Shanaze Reade

To many cycling fans, Shanaze Reade will be best known for her BMX talents which have yielded an amazing three World Championships titles in the last four years. But this explosive young rider is also one of the world's hottest track riders as well. A true natural if ever there was one, Shanaze had only been riding the track for around six weeks before she won her first World Championships title in 2007, and remarkably, that team sprint success alongside Victoria Pendleton was only her second competitive race ever inside a velodrome. The duo would successfully defend their title a year later in Manchester but Reade's hopes of winning the first-ever BMX gold medal at the Beijing Olympics were dashed after she dramatically crashed out in the final. Back on the boards in 2009, Reade and Pendleton earned themselves a third consecutive World Track Championships medal when they took silver in Poland, and in July 2010 Shanaze regained her world BMX title after missing the 2009 event through injury. The dual focus on both track and BMX will continue through to London 2012 where she will be the first British cyclist to compete in both disciplines at the Olympics.