Maeve Plouffe

Maeve Plouffe was attracted to cycling for its variety, but it wasn’t her first sport of choice. An avid swimmer, Maeve attended an identification testing session offered through the South Australian Sports Institute because she thought it might kickstart a career in rowing. Despite her initial reluctance, Maeve decided to give cycling a go and she was hooked soon after.

Maeve’s early years in the sport were a struggle as she transitioned from the pool to the track. Fitness wasn’t the issue, but the rules and tactics of track cycling presented a new challenge.

A sport with a dual purpose, Maeve can train while exploring the outdoors and unlike swimming, which she found repetitive, cycling gives her the chance to train for long kilometres on the road or sprint and pursuit on the track.

A member of Cycling Australia’s Podium Potential Academy, Maeve made her elite debut at the 2019 Track World Cup in Brisbane. She teamed with the experienced Georgia Baker, Ashlee Ankudinoff, Annette Edmondson and Alexandra Manly to win gold in the women’s team pursuit final against New Zealand.

In 2020, Maeve attended her maiden World Championships where she finished fifth in the team pursuit. Maeve made an impression when she finished in the top 10 in the individual pursuit and set a new personal best. The Australian champion clocked 3mins 26.742secs, which was five seconds better than the time she set four months earlier.   

In her debut Olympic appearance in Tokyo, Maeve did not ride qualifying with Australia’s women’s team pursuit as they clocked the seventh fastest time of 4mins 13secs.

But she replaced Alex Manly in the remaining two rounds and teamed up with Georgia Baker, Annette Edmondson and Ashlee Ankudinoff to beat Italy and New Zealand and finish fifth overall in their 4km race against the clock.

In 2021, racing on the road, Maeve was crowned under-23 Australian criterium champion.

Maeve has dual Australian-Canadian citizenship and in 2022 she claimed a Nations Cup individual pursuit gold medal in Milton, outside Toronto, in front of her Canadian family members. That year, she also set a new national record of 3.19.994 in the 3000m individual pursuit.

Maeve was part of the women’s 4000m pursuit team that set a Commonwealth Games record in the final to take gold at London’s Lee Valley VeloPark, the cycling venue for the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games. She also added a silver medal to her collection in the women’s 3000m individual pursuit.

Also in 2022, Maeve won the inaugural Warrnambool Women’s Cycling Classic and a stage of the Tour Down Under, before joining top-level women’s outfit Team DSM ahead of her first full Women’s WorldTour season in 2023. She was 10th in the criterium at the 2024 road nationals.

Maeve is completing degrees in law and marine biology at the University of Adelaide.