Para cycling star Archie Atkinson has enjoyed a stellar 12 months and his achievements have not gone unnoticed after he was named as the runner-up in SportsAid’s prestigious One-to-Watch Award 2023. The 19-year-old, from Heaton Moor in Greater Manchester, experienced an incredible year on the senior circuit having won World Championship gold in the C4 scratch race on the track before taking bronze in the road race in Glasgow.
Archie, originally selected as one of 10 shortlisted athletes for the One-to-Watch Award, was surprised to be presented with his trophy by Will Bjergfelt, the C5 road race world champion, at the National Cycling Centre.
The annual Award, launched in 2006, recognises Britain’s brightest young sporting prospects and has previously been won by Olympic champions Tom Daley and Alex Yee and Paralympic gold medallist Hollie Arnold.
The top 10 athletes were selected from around 1,000 rising stars, supported by SportsAid, across more than 60 different sports in 2023. And Archie explained how honoured he felt to be recognised for his efforts.
“This is pretty special,” said Archie. “It’s not something I was expecting to happen so it’s a nice award to be given. It’s really nice to be recognised for my achievements this year. There’s obviously the medals and the jerseys but it’s quite nice to see that outside the squad, people are recognising my performances. With the Worlds, I went into it with the same mindset as World Cups. It’s just another race, but there’s a nice stripey jersey at the end. At the Games, there’s a very nice medal at the end of the competition.”
Archie goes into every race with the expectation of winning but he admits there is a little extra pressure on his shoulders going into 2024. He has put himself in a strong position to represent Great Britain at the Paralympics in Paris next summer having claimed three national titles, 10 road and time trial victories and two World Cup podiums this year – and Archie’s family are already confident he will make it.
“My parents, grandparents and uncles have all bought tickets for Paris,” said Archie, who received his SportsAid support from Marsh this year. “So now, there is pressure, I have to go. I have to get a medal at track worlds and the road World Cup and then I should go to the Games hopefully, all being well. I’d be doing road, time trial, kilo and pursuit, basically everything apart from team sprint.
“This year has been madness. It’s been a little bit unbelievable, I came into it not expecting everything that happened. It all happened very quickly. I’ve always been fairly confident, going into everything, I wanted to win it. I’ve got similar expectations for next year, I want to do everything I can and we’ll see what happens.”
Archie, who is autistic and has a number of neurological disorders, won his first World Championships title in the wake of his world being turned upside down. He was preparing to take part in the Glasgow showpiece when he found out about the passing of his close friend Magnus White who competed for the United States. With the help of a team psychiatrist and his family, Archie powered through the grief to win gold and bronze, all while carrying messages in memory of White in his shoes and on his jersey.
“Glasgow was mentally challenging,” said Archie. “Losing one of my best mates the day before the competition started meant my mental state wasn’t really in the right place for the first few days. It was the first major death I’ve had in my life, but I worked out a way to use it as firepower and did it for him. The notes in my shoes and on my jersey meant he always had my back. It really helped me through and made me feel like I was supernatural.”
SportsAid’s annual One-to-Watch Award is backed by Royal Bank of Canada – a long-standing supporter of the charity celebrating 10 years of partnership in 2023. Each of the top 10 shortlisted athletes have received cash boosts and special in-person visits at their training environments to celebrate their achievements.
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Today as you can see we’re at a vrone the Manchester one to be specific it is one of the Legacy venues from the 2002 Commonwealth and in the two decades since those games it has become the home of British cycling the most successful team in the world when it comes to
Olympic and Par Olympic Medals I’m here with sports a to meet one of the latest rising stars of the sport who’s hoping to push for the podium in Paris hi I’m AR jacks I’m a defa par cyclist for gbct I’m scratch race world champion and three times national champion on the road and
Track think I’ve always been very competitive like I don’t like losing I ever like winning for like a card game or like a video game I’ve always been very competitive person tell me about 2 million per you’re a pretty determined guy it’s sort of I think it was a joke
That sort of happened on the world’s application form I put in um I give t% into everything I Get Archie is a bundle of joy and energy and I really honestly mean that come on 2 million per is everywhere it’s actually part of our we have like what I call the winning behaviors which is sort of a set of behaviors that as a foundation group that we’ve agreed as a
Team to abide by and 2 million per is on there because of Ary because um he absolutely puts 2 million per into everything then became a joke and then became an actual thing where everything I go to I put everything I got and more tell us some of the the challenges
You’ve overcome in your life to get to the the summit of your sport sort of struggling in school really bullying and sort of like academically got HD and the neurological orders we we always thought there were something to do sort of physical but it couldn’t quite put a pin
On it and go into classification like two years ago and finding out of CP and what’s the other one spasticity it’s a bit of a shock I’ve got I’ve got autism I think very few I many riders or Elite athletes in the world with autism I’d say it’s sort of a
Superpower I’d say it’s same of the ADHD sort of it allows you to Super Focus you see a goal and that’s the only thing you want rather than getting distracted you sort of ton of vision and that’s the only thing you want that’s the only thing you will come out with and you’ll
Try 2 million per give 2 million per for it as well want to talk about that that time leading into the World Championships though obviously some challenges and and and losing a close friend as well so I mean tell us about what you’re kind of going through coming into the worlds
Before that happened sort of very very happy we were me me and Magnus were going to meet up at some point during the worlds and then finding out I think I think it was a day or two before the p i remember I I remember I was in the
Hotel room room sat on my bed and came up on news it’s hard to reset after finding that information I managed to sort of think I’ve got a job here to do but yeah I think now especially I carry his sort of fire and passion as well
Think helps in races I know he’s with me sort of supporting me what did that world success mean to you given what you’d been through so was speechless I didn’t really believe it I came across the line and was just UT was utter shocked like I came came into the world just
Wanting if possible a top 10 yeah it was Unreal I cried quite a few times after to say every kid’s dreamed to win a world world title now I will go into race thinking yeah I can I can win I’m I’m the best Rider Here tell us about what it means to have that shield now to be you know among the elites and the ones to watch for sports Aid this is quite amazing I was reading up it the other day people who won and been n nominated and got seconds there’s
A list whole list of Olympians and Par Olympians feels quite nice to be acknowledged then to we get to get second in first year is quite remarkable I’d say it’s going to go Pride of the mantle piece I think the way sport allows us to train
And not do the job on the side makes the goal of getting medals and winning makes it a lot [Applause] easier what is your Ultimate Dream the ultimate dream is to be the best parpan GB on the world’s ever had so it’s quite a cocky dream I would say but it’s sort
Of I’d love to sit down with kids or grandkids and then show them Hall of medals and jerseys and saying this this is what I’ve done and you can achieve anything my view on sort of life and sort of happiness is no point being unhappy
Hard points of your life make you a lot stronger and make those good times like 10 times [Applause] Better