Bryony Botha at the 2022 Commonwealth Games. Photo \/ @bryony_botha<\/p>\n
Donnelly will also compete in the scratch and elimination races at the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome \u2013 a venue which has garnered plenty of success for Kiwis with 11 medals earned at the 2014 Commonwealth Games.<\/p>\n
Adding to that tally would be a full-circle moment for the young Kiwi rider and her family.<\/p>\n
Donnelly\u2019s dad, Nigel Donnelly, became part of New Zealand cycling folklore at the 1990 Games in Auckland, winning gold in the men\u2019s team pursuit with Gary Anderson, Glenn McLeay and Stu Williams.<\/p>\n
The team wasn\u2019t expected to trouble the might of Australia and endured some bold pre-race predictions from transtasman rivals with New Zealand qualifying second, just under a second slower. But it was to be the Kiwis\u2019 race at the Manukau Stadium with the hosts claiming a famous gold, almost three seconds faster than the Aussies.<\/p>\n
Incidentally, one of Sami Donnelly\u2019s teammates in Glasgow, Ellesse Andrews, shares a similar story. Her dad, Jon, won two bronze medals at the 1990 Commonwealth Games in the kilo and the sprint.<\/p>\n
Nigel Donnelly\u2019s story has always been close to his daughter\u2019s heart. When family friends came around in her younger years, the tape of the famed race would be watched again.<\/p>\n
Nigel Donnelly riding with the NZ team pursuit at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. Photo \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember taking his Commonwealth Games medal to school and it\u2019s always a conversation that still comes up. I\u2019m pretty proud of him,\u201d Sami Donnelly says.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a man of few words but he\u2019s always there with a supportive hand on my back when I need it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her dad also raced at two Olympic Games, as a 20-year-old in the 4000m team pursuit in 1988, where they finished 14th, and four years later in Barcelona in the same event where they were taken out in the quarter-final.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s someone who I\u2019ve looked up to for a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Commonwealth Games have been on her radar for some time \u2013 the family history in the event planting the seed early with the goal of representing her country on the world stage.<\/p>\n
\u201cI never really imagined I\u2019d have a normal job,\u201d she says with a laugh. \u201cBut I probably didn\u2019t imagine I\u2019d be travelling the world like I am now and riding a bike for my country.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fulfilling that Games\u2019 dream however has had its moments of angst for Donnelly. First in 2023, when Australia pulled out of hosting the sporting event due to escalating costs.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen it became apparent there might not be a Games, I felt pretty sad. It\u2019s an event we\u2019ve talked about often as a family and dad\u2019s talked about how special the Commonwealth Games are, so I was really glad when it got the green light for Glasgow,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
\u201cDad has such fond memories of the Commonwealth Games, and I guess I\u2019d like to make a few of my own.\u201d<\/p>\n
The second moment of uncertainty was more recently when Donnelly, riding for her Whoosh\u2013NZ Cycling road team at the Tour of America\u2019s Dairylands in the United States, crashed heavily last month.<\/p>\n
It sent a momentary shiver down her spine as her thoughts turned to the Commonwealth Games and what a concussion could mean.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt happened during a counterattack and it was just an overlapping of wheels,\u201d she says. \u201cI came down hard on my head and shoulder. I pulled into the mechanics, took my helmet off and the Commissaire saw the big bruise on my forehead and said I wouldn\u2019t be getting back on the bike that day.<\/p>\n
\u201cFortunately it wasn\u2019t too bad, and we followed the concussion protocols and precautions and played it safe with the Games coming up.\u201d<\/p>\n
NZ team pursuiters Emily Shearman, Sami Donnelly, Ally Wollaston and Bryony Botha at the 2025 Nations Cup. Photo \/ Instagram, @sammidonelly<\/p>\n
Selection in the New Zealand team was confirmed in June in what was a special moment for the Donnelly family. Sami sat down to post on social media marking the father-daughter moment.<\/p>\n
\u201cDad told me it wasn\u2019t about him but about me and me creating my own story,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
So she captured the words which have been turning her wheels since she started taking cycling seriously as a student at Burnside High School in Christchurch.<\/p>\n
\u2018Chasing my own chapter in a story that started long before me,\u2019 she wrote alongside images of her dad\u2019s winning feats and her own success.<\/p>\n
It seemed inevitable Donnelly would end up on two wheels but as a youngster she never felt the pressure to hop on the saddle. She played all the sports available to her and, on a bike, she dabbled in mountain biking and BMX.<\/p>\n
