Successful World Championships for NZ track cyclists
The last few mornings have been quite unproductive here at the Avantidrome; we’ve all been glued to the TV as our New Zealand track riders compete at the World Track Championships in Paris, and it’s been thrilling!
There was much cheering and excitement this morning as the men’s pursuit team took the gold medal over Great Britain – we can’t wait to see those rainbow stripes back here at the Avantidrome. The future of this team is so exciting, the oldest rider at just 21 years old, there’s a lot more to come from them in the future. The last minute withdrawal of Marc Ryan (due to a back injury) and addition of Regan Gough who recently won the ‘Emerging talent’ award at the Halbergs last week, also sends signals about the strength of the riders coming thought the Cycling New Zealand ranks here at the Avantidrome.
The womens pursuit team of Rushlee Buchanan, Lauren Ellis, Jaime Nielsen and Georgia Williams also took our 4th place which is an incredible effort seeing as though they didn’t send a team to compete at the world champs last year.
Eddie Dawkins also took silver in the men’s Keirin and it was fantastic to see two of the New Zealand men make the Keirin final. Eddie Dawkins on this achievement:
“I am over the moon. It’s only the second time I’ve been in the final of the keirin but the first time I’ve been competitive. Especially for an Olympic discipline, it’s huge for me and huge for the programme.
Yesterday was a morning of mixed emotions as the New Zealand Mens Sprint team won convincingly over France, only to be relegated to second after a ‘false change’. We’ve never seen such devastation on the face of anyone on a podium, as we did yesterday on Eddie Dawkins face…
“I was moody last night and this morning but this (Dawkins Keirin result) has made up for that result yesterday. Scars do heal but they still leave a mark. There is definitely unfinished business for that team sprint next year and on to Rio.”
With events like the individual sprints, the omnium, and mens time trials still to come we can expect some more exciting and nerve-wracking mornings here at the Avantidrome!
The images are free for editorial use only. Credit: Guy Swarbrick/Cycling New Zealand
Day 2 results:
Men’s 4000m team pursuit, semifinal: New Zealand (Dylan Kennett, Pieter Bulling, Marc Ryan, Alex Frame) 3:56.198, 1; Switzerland 3:57.505, 2. Semifinal 2: Great Britain 3:55.207, 1; Germany 3:57.116, 2.
Other first round: Australia 3:55.314, 1; France 3:58.616, 2; Russia 3:57.181, 1; Netherlands 3:58.230, 2.
Gold medal ride: New Zealand (Kennett, Bulling, Regan Gough, Frame) 3:54.088, 1; Great Britain 3:54.687, 2. Bronze medal: Australia 3, Germany 3 (over-lapped)
Women’s 4000m team pursuit, semifinal 1: Australia 4:17.410, 1; New Zealand (Rushlee Buchanan, Lauren Ellis, Jaime Nielsen, Georgia Williams) 4:22.954, 2. Semifinal 2: Great Britain 4:16.979, 1; Canada 4:17.799, 2.
Gold medal: Australia 4:13.683, 1 (World Record); Great Britain 4:16.702, 2. Bronze medal: Canada 4:17.864, 3; New Zealand (Buchanan, Ellis, Racquel Sheath, Nielsen) 4:22.706, 4.
Men’s Keirin final: Francois Pervis (FRA) 1, Eddie Dawkins (NZL) 2, Aziz Awang (MAS) 3, Maximilian Levy (GER) 4, Nikita Shurshin (RUS) 5, Sam Webster (NZL) 6.
Semifinal 1: Shurshin 1, Levy 2, Webster 3. Semifinal 2: Dawkins 1, Pervis 2, Awang 3.
Women 500m time trial: Anastasia Voynova (RUS) 33.149, 1; Anna Meares (AUS) 33.425, 2; Miriam Welte (GER) 33.699, 3. Also: Katie Schofield (NZL) 34.595, 12; Stephanie Mckenzie (NZL) 34.722, 14.