The New Zealand pairing of Emily Shearman and Samantha Donnelly combined to claim the bronze medal in the women’s madison on day two of the UCI Nations Cup track cycling in Turkey.
Shearman and Donnelly were pipped for the silver medal, finishing on the same points as Germany who edged them in the final sprint to claim second place behind winners Denmark.
The kiwi pairing won three of the 12 sprints throughout the 120 lap race, where one rider is always in play, switching throughout with a hand-sling motion.
They managed 20 bonus points for gaining a lap, along with Denmark and Germany, and moved to second going into the final 10 laps. While Denmark won three of the closing four sprints to move clear, Germany managed second place in the final double-points sprint to edge the kiwi combination for the silver medal on countback.
World Tour rider Campbell Stewart finished eighth in the men’s omnium competition, placing eighth in the scratch race, 19th in tempo and recovering well to win the elimination. Stewart worked hard to earn a lap on the field and raced prominently in the closing points race. He had to settle for eighth overall, with the gold won by Dutch rider Yanne Dorenbos after winning the last sprint to win by one point from American Ashlin Barry.
Olympian Sam Dakin placed fifth in the keirin final after moving through qualifying impressively. Dakin pushed from the back but was squeezed by the two French riders as he challenged for the lead going into the final lap.
Earlier Olivia King recorded a strong 10.756s time on the super-quick track in qualifying for the women’s sprint but was eliminated in the first round of match racing.
The highlight was a world record 9.976s by Liying Yuan (China), to become the first women to go under 10 seconds.
Tomorrow’s final day of competition at the Konya Velodrome features Olympic medallist Ally Wollaston in the omnium, Dakin in sprint, King in the keirin, Keegan Hornblow and Tom Sexton in the Madison.