Olympic champion Elinor Barker is relishing competing with her sister at the Commonwealth Games as the Welsh siblings look to achieve medal glory on the Gold Coast.
It will be proper family affair in the velodrome as Barker’s younger sister Megan prepares to make her first appearance at a major multi-sport event - sharing a room with her sibling in the process.
The 20-year-old has only just broken onto the international stage, coming sixth in the two-rider Madison with Elinor in her second World Cup in Minsk in January.
Her sister, on the other hand, will be competing at her second Commonwealth Games, having won silver and bronze medals in Glasgow four years ago.
Elinor has previously said that the sisters are competitive by nature and she expects them to spur each other on as she prepares to add to her world titles and Olympic gold medal from Rio.
“It's fun having each other in races,” said Barker. “We're pretty competitive people anyway, so when you put the fact that we're sisters in there, it means we are more competitive.
“There won't be rivalry but hopefully there might be a little bit of teamwork. It's really nice having your sister at big events and it brings a lot of our family together as well.
“I've got some family in Australia and then other family all over the world, so they're all going to try and convene at the Commonwealth Games."
The sisters, who are sharing a room in the Team Wales camp, will be joined by family members from all over the world in one big reunion at the Commonwealth Games.
Yet, despite Elinor being the older and more experienced of the two, it was down to her little sister that they both got into cycling in the first place.
“Me and Meg both started cycling with Maindy Flyers Cycling Club when we were quite little,” Elinor said. “It was basically just a way of getting out of swimming lessons, because we hated them.
“Meg found out that cycling was on at the same time, and it was a different sport we could do to show our parents that we were still being active and keeping healthy, just without swimming.
“She’s actually the reason that I started cycling, when she was about seven or eight. So, I’ve really got her to thank for being here.”
At one point it looked as though neither sister would be at the Games, after Elinor suffered a crash at the World Track Cycling Championships in Holland last month.
Megan was also forced to take six months off in the autumn last year after being rushed to A&E with pneumonia, before doctors also discovered a blood clot in her lung.
However, they have both made it to the Gold Coast in full health and Elinor said she has enjoyed the opportunity to cycle more frequently with her sister – even if she’s not sure why she continued in the sport.
"I’ve started racing against Meg a lot more now that she is a senior rider – that’s been exciting,” she added. “But why I’m still cycling, I have absolutely no idea to be honest.
“I didn’t enjoy my first lesson as much as I’d convinced myself that I had. I crashed maybe three times, but it was just really fun to go fast.
“When you’re a little kid it’s so exciting because you’re running around all the time and learning all these new things, and everything’s so exciting.
“But then to get on a bike and go so much faster than you’re ever gone before, it’s incredible.”
Picture: SWpix.com
Sportsbeat 2018