Could swapping four legs for two wheels end in Olympic gold?

It's 2017. Neah Evans has conscionable qualified arsenic a vet. She's started a caller occupation successful a bully practice. Life looks for illustration it is unfolding nicely successful beforehand of her.

"Then she says, 'nah, you cognize what, let's springiness cycling a shot'."

Brother Donald laughs astatine nan representation of his sister swapping 4 legs for 2 wheels 7 years ago.

After all, going against nan atom is not different successful their family.

Olympic transverse state skiier mum Ros and dada Malcolm opted to location schoolhouse Neah and Donald, some of whom grappled pinch dyslexia.

Sport was ever cardinal to their young lives, though, and Neah has gone connected to amass aggregate world and European golds, arsenic good arsenic Olympic metallic successful nan squad pursuit successful Tokyo 3 years ago.

But specified is nan modular nan 33-year-old has set, she told BBC Sport location was "a mini spot of disappointment" pinch nan second and that "gold is my target" successful Paris.

The communicative of Evans' singular emergence is founded successful determination, attraction and difficult work, arsenic good arsenic bucket loads of earthy talent.

Mum Ros – who competed astatine nan 1984 Winter Games successful Sarajevo – saw early signs that young Neah could person a large sporting future.

"We were each rather sporty and it was portion of our life," she says. "We did it for fun, not for immoderate peculiar awesome motivation, and it was conscionable ‘let's spell and do it.’

"We did a small spot of skiing and Neah was amazing. We were up successful Glencoe - she mightiness person been 4 aliases 5 - and she was doing it each herself. I thought ‘wow, you could beryllium very bully astatine this’."

For each that, though, it was a family vacation connected Arran that provided nan first denotation that cycling mightiness beryllium successful her future.

"My hubby Malcolm, Neah and I were going down a really large hill," adds Ros. "He said he was going to return disconnected and hold for america astatine nan bottommost but Neah followed him.

"I retrieve him saying that, halfway down, he turned information and was amazed to find her connected his tail grinning from receptor to ear."

That competitiveness might, successful part, beryllium borne of having 2 brothers.

Donald speaks of an "unusual but active" upbringing and their battles to flooded their learning difficulties, thing Ros says that location acquisition helped with.

"We weren’t looking to judge ‘have you passed this exam, passed that exam’ because it was irrelevant," she explains.

"The children didn't turn up reasoning ‘I'm dyslexic, I've sewage a problem'. They conscionable thought ‘I tin do that’."

That aforesaid cognition has underpinned Neah's improvement arsenic a cyclist.

After initially taking up racing arsenic a student, her drive, desire and willingness to study were soon evident. Even if her skills were possibly not arsenic refined arsenic they mightiness be.

"I met Neah successful a gym successful 2016 connected a training camp," recalls erstwhile spot and conditioning coach Paul Coyle. "And I saw nan unsmooth earlier nan diamond.

"She was evidently beardown but her method near a batch to beryllium desired truthful my first relationship pinch her really was to shriek 'stop doing that' immediately.

"What made Neah guidelines retired was that she asked ‘how do I hole this?’ and it is not conscionable what she said, it was really she said it.

"Even astatine that juncture, she said ‘I want to beryllium world champion’ and she wasn't being thing different than serious."

What Neah needed was to hone her method and title craft.

Scottish Cycling’s Evan Oliphant has raced with, and coached, her and realised early connected that if she could wed her beingness attributes to an knowing of really to title much smartly, past glory was wrong her grasp.

"There were races wherever I retrieve her lapping a beardown field, truthful I knew she had something," he says. "But she wasn't tactically bully capable to triumph awesome races.

"Every correction she has made, she has learned from it, though, and that is nan cardinal because if you person sewage nan legs to beryllium there, you study successful each race."

For Coyle, nan infinitesimal he knew Neah would execute her extremity came nan first clip she raced internationally.

"She was wearing an aged tegument suit and riding an aged motorcycle successful an elimination race," he recalls. "One by one, nan Scottish girls each sewage taken retired but Neah was doggedly hanging successful there.

"She vanished 3rd successful a world-class field, eliminating world medallists, and that's erstwhile nan penny dropped that actually, she is nan existent deal."

So acold from counting against her, being a precocious starter mightiness really person aided Neah's travel to nan apical of her sport.

After making nan determination to time off her occupation arsenic a vet 7 years agone to attraction solely connected cycling, awesome medals soon followed.

It was a bold move which has undoubtedly paid off.

“We were each rather happy for her to do it because that is what she wanted," Ros says.

"I deliberation we each thought she mightiness do it for a fewer years past spell backmost to veterinary, but I didn’t person a limb to guidelines connected because I gave up a school profession to spell skiing.

"It is your life, truthful it's important you bask it."

"She's not acrophobic to spell for it," relative Donald adds. "You person sewage to respect that because these are decisions that are difficult to make, past make stick."