsiders with ‘no real knowledge’ of cycling
Former president of UK cycling governing body says current leadership has ‘no empathy’ with people who ‘make cycling happen’
By Tom Thewlis • Published
-
CW LIVE: Primož Roglič confirmed for Giro d'Italia 2023; Track rider hits 2,271 watts; NCL announces first two teams; Van Aert to ride cyclo-cross Worlds; Sram and Oakley team up with Jumbo-Visma; Rwanda unveils pump track: Evenepoel eyes Pogačar showdown
Join us as we round up the day's cycling news
By Tom Davidson • Last updated
-
British National Road Series to shrink in 2023
The UK’s domestic scene will see fewer top-flight road events next season, while the Circuit Series grows
By Tom Davidson • Published
-
Five things the next CEO of British Cycling needs to tackle including image repair
There is a vacancy at the top of the sport in the UK, with the in-tray of problems building
By Adam Becket • Published
-
Could you be British Cycling's next CEO? You have until next Friday to apply
There are quite a few problems for the incoming boss of cycling in the UK to sort out, despite continuous success
By Adam Becket • Last updated