RaboPlus New Zealand Track Championships

Olympian Alison Shanks has lowered her New Zealand Individual Pursuit record for the second time in a day at the RaboPlus New Zealand Track Championships in Invercargill.

The Otago rider’s time of 3.30.543 as she defended her New Zealand title over 3000m was just over half a second faster than the record she smashed by five seconds in this morning’s qualifying session.

“I was expecting to go fast, we’re in preparation for the World Champs so you need to be in personal best form, if I was really picky I’d say going under 3:30 was in the back of my mind, but I’ll just save it up for world’s in three weeks time,” she said.

Shanks who won gold at the recent World Cup meet in Beijing, was nearly ten seconds ahead of the second placed rider Jamie Neilson of Waikato Bay of Plenty.

Auckland’s Kaytee Boyd claimed third in her ride off with Waikato Bay of Plenty’s Rushlee Buchanan.

Palmerston North’s Jesse Sergent couldn’t quite repeat his efforts of earlier today when he bettered Hayden Roulston’s New Zealand record by just under five seconds, but easily won the men’s title with a ride of 4:19.465.

“I was not so fast tonight, the legs weren’t quite as fresh and the track seemed to have cooled down a bit, but really happy with the day and both the times, I’m stoked,” he said.

Sergent who also won gold in Beijing this year finished just under four seconds ahead of New Zealand team mate Westley Gough in the final, with Peter Latham winning the bronze ride off ahead of Sam Bewley.

Sergent’s record breaking time this morning of 4:16.714 was the second fastest time this year and sets him up well for the UCI World Championships in Poland later this month.

Both Shanks and Sergent will now focus on the meet with both riders also set to contest the team’s pursuit there as well.

Tonight’s results will have also given selectors a clearer idea of who will join them in the team’s pursuit in Poland with the team to be named at the conclusion of the champs’ on Saturday night.

The selectors requested another look at four riders who finished outside the top four in qualifying and had them race off this evening, included was former New Zealand rowing rep Sonia Waddell who finished 6th in the morning’s qualifying session.

While the individual pursuiters were the major drawcard at the velodrome tonight, there was also huge excitement earlier in the night when Paralympics champion Paula Tesoriero set a new world record in the LC3 Flying Start 200m.

Teseriero who won gold at last year’s Paralympics in Beijing used the scorching track conditions to her advantage to go under the old mark by 0.3 of a second and claim the world record.

“The track was in good condition, it’s pretty hot, I was reasonably confident of doing it but you can never be too confident so it’s great to go under the world record,” she said.

Tomorrow sees the Women’s 500m Time Trial and Men’s 1000m Time Trial and the Women’s 20km Points race in the evening.

Day 3 Results:
Elite Men 4000m Individual Pursuit
Final:
1.Jesse Sergent West Coast North Island 4:19.465
2. Westley Gough East Coast North Island 4:23.164
3.Peter Latham Waikato/BOP 4:24.854
4.Sam Bewley Waikato/BOP 4:25.885

Elite Women 3000m Individual Pursuit
Final:
1. Alison Shanks Otago 3:30.543 (NZ Record)
2.Jamie Neilson Waikato/BOP 3:40.312
3.Kaytee Boyd Auckland 3:43.686
4.Rushlee Buchanan Waikato/BOP 3:45.456
World Record Attempt
LC3 – 200m Flying Start
Paula Tesoriero Wellington 14.911
(Previous World Record – 15.208 seconds)

For full results: bikenz.org.nz