BRIGHT YOUNG THING

Last year Zoe Backstedt burst on to the world scene, taking world titles and records galore. Vern Pitt finds out more about this superstar in the making

- Vern Pitt

"I can't do serious when everyone is looking at me," says Zoe Bäckstedt as CW photographer Olly asks her to do a more mean face. “I can do fun," she adds. Pretty soon there's going to be a lot of people looking at her because if there's one thing that is apparent after an hour in Bäckstedt's company it's that she's every inch a superstar in waiting.

Even as she protests that she needs a break after a long road, track and cyclo-cross season, which she extended to allow her to wear her newly acquired CX rainbow jersey, the 17-year-old is a bundle of charm and energy; quick to make jokes, quicker to smile and quicker still to flash her rainbow-themed nail varnish. It's impossible to capture her energy through a lens but we're confident she'll shine brighter still in a year or two when the TV cameras at the world's biggest races focus on her.

Aware of what's coming her way, British Cycling junior coach Emma Trott put Bäckstedt in touch with her sister Laura Kenny to mentor her in managing that attention. “I spoke to them about how to manage the expectation of being potentially the next big thing," Trott says. “I don't have that experience, it was never me, but Laura does. So why don't we use someone within the GB system that has that wealth of knowledge that can help?"

Not that any of that would matter if she wasn't performing on the bike. In the last 12 months Bäckstedt has set a new junior individual pursuit world record, been part of a team pursuit world record riding squad, won the road World Championship and the cyclocross World Championship, and her first senior cyclo-cross race.