A teenage Tavistock mountain biking sensation is on the fast track to success after selection to represent her country.

Orla White, 16, has been chosen to ride for Team GB at the European Youth Olympics taking place in Skopje, North Macedonia, later this month, it was announced this week. She will be one of only two mountain bikers in Team GB.

The Dartmoor Velo Cycling Club member was chosen, aged only 15, for British Cycling's National School of Racing (NSR) programme to receive elite coaching.

On the back of this training and her highly impressive competition results in the past year, she is now one of 54 GB athletes competing in Skopje, including six road cyclists and just two mountain bikers who are Orla and Luke, (one of her NSR teammates).

Orla, who has just finished her GCSEs at Tavistock College, said: “I’m over the moon to have been selected for Team GB. I’ve always dreamed of competing for my country and to be doing it at the Youth Olympics makes it even more special.”

Orla’s form has been impressive, as well as training with British Cycling and the NSR team, she has been competing in the national mountain bike series, which ran from March to June. She raced in the short-track races (20 minutes) and full cross-country races (60 minutes) at each round.

The national series finished two weeks ago, with Orla finishing second in the full cross country series and winning the short-track series, having also won a couple of rounds (at Cannock Chase and at Glentress in Scotland) and finishing on the podium in seven out of the eight races she started.

She has also been racing in the regional South West series and won the South West championships for the sixth time.