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
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What was your favourite cycling moment in 2018?
There were so many incredible moments for Australian cycling in 2018 it was difficult to narrow it down, but we have twelve amazing moments which make up our 2018 JLT Australian Cycling Moment of the Year. The Australian Cycling team figures prominently in the list via Rohan Dennis, Alistair Donohoe, Matthew Glaetzer and Luke Plapp's world titles, Steph Morton's triple gold at the Commonwealth Games, our team pursuit's stunning 3:49.804 ride at the Commonwealth Games, Logan Martin’s BMX-factor at the FISE World Series, and Amanda Spratt's stellar silver at the UCI Road Worlds! Choose your favourite moment via the survey and you could be celebrating another fantastic year at the 2018 Cycling Australia Awards in Melbourne on Friday 23 November. Terms & Conditions
The Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games Track competition will take place at the Anna Meares Velodrome (Brisbane) from Thursday 5 to Sunday 8 April.
It will feature 20 events - eight endurance, eight sprint and four para-cycling - with the eight track endurance events to include the points race and scratch race, and the team and individual pursuits. The team pursuit is set to make its Commonwealth Games debut for women. The 2018 Games is likely to provide a milestone for team, with Australia having won 96 Commonwealth Games cycling gold medals. WOMEN'S TEAM
Photo - Cycling Australia
A six-member women’s endurance squad with a rich blend of World Championship, Olympic and Commonwealth Games experience will line up for Australia at the Games.
Reigning Games scratch race champion Annette Edmondson, 26 (SA) is back on the track for her second Games, with the dual world champion eyeing a spot in Australia’s team pursuit quartet for the event’s debut. Edmondson’s 2015 team pursuit world champion teammates Amy Cure, 25 (TAS) and Ashlee Ankudinoff, 27 (NSW) will provide tremendous experience and multiple options for all four events. Cure, a dual 2014 Games medallist and 2014 points race world champion, is fresh from two national championship crowns in the scratch and points races. Ankudinoff, Australia’s only dual world champion in the team pursuit, boasts two World Championship medals in the individual format. Dual individual pursuit world champion Rebecca Wiasak, 33 (ACT), who narrowly missed selection to the 2014 Commonwealth and 2016 Olympic teams, will make her major Games debut. 2016 Olympian Georgia Baker, 23 (TAS) overcame heart surgery in November to make her first Games team, while Alexandra Manly, 22 (SA) will also make her debut. Manly, with Cure, Ankudinoff and Wiasak claimed silver at the 2017 World Championships, less than half a second behind world champions USA. MEN's TEAM
Photo - Kevin Anderson
The seven-member men’s endurance squad might feature six Games debutants, but the team enjoys a wealth of experience, collectively boasting 19 rainbow jerseys and countless options for the pursuit and bunch races.
Triple 2010 Games gold medallist Cameron Meyer, 30 (WA) returns to the Australian team and enters fresh from claiming the points race world crown last month, his ninth career rainbow jersey. Like his fellow Perth native, Olympic team pursuit silver medallist and reigning individual pursuit national champion Samuel Welsford, 22 (WA) will be a threat in any race, as will three-time world champion Leigh Howard, 28 (VIC) who receives his first Games nod. Hometown fans will be eager to see Jordan Kerby, 25 (QLD) in action, with the 2017 individual pursuit world champion rocketing to cult hero status after riding to the third fastest time in history just months after returning to track cycling. Rounding out the side is 2017 world champions Alexander Porter, 21 (SA), Nicholas Yallouris, 24 (NSW), plus Kelland O’Brien, 19 (VIC) - the youngest member of Australia’s 36-member cycling team. While the men’s, and women’s, track endurance teams bypassed March’s World Championships a part of the Australia Cycling Team strategy to focus on the Games, the quartet of O'Brien, Yallouris, Kerby and Howard soared to Oceania gold last November in 3min 52.421secs - one of the top ten fastest pursuit times in history. The focus for both squads lies firmly with the team pursuit on day one, with the exact line up for each of the four events, to be confirmed closer to the competition start date.
WHEN ARE THEY RACING?
HOW CAN I WATCH?
HOW DO I FOLLOW? Follow all the action at commonwealthgames.com.au, or via the official CommGamesAUS social media channels / #TeamAus PHOTOS
Photos © Kevin Anderson, and Cycling Australia.
 Image via Kevin Anderson Commonwealth Games Australia is pleased to announce a strong 36-member team to contest the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games.