But it wasn\u2019t until she saw her older brother, Felix, on the track that she was tempted to give the velodrome a shot.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt really has just felt right since I first got on that bike.\u201d<\/p>\n
Helped by a \u201csupportive Canterbury track scene\u201d and a family who \u201cknew\u201d cycling, Donnelly felt wrapped in knowledge and encouragement, motivated to keep getting better every time she clicked her shoes into the pedals.<\/p>\n
In 2017 she won the national U19 road championships, and the following year won team pursuit silver at the UCI junior track world championships while picking up a further three medals at the Oceania track championships.<\/p>\n
Joining the international track squad in 2022, she was part of the winning team pursuit at the Nations Cup in Adelaide and Hong Kong in 2024. She was also a reserve for the New Zealand team at the 2024 Olympics in Paris.<\/p>\n
Sami Donnelly competes in the omnium at the 2026 World Cup in Malaysia. Photo \/ Instagram, @sammidonelly<\/p>\n
This year, Donnelly claimed her first individual World Cup medal, winning bronze in Malaysia in the omnium, while also being part of the quartet that won the team pursuit World Cup finals in Hong Kong and Malaysia \u2013 all combining to make her a cyclist to watch in Glasgow.<\/p>\n
There have been moments, though, when she felt the handlebars slipping through her fingers in 2021 when she contemplated giving the sport away.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was racing for a small Belgian team which turned into a terrible experience. I got a concussion and, with Covid happening, I had to stick it out on my own,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was hard and, when I was eventually able to return home, I had to go through MIQ and I didn\u2019t enjoy it one bit.\u201d<\/p>\n
She had been hit by a car and left with a concussion, a broken bike and spirit. \u201cI was ready to chuck it all in to be honest.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her parents were at home ready to pick up the pieces.<\/p>\n
\u201cDad had rebuilt my old bike and mum asked if I could just take it out for a ride after he\u2019d spent three weekends putting it back together. It was in that moment that I realised that this was still what I wanted,\u201d Donnelly says.<\/p>\n
The following year she made the elite leagues and was forced to make another mindset shift against the fierce competition.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a real adjustment. Training hard all summer and then coming out and getting whipped. I think once I got that success at Oceanias [track championships], I knew I could do this.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chasing her cycling dreams around the world is something she still has to pinch herself about although she admits living out of a suitcase has, at times, become tiresome.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can pack down my bike pretty quick but I\u2019m still getting used to having my life in a suitcase. I\u2019m looking forward to some time at home,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
Until then, her focus remains Glasgow and the thrill of the race \u2013 against her competitors and the clock. Donnelly says the processes they follow in the track disciplines is something that keeps her coming back for more.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the team pursuit you\u2019ve got your individual roles, but it\u2019s about how fast can we go together out there. It\u2019s the speeds you\u2019ve got to go, the skin suits, the aerodynamics and it\u2019s a world of pain for four minutes to go as fast as you can. But that\u2019s what makes it exciting,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo get everyone at their best on the same day is quite an achievement, but to look up at the lap splits or that feeling when you cross the line \u2013 it\u2019s hard to explain. And it never gets easier \u2013 it just gets faster. You train so hard but know that the ceiling just gets higher.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s what Donnelly finds so satisfying about track cycling \u2013 the chase for the faster time. \u201cIf there was a limit, I don\u2019t think it would be as exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n
She\u2019s also grateful to have an \u201cawesome bunch\u201d of cyclists who she lines up with on the steep boards of the velodrome and the support staff pushing her to get better with each outing.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve looked up to someone like Bryony Botha throughout my career and now I\u2019m racing and rooming with her. I\u2019m surrounded by people who are all wanting to get the best out of each other and that\u2019s the motivation to do well together,\u201d Sami says.<\/p>\n
Donnelly also saves a special thanks to her parents and family as her pen poises over the pages of a new chapter, her chapter, of a two-wheeled narrative that is only building in momentum.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ve helped get me to this point,\u201d she says quietly. \u201cThey\u2019re a huge part of my story.\u201d<\/p>\n