Words by Lester Perry
Images by Riley McLay

Back in issue #112, we spent time with NZ cross-country phenom, Sammie Maxwell, discovering what makes her tick, her history in the sport, and diving into her stellar 2023 season, which included winning the Under 23 XCO World Championships in Glasgow, Scotland.

Now two seasons on and at home in the elite women’s division, Sammie has wrapped up the 2025 World Cup season on a high. Sammie burst into the 2025 season with a historic win in Araxa, Brazil, becoming the first Kiwi to win a World Cup XCO race. Continuing her season with consistency and resilience, Sammie overcame crashes, mechanicals, and strong competition to take the overall series win, becoming the only Kiwi ever to win a World Cup overall title.

On the way to winning the overall, she finished on all but one of the XCO World Cup podiums across the 10-round series. Sammie won two, finished second at five, and third in two races across the series. Her ‘worst’ result was a sixth place at Lenzerheide two weeks after finishing second at the World Championships in Crans-Montana, Switzerland. As far as consistency and dominance go, Sammie has rewritten the rule book, flinging Kiwi riders into the global spotlight!

When did it first click that you could actually be competing for wins at the top level?

This year! Even when I was winning U23 races, I was always comparing myself to elite lap times etc., and seeing that there was a long way to go to be at the top. This season has been such a surprise to me. After winning Brazil, it felt very much like I was thrown into the deep end, with all that I had to learn, anticipate, and process. I was put into ‘fast-forward’. I remember, early this year in Feb at one of the Continental races, a man came up and said to me, “I think you’ll win a World Cup this year.” I just laughed and turned to my mate, shaking my head, and said, “Some people just don’t know what racing in Europe is like… there is NO WAY I’m winning a World Cup this year…”

Your victory in Brazil was a milestone for New Zealand mountain biking. How did that day unfold for you? What were you thinking about most as you crossed the line?

I wasn’t thinking anything other than utter disbelief! I didn’t know any milestones had been reached, and I don’t think it was what drove me to win the race. For me, titles or records are a cool bonus for a good result, but, honestly on that day (and every other race day) all I want to do is go out and be able to cross the finish line saying “I gave it everything I had – this result represents all the hard work myself and my support team have put into getting here.” It sounds cliché, but it’s true. For me, it’s just about honouring those around me and wanting to see what I can achieve if I hold nothing back, and about also seeing how hard I can push myself.

Has there been a turning point where you knew you’d done the right things to put you at the front of a World Cup and thought, “I’ve got this figured out now”? Maybe you don’t think you’ve got it figured out?

I am far from having everything figured out! In fact, at the end of the season, I sat down with my coach and manager and wrote a 10-page document (not an exaggeration) on my learnings from this year and aspects I want to improve on. But I think that’s the cool (and honestly hard) thing about sports: the moment you think you have it dialled, someone else who’s been working and pushing in the background will come past and overtake you! You’re only as good as your last race, and I’m someone who is constantly striving to be better. This season was very rewarding and showed me I have what it takes when I am given all the support and resources I currently have and am very grateful for. However, it also showed me the pursuit of being ‘the best’ is never ending and if you expect yourself to one day have the ‘magic key’ to winning, you’ll drive yourself mad!

You’ve had to fight back from crashes a few times over the year. What goes through your head when you hit the deck and know that you’re going to have to chase back? What’s the internal dialogue like?

The first thing I think…well, it’s probably something I shouldn’t write down… but after that, it’s just pretty basic thinking. In the middle of a bike race, we’re all working mostly off our ‘primitive’ brains; there is not much ‘reasoning’ or ‘emotion processing’ going on. So, when I crash, my thoughts are actually pretty funny to reflect on. I think in Andorra, my thoughts were things like “Get bike off ground!!”, “Top of hill. Go there”, “Pedal hard”, “Just get to top…” Honestly, things that don’t even make grammatical sense! But the key takeaway is that when racing, I always believe anything can happen, that I can get back to the front, and that all I can do right now is pedal as hard as I can. I try hard not to attach to voices doubting pacing, thinking about the other girls, etc. I just focus on myself, the pain in my legs and trying to get into a zone where nothing else matters.

From what I can find, 2025 looked something like this: 32 races, 15 wins, 13 podiums. That’s a seriously impressive season. When you’re chilling away from the races, do you ever pause and think, “Yeah, I did that”, or does it just seem normal to you?

This is the first time I’ve seen these stats, so I definitely haven’t thought about it! But I have reflected a lot on my season, and I’ve come to the realisation that while the results and wins are nice on race weekends as they give me moments to share with my team, they don’t actually mean as much to me as one would think (and as much as I once thought they would). Reflecting on my season showed me that what I’m most proud of is the way I used my voice to promote issues I really cared about, like mental and physical health, and the role I played in inspiring the next generation of riders to be strong, happy and healthy. Talking to and hearing from the young girls (and all the other fans) are probably the best memories I have from the season, not any moments on the podium or crossing the finish line.

Was there a particular race or moment that best summed up your growth as a rider through 2025?

