Ethan's Profile

Having raced for the first time at the tender age of four, Vernon always seemed destined for a life in cycling and his inclusion in the men’s track endurance squad for Tokyo 2020 marks the latest achievement in a promising career.

A BMX rider and racer until the age of 14, Vernon began to turn his attention to track racing in Newport although he remained uncertain whether to concentrate on sprint or endurance events until his late teens. Indeed, his versatility was underlined at the 2017 HSBC UK National Junior Track Championships where he won three national titles in individual pursuit, 1km time trial and the points race, adding third places in the Madison and scratch races, for good measure.

That was sufficient to earn Vernon selection to Team Wales for the Commonwealth Games in April 2018 in Gold Coast, Australia in which he helped his squad finish fourth in the team pursuit, an event he managed to fit around studying for his A-levels.

His tremendous track potential was also underlined that summer when he set a new world junior best mark of 3:10.121 in qualifying for the 3km individual pursuit at the HSBC UK National Junior Track Championships in Newport. It was the highlight of a competition in which Vernon won two more national junior titles but also, in August 2018, he announced his arrival on the international stage with a silver in the individual pursuit at the UCI Junior World Track Cycling Championships in Switzerland.

Before the end of the year, he had also made his mark at senior level, winning a team pursuit bronze medal at the London round of the 2018-19 UCI World Cup series, as part of a team that also included current Tokyo 2020 team-mate Matt Walls.

Intriguingly, by 2019 Vernon was showing even greater versatility by starting to compile some impressive performances in a busy summer of road racing. In June, Vernon recorded a second place in the prologue of the Grand Prix Priessnitz spa, a prestigious under-23 race formerly known as “The Peace Race,” in the Czech Republic and a month later, his time trialling prowess was on display at the British under-23 National Road Championships in Norfolk where he placed third in the individual time trial, a result all the more impressive as he had done no specific training for the discipline.

In September 2019, Vernon also completed the gruelling Tour of Britain as part of a GB team, finishing 14th on the first stage from Glasgow to Kirkcudbright. A few days later, he also posted a creditable 21st place in the UCI Under-23 World Road Race Championships individual time trial in Harrogate.

While his road efforts were limited in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Vernon concentrated on the track and was called up to the Great Britain Cycling Team Senior Academy in April.

He also managed to record his best result to date on the track when he won a silver medal in the 1km time trial at the senior UEC European Track Cycling Championships, behind Tomas Babek of the Czech Republic, in November.

That set Vernon up for his call-up to the delayed Tokyo 2020 team although, in May 2021 he also recorded, arguably, the best road result of his career to date when he finished 10th at the prestigious Spanish one-day race, the Challenge Mallorca IV, a race won by the legendary Andre Greipel.

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