Samuel William Gaze (born 12 December 1995) is a New Zealand cross-country and road cyclist, who currently rides for

UCI WorldTeam A UCI WorldTeam (2015–present), previously UCI ProTeam (2005–2014), is the term used by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) to name a cycling team of the highest category in professional road bicycle racing, road cycling, the UCI World Tou ...

. He won the under-23 Cross-Country at the

2016 UCI Mountain Bike & Trials World Championships The 2016 UCI Mountain Bike & Trials World Championships was the 27th edition of the UCI Mountain Bike & Trials World Championships. Unlike in previous years, the world championships for the various disciplines were held at two different locations ...

and the

2017 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships The 2017 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships was the 28th edition of the UCI Mountain Bike World Championships. As in 2016, the championships in the various disciplines were held at separate events. The world championships in four-cross were he ...

. He also competes on occasion in road racing events, winning the National Criterium Championships in 2017 and 2018.

Career

At the Men's cross-country event at the

2014 Commonwealth Games The 2014 Commonwealth Games (), officially known as the XX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Glasgow 2014 (; ), were an international multi-sport event celebrated in the tradition of the Commonwealth Games as governed by the Commonwea ...

, Gaze won the silver medal behind fellow New Zealand rider Anton Cooper. Gaze was selected ahead of Cooper, who had medical conditions during 2016, to represent New Zealand at the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

. He had two punctures in the Olympic race and his gears failed, and he pulled out when he got lapped. In March 2018, Gaze became the first New Zealander to win an elite

UCI Mountain Bike World Cup The UCI Mountain Bike World Cup is a multi-round mountain bike racing series that is sanctioned by the Union Cycliste Internationale The Union Cycliste Internationale (; UCI; ) is the world governing body for sports cycling and oversees int ...

title, when he claimed the cross country event in the first round of the season in

Stellenbosch Stellenbosch (; )A Universal Pronouncing Gazetteer.
Thomas Baldwin ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. In April 2018, Gaze won the gold medal in the cross country event at the

2018 Commonwealth Games The 2018 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXI Commonwealth Games and also known as Gold Coast 2018, were an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth that was held on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, bet ...

. Despite his win, Gaze came under significant media attention for his perceived unsportsmanlike behaviour towards his compatriot and silver place winner Cooper. Gaze was fined CHF200 by the

International Cycling Union The Union Cycliste Internationale (; UCI; ) is the world governing body for sports cycling and oversees international competitive cycling events. The UCI is based in Aigle, Switzerland. The UCI issues racing licenses to riders and enforces disci ...

for showing Cooper

the finger "The finger", or the middle finger (as in giving someone the (middle) finger, flipping the bird or flipping someone off) is an obscene hand gesture. The gesture communicates moderate to extreme contempt, and is roughly equivalent in meaning t ...

during the race. In August 2019, Gaze joined

as a stagiaire for the second half of the season. For 2020, Gaze joined the team to contest road and mountain biking events.

Personal life

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the Co ...

descent, Gaze affiliates to the

Te Āti Awa Te Āti Awa or Te Ātiawa is a Māori iwi with traditional bases in the Taranaki and Wellington regions of New Zealand. Approximately 17,000 people registered their affiliation to Te Āti Awa in 2001, with about 10,000 in Taranaki, 2,000 in We ...

iwi Iwi () are the largest social units in New Zealand Māori society. In Māori, roughly means or , and is often translated as "tribe". The word is both singular and plural in the Māori language, and is typically pluralised as such in English. ...

Major results

Mountain bike

;2014 : 2nd Silver medal blank

Cross-country,

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games is a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations, which consists mostly, but not exclusively, of territories of the former British Empire. The event was first held in 1930 ...

;2015 : 2nd Silver medal uci

Eliminator, UCI Urban World Championships ;2016 : 1st MaillotNuevaZelanda

Cross-country, National Championships : 1st Jersey rainbow

Cross-country, UCI World Under-23 Championships : UCI Under-23 XCO World Cup ::1st

Cairns Cairns (; ) is a city in the Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia, on the tropical north east coast of Far North Queensland. In the , Cairns had a population of 153,181 people. The city was founded in 1876 and named after William Cairns, Sir W ...

::1st

Albstadt Albstadt () is the largest city in the district of Zollernalbkreis in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is located on the Swabian Jura mountains, about halfway between Stuttgart and Lake Constance. Geography Albstadt is spread across a variety of ...

::3rd

La Bresse La Bresse () is a commune in the Vosges department in Grand Est in northeastern France. The area is known for its ski resorts and outdoor activities. La Bresse is located about 45 km west of Colmar and 55 km north west of Mulhouse in ...

::3rd

Lenzerheide Lenzerheide ( Romansh: ''Lai'') is a mountain resort in the canton of Graubünden, Switzerland at the foot of the Parpaner Rothorn. The village lies in the municipality Vaz/Obervaz in the district of Albula, sub-district Alvaschein. Th ...

