Joanna Katie Rowsell MBE (born 5 December 1988[3]) is a retired English cyclist on the Great Britain Cycling Team who competed on track and road.
Her greatest successes were the gold medals won in the women's team pursuit at the 2012 London Olympics and the 2016 Rio Olympics as well as five World Championship titles, four in the team pursuit (2008, 2009, 2012 and 2014) plus one in the individual pursuit at the 2014 World Championships.[4]
She currently holds the World Record in the 3 km team pursuit.
Rowsell first came to national prominence as a winner of junior national competitions in 2005/2006.
Rowsell was born in Carshalton in the London Borough of Sutton. She attended Cuddington Croft Primary School from 1993 to 2000 and Nonsuch High School for Girls from 2000 to 2007.
She competed for Sutton in the London Youth Games.
Rowsell was picked up by British Cycling's Talent Team programme in 2004, after being tested at her school.[5] Her first major wins came in 2005 and 2006. As a junior, she won the British National Track Championships pursuit in both these years, whilst in senior competition on the road she won the 2006 British National Women's Series competition. She represented the UK at the European and World Junior Track and Road Championships in these years.
In 2006, she also finished third in the British National Championship and subsequently signed for the professional team Global Racing for the 2007 season. In her first year as a senior, she finished third in the 3 km pursuit and the points race at the National Track Championships. On the road, she finished second in the British National Circuit Race Championships.
2008 saw Rowsell join the new Nicole Cooke-led Team Halfords Bikehut.[6] She also continued to compete on the track, winning her first World Title at the 2008 World Championships in Manchester as part of the women's pursuit team.[7]
In 2012, she won in preparation for the Olympics at the Track Cycling World Cup in London both the team pursuit and the individual pursuit in February. Rowsell was a member of the team pursuit squad alongside Dani King and Laura Trott, when they won the team pursuit event and set a new world record at the 2011–12 UCI Track Cycling World Cup in London. They broke the record again at the 2012 UCI Track Cycling World Championships. At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, Rowsell won a gold medal for the team pursuit alongside King and Trott.[8] Having already set world record times in both the qualifying and semi-finals in this event, the team also went on to set a new world record time of 3:14.051 in the final.[9]
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In 2013, Rowsell broke her collarbone at the London cycling festival but, five weeks later, after an operation and training on a Wattbike with a pillow on the bars, she won the Women's Pursuit on the track at the International Belgian Open in Ghent.[10]
In September 2014 Rowsell announced that she would be leaving the Wiggle-Honda team and joining the Pearl Izumi Sports Tours International squad on a two-year deal from 2015.[11] In 2016, Rowsell won a gold medal in the Team Pursuit at the Rio Olympics.
On 14 March 2017, Rowsell announced that she was retiring from the sport. "The decision to step away has been the hardest I've ever had to make," she said. "I believe I have more to offer the world."[12][13]
Rowsell has alopecia areata, a condition resulting in hair loss.[14][15]
She is a descendant of the Swiss inventor Jean Samuel Pauly.[16]
She was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2013 New Year Honours for services to cycling.[17]
Her younger brother Erick Rowsell is a road racing cyclist.[18]
Rowsell married Daniel Shand in July 2015[19] and then competed as Joanna Rowsell Shand. The marriage ended in divorce in 2020.
After retirement, she studied human biology at Manchester Metropolitan University,[20] before becoming a medical student at St. George's Hospital Medical School in 2020.[21][22]
Individual pursuit, National Junior Track Championships Individual pursuit, National Junior Track Championships
Individual pursuit Points race
Team pursuit, UCI Track World Championships
Team pursuit – Manchester Team pursuit – Melbourne Individual pursuit – Melbourne Individual pursuit – Manchester National Criterium Championships Under–23
Team Pursuit (with Lizzie Armistead and Katie Colclough) Team pursuit, UCI Track World Championships Team pursuit – Copenhagen Individual pursuit – Copenhagen Team pursuit – Manchester
Team pursuit – Melbourne Team pursuit, UEC European Track Championships Team pursuit, UCI Track World Cup Individual pursuit Team pursuit Points race
Team pursuit, Olympic Games Team pursuit, UCI Track World Championships Team pursuit Individual pursuit Team pursuit, UEC European Track Championships
National Time Trial Championships Team pursuit Individual pursuit Individual pursuit, Commonwealth Games Team pursuit, UEC European Track Championships Team pursuit Individual pursuit
Team pursuit, UEC European Track Championships Team pursuit, National Track Championships Team pursuit, UCI Track World Championships Team pursuit, Olympic Games.jpg)