Andorra was pretty special for me because it was the first race where I felt like the world got to really see my mental resilience. But I also think Lake Placid was pretty cool for me. Partly because of all the young riders that were there that I got to interact with, and also because of the way I ‘bounced back’ from a tough race in Lenzerheide. At the end of the season, I was actually really emotionally and mentally cooked, my eating disorder was wreaking havoc in my brain, and I was in a pretty bad place if I’m being honest. But I caught myself switching back to bad habits and reset my behaviours, stopping myself from ‘digging the hole deeper’. Old Sammie definitely would not have had the same mental perspective and awareness to do so and probably would have cracked hard in those last two rounds!

Did you have any behind-the-scenes challenges through the year that people may not know about?

Some included my studies and exams; balancing time with this and racing was a lot. And obviously, there were my eating disorder thoughts, which were a constant battle. It’s something I struggle to explain to people who haven’t experienced it, but some days it felt like I was being followed by a bear or something, and my body was in a constant “fight or flight” response; pretty exhausting, especially during race weeks. But luckily, my coach, team, friends, and psychologists would always help me return to a calm state, or remind me that the struggle wouldn’t be forever, and that I was strong enough to sit with the tough emotions or thoughts until they passed. Surviving a storm is always much easier when you know sunny days are ahead.

The race calendar is long and demanding. How did you manage your energy, mentally and physically, to stay consistent across so many rounds?

Staying focused on just the week ahead of me was pretty helpful. Breaking things down into small, manageable chunks is something we athletes are pretty good at. Also using techniques I had discussed with my psychologist and coach, like meditation, mindfulness, breathing, helped calm me mentally. While physically rest is pretty easy – rest days, naps, good fuelling, massages, etc! Basically, as you can see, a lot of this was me relying on others’ resources to ‘top up the cup’ when I noticed it getting empty, and it’s one of the reasons why I say I couldn’t have done this season as I did without the support of others!

Were there any particular changes that you made after last season that contributed to this year’s successes and the step up from last year?

I focused a lot more on skills – shoutout to Louis from Tuned coaching – and was eating a lot more. For example, I started doubling the amount of carbs I would race with and, during training, increasing my food intake by up to 50% on some days! I also changed the way I did pre-rides of courses and paid special attention to slowing down in my recon laps, to really absorb the details of the course and analyse the best lines for me.

At least in the MTB world, you’re now a household name. Have there been any noticeable changes in life as you’ve been thrust into the limelight?

People recognised me more, and I had a few more followers on Insta! I’ve actually really enjoyed this aspect of success; as I said before, I’m proud of the way I’ve used my increased social presence to promote messages of health and wellbeing. I’d like to think it contributes to making the MTB community a better place for everyone.

Do you have plans to make any changes coming into 2026?

I’m going to be putting more emphasis on therapy for my eating disorder and continue building to be the best athlete I can be for the future.

From a technical or tactical perspective, what do you think separates a ‘good’ XCO rider from a winning one?

I think having confidence in your ability makes such a big difference. If I had a bad start or crashed and found myself fighting for 10th position, etc. I told myself I belonged back at the front of the race. I wouldn’t “settle” into a group further down in the field; instead, I just kept pushing. It also meant I wouldn’t panic, sprint for one or two climbs, then blow myself into the red zone too soon. And obviously, confidence on the downhills is key to riding well. The worst crashes always happen after a moment of self- doubt, hesitation, and a big pull of the brakes!

How do you keep the fire going into 2026 after such a great 2025? Are there particular goals or races you’d like to tick off?

I’m always driven to push more watts, lift bigger weights, etc, so there’s no problem with motivation! I’m someone who just gets so much joy from the process of training that the results I get don’t really change this.

Maybe I’ve missed something, but where did the podium Marmite come from? I hope you’ve shared this delicacy with your teammates. What do they reckon?

I love Marmite. I have it with everything. I tagged Marmite in a post that said I needed some delivered to Europe as a joke, and they responded by sending me some custom jars! I’m glad to report that most of them don’t have the acquired taste (more for me), but a lot of the Brits and Aussies at the World Cups are jealous that I have my secret stash.

Are you doing any work back in the laboratory during the off-season? Any study happening? Are you still working on your French, or have you got that dialled in enough now?

I hope to be doing some in Feb, and I’ve actually enrolled in a Post-Graduate Diploma for Clinical Research next year, which will be the next step I need to work towards a PhD one day. I also love learning French, but I will take a break from that as I do more medical research studies; however, living with the French team is basically just one never-ending French lesson anyway!

Are there any other cycling disciplines that pique your interest and you’d like to give a nudge?

Definitely not cyclocross…I hate winter, the snow, and being cold, so you’ll never catch me sticking around in Europe during winter when I could be flying home to NZ summer. I am interested in road racing, but currently it would only be a way to supplement my MTB performances. I still have too many goals I want to achieve on the knobbly tyres before I start thinking seriously about joining the dark side.

Thanks, Sammie, for your time, and good luck for the ‘26 season. We at NZ Mountain Biker Mag will be cheering you on!