Dawkins Grabs Gold on Medal Winning Night for Track Cyclists

Big Southland sprinter Eddie Dawkins produced a golden finish for the New Zealand cycling team on the final night of the UCI World Cup in Beijing.

Dawkins took out the gold medal in the men’s sprint, producing an emphatic display to win his quarterfinal, semifinal and final all in two straight rides for an unbeaten run at the Olympic velodrome.

The New Zealand squad grabbed three medals on the final night – one of each colour – with the women’s pursuit winning the silver medal against Australia while outstanding prospects Tom Scully and Myron Simpson grabbed bronze in the final of the Madison.

It completed an exellent meet for the largely development team with seven medals and a fourth from 10 events.

The icing on the cake came with the gold medal to Dawkins who produced a mixture of power, speed and outstanding tactics.

He qualified fifth fastest with a superb 10.391 before knocking off Kilo Time Trial gold medallist Miao Shang (China) in front of his home crowd in two straight rides in the quarterfinal.

Dawkins was impressive in accounting for Maximillian Levy (FRA) in the semifinal, again in two straight before dominating the final against another Frenchman, Michael D’Almeida, the second qualifier, in two rides.

The women’s combination of world champion Alison Shanks, Lauren Ellis and Rushlee Buchanan topped the qualifiers with a sharp 3:25.727 from Australia’s 3:26.218 to move into the gold medal ride.

Cambridge rider Jaime Nielsen provided the fresh legs for the gold medal ride along with Ellis and Shanks with the New Zealand’s locked in a battle against the Australian combination who qualified for their first World Cup final.

The kiwis found themselves 1.3 seconds down after a flying first kilo by the Australians and while the New Zealanders came back with faster times over the second and third kilometres they could not bridge the gap.

While New Zealand clocked a best time of 3:23.747, faster than their silver medal effort in last year’s world championships, they finished 0.9s behind the Australians who recorded an outstanding 3:22.879, only fractionally outside Great Britain’s winning time at the worlds.

Earlier Scully (Invercargill) completed an outstanding meet with his third medal when he paired with fellow national champion team-mate Simpson (Auckland) to take bronze in the 40km Madison.

The pair cruised to win their qualifying heat earlier in the day and were the most consistent pairing in the final, gaining points on six of the eight sprints.

The Hong Kong combination skipped clear to put a lap on the field to guarantee them overall victory with Italy on 18 points in second, just two in front of New Zealand in an impressive performance.

Scully took the bronze in the Points race on the opening night and came into the team pursuit as fresh legs for Hayden Godfrey in their bronze medal ride.

The other medals at the World Cup comprised a gold for world champion Shanks in the individual pursuit and a silver for Godfrey in the Scratch race.

The squad returns to New Zealand with riders to prepare for the Elite National Track Championships in Invercargill next month, which double as the Commonwealth Games Trials.

Day 3 New Zealand results:
Men’s Sprint, qualifying: Eddie Dawkins (NZL) 10.391, 5th. Quarterfinals: Dawkins bt Miao Zhang (CHN) 2-0. Semifinal: Dawkins bt Maximillian Levy (FRA) 2-0. Final: Dawkins bt Michael D’Almeida (FRA) 2-0. Bronze medal: Francois Pervis (FRA) bt Levy 2-0.
Madison, qualifying: New Zealand (Tom Scully, Myron Simpson) 1st.
Final, 40kms: Hong Kong 3pts, 1; Italy 1 lap down, 18 pts, 2; New Zealand 1 lap down, 16 pts, 3.

Women’s 3000m team pursuit, qualifying: New Zealand (Rushlee Buchanan, Lauren Ellis, Alison Shanks) 3:25.727, 1; Australia 3:26.218, 2; Canada 3:39.928, 3; Lithuania 3:30.662, 4.
Gold medal ride: Australia 3:22.879, New Zealand (Jaime Nielsen, Ellis, Shanks) 3:23.747, 2.
Bronze medal ride: Canada 3:26.723, 3; Lithuania 3:28.332, 4.