UCI World Junior Track Cycling Championships
New Zealand cyclists scored two more medals to complete a record haul on the fifth and final day of competition at the UCI World Junior Track Championships in Moscow.
Auckland’s Georgia Williams won a silver medal in the women’s 2000m individual pursuit while Christchurch’s Alex Frame and Havelock North’s Fraser Gough combined to bag silver in the Madison.
It completed an outstanding world championship for the BikeNZ contingent, finishing with four silver medals and six bronze for a record 10-medal haul, the most for any New Zealand team in the history of the championships.
It also bodes well for New Zealand riders who remain in the junior category with the country to host the 2012 UCI World Championships at Invercargill next year.
“Overall, I am extremely happy with the over performance of the 2011 junior worlds, very impressed with the team and the way they have gone about their campaign,” said New Zealand coach Ross Machejefski.
“The most impressive aspect and reason they tasted so much success, was their professionalism and execution of race plans. We worked with them to create a race plan and they all following it through, which was so impressive for such young athletes. This really helped in the team and bunch race events where we saw a lot of success.
“The staff here have been exceptional and provided the very best of support to them.
“It will be a giant hurdle to top this next year, but with six of the team eligible to be back, the talent will definitely be there to give it a good go and put on a great show in front of the home support that we will get at Invercargill, which is a track they all know well.”
Today Williams worked her way into the gold medal ride after a splendid qualifying performance of 2:27.456, a best time for New Zealand in the 2000m individual pursuit. She achieved it with a conservative opening kilometre but flew home in 1:11 for the second kilo, the fastest in the field.
The young Auckland rider, who was a member of the silver medal winning team pursuit in last year’s championships in Italy, tried similar tactics in the final. However she was a second slower through the 1000m than in the morning and while she pushed hard, she had given the German Mieke Kroger too much of a start.
Kroger won in 2:27.113 with Williams claiming the silver medal in 2:28.714, with an average speed of over 48kph.
Frame, who rode the Madison at the Italy worlds last year, had not paired with Gough before the championships in the unique Madison, where one rider must be on the track at any time, swapping turns with a hand-to-hand slingshot action.
The pair had been in the bronze medal winning team pursuit combination while Frame had won a second medal in the Points race yesterday.
Australia took out the gold medal with 10 points, just edging the BikeNZ combination by a single point.
Auckland’s Stephanie McKenzie, chasing an outstanding fourth medal at the championships, was just edged out of the podium position in the 500m time trial.
She clocked 36.333s in a strong ride to finish 4/10ths off the bronze medal in the event won by host nation Russia with Anastasiya Voynova setting a new world record in 34.768.