OCEANIA TRACK CYCLING CHAMPIONSHIPS, BRISBANE, DAY 4 NEW ZEALAND WRAP

The emergence of the women’s team sprint along with unexpected outstanding form from Aaron Gate and Ally Wollaston set the tone for further success for the New Zealand cycling team on the final day of the Oceania Championships in Brisbane.

With a weather-eye on the Commonwealth Games and the world championships, Cycling New Zealand’s newly minted women’s team sprint trio proved world class this week.

New national sprint coach Nick Flyger and his wife, the double Olympic and 11-time world champion Anna Meares, whose name adorns the velodrome in Brisbane, were no doubt excited at the prospects as Flyger heads to Cambridge to take up his role fulltime.

The trio of Rebecca Petch, Olivia King and Ellesse Andrews lowered their national record set at the recent national championships twice this week, now down to 47.589s, which would have qualified them third fastest at last year’s world championships.

The spark came from Olympic BMX semifinalist Petch, who is mixing across both disciplines, and produced starting times up with the best in the world, with support from King and the power and purpose from Tokyo medallist Andrews, who was the fastest third-wheel.

“It was cool lining up with the girls and being able to share it with the team was really special. I think there’s so much more to come from the team which is really exciting,” said Petch.

“I am super-stoked,” said Andrews. “To better our time from nationals, and better our qualifying time in the final was super-great. As Beks said, we definitely have more to give, so I’m excited for that.”

The remainder of the final day belonged to the four-discipline omnium, a key Olympic and world championship event, with New Zealand riders winning three of the four titles up for grabs.

Wollaston, 21, was third in the scratch race, fourth in the tempo and won in the elimination to trail teammate Bryony Botha by four points going into the all-important points race, where all points secured are added to the final tally.

Wollaston won four sprints and scored points in the other three to finish on 143 points, with Botha on 134, Australian Sophie Edwards on 125 with Kiwi Ella Wyllie impressing to finish fourth.

The Waikato rider, who won the scratch race on the first day, the madison yesterday and was part of the winning team pursuit, was not expecting much success this week.

“It definitely was a surprise. I have been covid-free for only two weeks now. I am relieved to earn a spot for the team for worlds and really happy with my performances. Same for the other girls because we rode really well together as a team today,” said Wollaston.

That effort was matched by the mercurial Gate, the 2017 omnium world champion, who was third in the scratch, fourth in the tempo and won the elimination to trail teammate Tom Sexton by 10 points.

Gate was again supreme in the points race, lapping the field twice for 40 bonus points and picking up points in seven of 10 sprints to finish on 171 points, a huge 35 points clear of compatriot George Jackson.

The New Zealand riders worked well together to snuff out the Australian charge, gaining invaluable ranking points and securing a spot at the world championships.

As with Wollaston, Gate was surprised at his form after not touching his pursuit bike since the ill-fated Olympic crash and with a build-up on the road in Europe only since January.

Earlier Auckland’s Joel Douglas claimed the junior men’s omnium, with wins in the tempo and elimination, before winning four of seven sprints to dominate the points race. He scored 142 points to be 18 points clear of his Australian rival with teammates Lewis Johnston and Edward Pawson third and fourth respectively.

The New Zealand elite team sprint trio, including some development riders, were second in their final against Australia.

In para-cycling action, Paralympian Sarah Ellington was second in the C2 individual pursuit in 4:13.874 with teammate Nicole Murray winning the WC5 3000m pursuit in 3:33.245.

Devon Briggs made a fast start but had to hang on to claim the men’s C4 4000m pursuit final in 4:53.926 over Australian Luke Taylor, while Ben Westenberg was caught in the MC5 final.

All cycling disciplines are competing in the Oceania Championships in Brisbane, with action to be completed this weekend in BMX and road racing.

Vision: www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8GR5rV5FNA

Caption: Multiple Oceania titles between endurance riders Ally Wollaston and Bryony Botha; Aaron Gate won the Points and Omnium honours. (Credit: Michael Shippley/AusCycling)