Reigning Commonwealth Games champions Stephanie Morton, Matthew Glaetzer and Annette Edmondson headline the track selections, in addition to the return of 2010 Gold medallists Cameron Meyer and Kaarle McCulloch. Reigning road national champions Alexander Edmondson and Shannon Malseed, triple world championship medallist Katrin Garfoot and 2006 Commonwealth Games road race gold medallist Mathew Hayman feature in the road selections. The team will vie for 26 gold medals - track (16), para-cycling track (4), road (4), and mountain bike (2) competitions in Brisbane and on the Gold Coast from 4-15 April. Australian Team Chef de Mission Steve Moneghetti welcomed the athletes on to the Australian Team. “We enjoyed strong success at Glasgow 2014 from the Cycling team, so with the depth and experience we have in this team we look forward to more success at Gold Coast 2018,” he said. “The cycling program is an incredibly exciting one for fans, with competition at the new Anna Meares Velodrome, road cycling events that are free and open to all spectators and mountain biking at the Nerang trails. “With many of these athletes spending a lot of time abroad, Gold Coast 2018 provides a unique chance for these athletes to compete in front of a home crowd,” Moneghetti said. With the announcement of the 36 cyclists today, the Australian Team currently numbers 222, or just under half the anticipated total of 470 athletes. TEAM OVERVIEW The men’s track endurance squad is replete with rainbow jerseys, with reigning team pursuit world champions Samuel Welsford, Kelland O’Brien, Leigh Howard, Alexander Porter and Nicholas Yallouris, plus individual pursuit world champion Jordan Kerby; named in their first Games’ team. Three-time world champion Leigh Howard will also debut, with eight-time world champion and triple 2010 Games Gold medallist Cameron Meyer rounding out the strong line up. Defending scratch race Gold medallist and dual world champion Annette Edmondson, dual 2014 Games medallist and world champion Amy Cure and 2010 representative Ashlee Ankudinoff will lead the women’s endurance squad. Dual world champion Rebecca Wiasak, Rio Olympian Georgia Baker and rising star Alexandra Manly all receive their first Commonwealth Games’ selections. “It’s really not that often someone gets to represent their country in a home Commonwealth Games in their career, so for me, it’s something very special that I’ll never forget,” said Cure, a dual medallist from 2014. “(I am) super excited to have the team pursuit on the calendar at the Games. I’m really excited to see what the team can achieve; as one of our three Olympic events, it’s great to get another opportunity to race this race in front of big crowds.” Australia’s sprint crew is awash with Commonwealth Gold with defending sprint champion Stephanie Morton to form a formidable women’s sprint duo with 2010 team sprint champion Kaarle McCulloch. 2014 keirin Gold medallist Matthew Glaetzer will spearhead an impressive men’s sprint quartet with Rio Olympians Nathan Hart and Patrick Constable, and Jacob Schmid. A host of Australia’s WorldTour elite highlight the road selections, with reigning national champion Alexander Edmondson, 2006 Commonwealth Games road race Gold medallist Mathew Hayman, Steele Von Hoff, Mitchell Docker, Callum Scotson and Meyer, forming a versatile six-member men’s road squad. “I have very fond memories of the 2014 Commonwealth Games from Glasgow, so I am really excited about lining up in the road race in 2018,” said Edmondson, who won Gold and Silver in the pursuit events on the track four years ago. “Of course being a home games there’s a bit of added pressure, but we are going to have a home crowd cheering us on which is going to be huge. “I’m really looking forward to the opportunity of racing in the green and gold on home soil!” Triple world championship medallist and 2014 Commonwealth Bronze medallist Katrin Garfoot will head the six-member women’s team with reigning road national champion Shannon Malseed, dual national road champion Gracie Elvin and 2010 Games Bronze medallist Chloe Hosking, who gains a third team selection. 2010 team member Tiffany Cromwell returns while Sarah Roy makes her debut. “It's a bit of a pinch yourself moment,” said Hosking who becomes just the third Australian female cycling behind Anna Meares and Kathy Watt to be named to contest three Commonwealth Games. “To think I represented Australia at 20 in Delhi and I'm still racing and still getting stronger and still pulling on the green and gold. I would never have dreamt this growing up.” The Tandem Para-cycling selections are led by 2016 world champions Jessica Gallagher and Pilot Madison Janssen, while Bradley Henderson will make his debut with Pilot Thomas Clarke who won Bronze at the 2014 Games. 2014 Bronze medallists and dual Olympians Daniel McConnell and Rebecca McConnell (nee Henderson) will contest the mountain bike cross-country competition. “I'm very excited about the upcoming Games, to have a home Commonwealth Games is going to be a great experience,” said McConnell who grabbed a top ten finish at last year’s World Championships in Cairns. “I have pretty high expectations going into the Games. “I really like the course, I think it suits my strength pretty well. I just want to get to the start line 100% fit and ready to go, if I can do that anything is possible.” Similarly, Rebecca McConnell is hoping the home course advantage plays into her hands when she lines up against a world-class field. “I have been fortunate enough to race on the course at the Nationals Series in January, it's a great course, with technical climbing and descending and the strongest rider will win,” said Henderson. “With world champions and World Cup winners in both the men's and the women's field the racing is going to be fast and exciting so we hope to see lots of spectators in April!” Australia has enjoyed strong success at recent Games with a 24-medal haul including seven gold in Glasgow in 2014, and 21 medals (14 gold) in Delhi in 2010. Tickets still available to 12 sports across the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games competition schedule. Commonwealth Games Australian Cycling Team ROAD
MTB
TRACK ENDURANCE
TRACK SPRINT
PARA TRACK (TANDEMS)
* Commonwealth Games debutant |
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