Track | Australia crowned overall 2018/19 UCI Team World Cup winners

Photo - Guy Swarbrick

The Australian Cycling Team has been crowned overall 2018/19 UCI World Cup winners following an emphatic final World Cup round held at the Hong Kong Velodrome.

Australia claimed three gold, three silver and two bronze across the three days, highlighted by dual gold to Thomas Clarke, 23, in the sprint and team sprint with teenagers James Brister, 19, and Matthew Richardson, 19, plus omnium gold to Cameron Meyer.

Overall across the six-round World Cup series, Australia won 34 medals including 13 gold, 12 silver and nine bronze.
 
“It is a great team effort, a mixture of committed athletes, committed staff, everyone working together, I think it is a great thing to celebrate,” said Jon Norfolk, Head of Performance Pathways and People, Cycling Australia.

“Across this season we witnessed great results and performances from athletes within the Podium program and the Podium Potential Academy.  It is so great to have two separate tiers of our program able to perform on this kind of stage, to be able to refine and improve.

“It is also great to see both programs supporting each other as well, we have podium athletes supporting our younger athletes, and in turn, they are being inspired by racing and training with their heroes.  

“It is a really infectious environment.”

RECAPS: 

Sunday 

Forty-eight hours after teaming winning gold in the team sprint, Podium Potential Academy members Thomas Clarke, 23, and James Brister, 19, battled each other for gold in the individual sprint with Clarke taking the top step of the podium.

In a heartbreaking end to the men’s 30km Madison, Sam Welsford, 23, and Kelland O’Brien, 20, were edged into the silver medal position by New Zealand in the final sprint of the 120-lap race.

Alexandra Manly staged an epic comeback inside the final twenty laps of the points race to win bronze in women’s omnium.  

Teenage debutant Alexandra Martin-Wallace shone in the scratch race, coming over the top of a fast finishing bunch to win silver.

Read full Sunday report

Saturday

A calculated performance from Cameron Meyer, saw the 31-year-old claim an emphatic gold in his first international omnium competition.

In her first race at the World Cup level since 2016 after suffering a broken foot and chronic back injuries, Caitlin Ward, 24, netted her best World Cup performance finishing eighth with a competition personal best 11.022seconds in the flying 200m.

Read full Omnium & Women's Sprint report
​
Friday

The Australian Cycling Team’s Podium Potential Academy riders stole the show on the opening day of competition with teenagers James Brister, 19, and Matthew Richardson, 19, bolting from the gates on their World Cup debut, with Thomas Clarke, 23, to win gold in the men’s team sprint.

In the team pursuit, the teenage quartet of Jarrad Drizners, 19, Godfrey Slattery, 18 Conor Leahy, 19, and Luke Plapp, 18, won bronze in just their second World Cup event.

The women’s endurance quartet of Maeve Plouffe, 19, Alexandra Manly, 22, and World Cup debutantsAlexandra Martin-Wallace and Sophie Edwards, both 18, finished fifth overall.

Read full Team Pursuit & Team Sprint reports