Cycling New Zealand has today announced that Paul Manning, who enjoyed Olympic success as a rider and coach for Great Britain, is the new women’s endurance coach.

Manning will take up his duties from his base in Manchester before moving to Cambridge once immigration details are finalised. This follows the recent appointment of successful Australian coach Nick Flyger, who has taken up the role of head sprint coach.

Cycling New Zealand CEO, Monica Robbers said the organisation is thrilled to have attracted another highly successful and proven international coach.

“Paul, like Nick, has achieved international success as a coach and we cannot be more excited to have him join us,” said Robbers. “More importantly both coaches are good people who are driven to develop our riders to become the best that they can be, and both are also strong advocates of athlete well-being.”

Manning, who rode to a gold medal in the Great Britain team pursuit at the Beijing Olympics, turned to coaching shortly after. He developed the British women’s team pursuit to win the gold medal at both London in 2012 and Rio in 2016. He also prepared the team for Tokyo before leaving in 2020 after the Games were moved out a further year, taking up an interim role with Cycling Ireland.

“I have always held New Zealand cycling in the highest regard. For a small nation they have always been highly competitive and always challenge and innovate to be a threat on the global stage,” said Manning.

“I am excited to join the Cycling New Zealand family and to help support athletes and staff to excel.

“I am equally excited to live in New Zealand and be part of the high performance environment in Cambridge. This an amazing opportunity and I can’t wait to get to work.”

Manning will help with the small team to compete in the Nations Cup in Glasgow and potentially head to the second Nations Cup in Canada before settling in New Zealand.

It will allow Ross Machejefski, who has continued as the women’s endurance coach, to focus on his university studies and to manage cycling development for Cycling New Zealand.