;2017 : 1st Jersey rainbow

Cross-country, UCI World Under-23 Championships ;2018 : 1st Gold medal blank

Cross-country,

: UCI XCO World Cup ::1st

Stellenbosch Stellenbosch (; )A Universal Pronouncing Gazetteer.
Thomas Baldwin ...

: UCI XCC World Cup ::1st Nové Město ::1st

Mont-Sainte-Anne Mont-Sainte-Anne is a ski resort in eastern Canada, located in the town of Beaupré, Quebec, about northeast of Quebec City. The mountain is part of the Laurentian mountain chain and has a summit elevation of above sea level with a vertical ...

::2nd

: Copa Catalana Internacional ::1st

Girona Girona (; ) is the capital city of the Province of Girona in the autonomous community of Catalonia, Spain, at the confluence of the Ter, Onyar, Galligants, and Güell rivers. The city had an official population of 106,476 in 2024, but the p ...

: 2nd Cross-country, Oceania Championships ;2021 : Swiss Bike Cup ::1st

Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...

: Copa Catalana Internacional ::1st

: 1st

Sittard Sittard (; ) is a city in the Netherlands, situated in the southernmost province of Limburg. The town is part of the municipality of Sittard-Geleen and has almost 37,500 inhabitants in 2016. In its east, Sittard borders the German municipal ...

;2022 :

UCI World Championships The UCI World Championships are annual competitions promoted by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) to determine world champion cyclists. They are held in several different styles of racing, in a different country each year. Championship winn ...

::1st

Marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of kilometres ( 26 mi 385 yd), usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There ...

::1st

Short track : 1st Gold medal blank

Cross-country,

: UCI XCC World Cup ::1st

: 1st

Wijster Wijster is a village in the Dutch province of Drenthe. It is a part of the municipality of Midden-Drenthe, and lies about 11 km north of Hoogeveen. History The village was first mentioned in 1206 as in Wisnare. The etymology is unknown. Wij ...

: Copa Catalana Internacional ::2nd

Vallnord Vallnord () is a ski/snowboard resort in the Pyrenees mountains in the country of Andorra, close to the border with Spain at Tor, Pallars. Overview It encompasses the linked sectors of Pal and Arinsal (the sectors were linked by a cable car ...

;2023 :

::1st

Short track ::2nd Silver medal uci

Cross-country : XCO French Cup ::1st

Guéret Guéret (; Occitan: ''Garait'') is a commune and the prefecture of the Creuse department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region in central France. Geography Guéret is a light industrial town, the largest in the department, with a big woodland a ...

::2nd Marseille–Luminy : Shimano Super Cup ::1st

La Nucia La Nucia (; ) is a municipality in the ''comarca'' of Marina Baixa, Alicante, Valencian Community, Spain. It borders the municipalities of Altea, Callosa d'En Sarrià, Benidorm, Polop and L'Alfàs del Pi. La Nucia is located in a fruit valley b ...

: XCC French Cup ::1st

: UCI XCC World Cup ::2nd Nové Město ;2024 : UCI XCC World Cup ::1st

Mairiporã Mairiporã is a Brazilian municipality in São Paulo state. It is part of the São Paulo metropolitan area. The population is 101,937 (2020 est.) in an area of 321 km². History It became a municipality in 1889, separating from Guarulhos, ...

::1st

Val di Sole The Sole Valley (, or , ) is a valley in Trentino, northern Italy. Sole Valley applies to the Vermiglio Valley, the east-west aligned valley of the river Noce and its sidevalleys, among which the Peio Valley that heads to the Ortler. The rest ...

::3rd

Les Gets Les Gets (, ) is a commune in the department of Haute-Savoie, in the region of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, southeastern France.

Road

;2017 : 1st MaillotNuevaZelanda

National Criterium Championships : 4th

Time trial In many racing sports, an sportsperson, athlete (or occasionally a team of athletes) will compete in a time trial (TT) against the clock to secure the fastest time. The format of a time trial can vary, but usually follow a format where each athle ...

, National Under-23 Championships ;2018 : 1st MaillotNuevaZelanda

National Criterium Championships : 10th Road race,

Grand Tour general classification results timeline

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gaze, Samuel 1995 births Living people New Zealand male cyclists Cyclists at the 2014 Commonwealth Games Cyclists at the 2018 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games gold medallists for New Zealand Commonwealth Games silver medallists for New Zealand Sportspeople from Tokoroa Cyclists from Waikato Cross-country mountain bikers New Zealand mountain bikers Cyclists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic cyclists for New Zealand Te Āti Awa people New Zealand Māori sportspeople Medallists at the 2014 Commonwealth Games Medallists at the 2018 Commonwealth Games Cyclists at the 2022 Commonwealth Games Cyclists at the 2024 Summer Olympics 21st-century New Zealand sportsmen Commonwealth Games silver medallists in cycling Commonwealth Games gold medallists in cycling