Australia’s campaign at the 2015 UCI Junior Track World Championships in Kazakhstan has opened with a silver medal and a national record on the opening day.
The men’s team sprint trio of Cameron Scott (NSW), Conor Rowley (VIC) and Derek Radzikiewicz (SA) claimed silver, while Courtney Field (VIC) and Tahlay Christie (WA) set an Australian record and finished fourth in the women’s event.
In the team pursuit, the men’s quartet qualified fastest and women third fastest, with both teams through to Thursday’s second round.
Men’s Team Sprint
Cameron Scott (NSW), Conor Rowley (VIC) and Derek Radzikiewicz (SA) claimed silver in the men’s team sprint, covering the three laps in a time of 45.724 seconds.
“Earning a silver medal at international level is amazing and while on my debut at the world level, it is a great step,” said Radzikiewicz. “Going into this we didn’t know where we stood against the other teams, so there was absolutely no disappointments from any of us.”
Australia qualified second fastest in 45.610secs to set up a clash with Germany in the final.
A strong start in the final wasn’t quite enough to wrestle gold away from Germany who set a new world record of 44.767 on route to victory.
“It was an unreal feeling to be in the gold final, we were all ecstatic, added Radzikiewicz. “Its been such a long journey for all of us since Track Nationals in January, and its awesome that all that off season work has paid off!”
Bronze went to Poland who defeated the Czech Republic in the ride off for bronze.
Women’s Team Sprint
In the women’s team sprint, Courtney Field (VIC) and Tahlay Christie (WA) set an Australian record of 34.499sec in qualifying earning them a spot in the bronze medal ride against Italy.
Little separated the two teams in the bronze medal final with Australia falling agonisingly short in the two lap event by just .019 of second.
“It means so much,” said Field, herself the reigning individual sprint world champion. “I’m just over the moon with the time that we did.
“Just showing us how all the hard work that we put in over the past few years has really paid off and that we have represented Australia with pride.”
Germany claimed gold in a world record time of 33.899secs, eclipsing their new mark set in qualifying with 33.962secs. New Zealand collected silver.
Men’s Team Pursuit
In 4000m qualifying, Rohan Wight (SA), Alex Rendell (WA), Kelland O’Brien (VIC) and James Robinson (TAS) got off to a fast start in the opening kilometre quickly building a lead of nearly a second.
A consistent second and third kilometres the quartet saw them power over the final few laps to post the fastest qualifying time of 4mins 8.343secs.
“I’m really happy with how qualifying went, to qualify fastest is really exciting,” said triple reigning national champion Wight. “I’m feeling pretty good ahead of tomorrows racing, and am looking forward to getting out there with the guys again and having a good ride.”
Australia will face Poland, the fourth fastest qualifiers in 4mins 13.484 secs, in round one tomorrow with the winner advancing to the gold medal ride.
Women’s Team Pursuit
As defending champions, Australia was the final team to hit the track in qualifying and Dani McKinnirey (SA), Nicola MacDonald (NSW), Chloe Moran (SA) and Tori Saunders (NSW) put in a strong opening kilometre that had them the fastest by half a second.
The team conserved their energy over the latter stages of the event, riding to the third fastest time of 4mins and 46.347secs to move through to the next round.
“We are all happy with how the qualifying played out we have made the finals and just have to rest up and work on a new strategy for the next rounds,” explained McKinnirey, the lone returning member of the 2014 world champion outfit.
New Zealand broke the world record with a ride of 4mins 35.155secs, with Russia second in four minutes 46.046 seconds
Australia will face fourth fastest qualifier Japan (4mins 47.812secs) in the first round on Thursday with the winner to advance to the gold medal ride.
“We learnt a lot in the qualifying round and have a few minor things to change. The team feels confident in their abilities to back up and lift in the coming rounds.”
Text via Cycling Australia Media Release
Images copyright UCI
