TO BECOME world champion in any sport requires tremendous persistence, determination and tenacity in equal measure. To become a world champion in two separate disciplines, however, within the space of four months, is an extraordinary achievement and rare distinction.

Yet, for 19-year-old Shanaze Reade, a newcomer to the senior international stage, this is exactly what she accomplished, stunning the world of cycling with two phenomenal performances in 2007. Her incredible efforts make her a worthy winner of the MCC Young Sportswoman of the Year. Accompanied to the event by her mother Joanna, having both travelled down from Crewe, Reade said: “Everybody within the British cycling team makes you feel welcome. People like Chris Hoy, an Olympic champion, and Victoria Pendleton, a triple world champion, pull you in and make you believe in what you are doing. Even if you doubt yourself, they make you believe that you can become a top-level achiever, the best in the world. Without their help I would not have won anything.”

In the judging process last month, held in the media centre above Lord’s cricket ground, this award was one of the most hotly disputed, with a high number of British success stories under the age of 21, reflecting the strength and potential of the next generation of our future stars. World and European junior triathlete Hollie Avil and three-day eventer Laura Collett, who retained her junior European title in Switzerland, were also nominated for this category.

Reade’s first title came, quite unexpectedly in March, on the opening day of the world track cycling championships in Mallorca, when she teamed up with Victoria Pendleton, Britain’s top female track rider, to secure victory in the women’s inaugural team sprint event, with a time of 33.63sec. Surprisingly, it was only her second competitive outing in a velodrome. “I just can’t express what this means to me,” she said immediately after the event. To add to this wonderful success, she finished fifth, on her debut, in the women’s 500m time-trial after standing in for Pendleton at the last minute.

BMX, though, remains her main passion. Entering the UCI world championships in Victoria, Canada, in July, as the junior world champion, which she won in Brazil last year, few people gave her much of a chance of leaving a mark. But, with convincing victories in the qualifying rounds, thanks to her highly regarded explosive speed, she maintained her composure in the final to claim the women’s elite title. Had she been asked at the start of the year what her ambitions were, she could not truly have asked for much more, particularly in her first season of competition at the senior level.

Now, with the Beijing Olympics introducing BMX for the first time, ‘Speedy Ready’, as she is known within the cycling circuit, has the luxury of choice where she focuses her efforts over the next nine months.

Also nominated: Hollie Avil and Laura Collett

Presented by: Jon Robinson, MCC head of sales and marketing

Explore More Sport

• Athletics

• Boxing

• Cycling

• Sailing

• US Sport