Women's keirin

Stephanie Morton added a keirin bronze to her sprint silver at her first major meet since having knee surgery.

The team sprint world champion held on for third in the keirin medal race, behind gold medallist Hyejin Lee of South Korea and Canada's Lauriane Genest.

"I wasn't sure what to expect coming into this week," Morton said. "First real big race back since the op and I'm pleased with where I've landed, really happy with the progression and looking forward to Brisbane."

Morton won her opening round heat and finished third in her semi-final to secure a place in the medal race.

Men's sprint

Nathan Hart, the World Cup gold medallist on this Cambridge track last January, took fourth place in the men's sprint this round.

He was beaten in two straight races by Japan's Yudai Nitta in the bronze medal ride after being edged by NItta's teammate Tomohiro Fukaya in the semi-finals.

Hart qualified third fastest in 9.613secs with top qualifier Mateusz Rudyk of Poland going on to win gold, with Fukaya claiming silver. 

2018 world champion Matthew Glaetzer earlier lost in the second round after sneaking through to the last 16 by the slimmest of margins.

Glaetzer was judged the winner of his first-round heat against Frenchman Rayan Helal, after being deemed a dead heat to three decimal places.

The Australian Team opened the 2020 track season last weekend at the 2020 Oceania Track Championships in Invercargill in New Zealand. 

The Oceania Championships opened the busy 2019-20 summer of international track cycling which continues in November and December with the six-round Tissot UCI Track Cycling World Cup. 

Members of the Australian Team will contest the World Cup's second round in Scotland, round four in New Zealand, before a blockbuster round five on home soil at Brisbane's Anna Meares Velodrome from 13-15 December. 

"Overall these performances were good for the riders and coaches to assess how the preparation has been progressing," said Simon Jones, Performance Director, High Performance, Cycling Australia. "It is also pleasing from my perspective to see the progress from both the Podium and the Academy athletes with the World Cup season just about to start." 

Oceania Recap

Reigning scratch and team pursuit world champion Sam Welsford claimed dual gold the omnium and the Madison with Kelland O'Brien. Welsford dominated all four events in the omnium, before sealing Madison gold with victory on the double points final lap.

"The Australia and New Zealand showdown is always really intimate and personal, they throw it all at us, so they were really tough races," said Welsford. "Coming into Oceania, I had a bunch focus, targeting a couple of events like the Omnium and Madison, so to execute and nail some good results, is important for me."

Welsford will now turn his focus to a busy 2019-2020 UCI Track World Cup season in which he will contest three rounds - Scotland (November), New Zealand (December), Brisbane (December).  

"To get back on the track and set up a good season ahead is pretty vital for me," Welsford added. "I have a big World Cup season ahead, there will be a lot of racing, but I am looking forward to getting more and more accustomed to racing the World Cup races in the Madison and the omnium." 

O'Brien took silver in the 15km scratch race. 

In a dominant performance across the bunch races, Amy Cure claimed three gold at the Championships in the omnium, points race and Madison with Alexandra Manly. The three-time world champion Cure was all class on the way to winning all four events in the omnium, while in the Madison, Cure and Manly dominated the 30km final.

"I wasn't sure how I was going to go here as I've been a bit up and down lately, but I set myself up early by getting some wins, and I had a good buffer going into that points race," said Cure. "I don't mind a points race, it's always tough, but I just went in there and treated it like any other points race."

Reigning team sprint world champions Stephanie Morton and Kaarle McCulloch broke their Oceania Championship record (32.591secs) en route to gold. 
Morton then powered to gold in the sprint while Kaarle McCulloch, who posted a personal best to top sprint qualifying (10.759secs), won bronze. 

“I exceeded my expectations of where I was going to be at. I am not firing on all cylinders yet, but am ahead of where I thought I was going to be," said Morton after the Championships, her first competition since February's Track Worlds and since undergoing off-season knee surgery.  

“I haven’t raced the team sprint in a while and off the back of the surgery, I knew I didn’t have the strength and fitness traditionally I would have at Oceanias. Kaarle was great in giving me confidence in our ability as a team and it just showed that being able to work together and rely on your teammate, you will get the job done even when you’re not in the best form.”

Morton will now head back to Adelaide for six weeks of training before contesting the New Zealand (December) and Brisbane (December) rounds of the World Cup. 
“I am going to be training pretty hard leading into the World Cups as my offseason was pretty interrupted, but as per this week, I will be confident I will be able to go out there and still be competitive.

“But it is a great time to rehearse everything now, there are so many things behind the scenes that you have to get right to be a champion, whether it is nutrition or recovery, it is not just race day.” 

Nathan Hart, and Podium Potential Academy duo Matthew Richardson and Thomas Clarke, took silver in the team sprint (43.360secs) with New Zealand breaking the Oceania record (42.508) on the way to the gold medal. 
 
The Australian Cycling Team's Podium Potential Academy enjoyed strong results at the Championships with gold in the team pursuit, scratch race and individual pursuit.  
Conor Leahy, Godfrey Slattery, Lucas Plapp teamed with guest rider Joshua Duffy, to produce a dominant display to take gold in the team pursuit, catching a young New Zealand team in the final. 

"It was awesome, we had a pretty hefty goal in the way we were going to do our turns, and we stuck to it 100 percent, we couldn't have asked for a better outcome," Leahy said. "We took it conservatively in qualifying and then let it all out in the final. Once we got a sniff of them (New Zealand), it was a matter of hunting them down and catching them. 

In the women's team pursuit, Maeve Plouffe, Sam De Riter, Sophie Edwards and Alexandra Martin-Wallace (4:22.057) claimed silver. 

Plouffe's comeback following wrist surgery in July saw her grab four medals at the Championships including silver in the individual pursuit, bronze in the points race, plus a superb effort in the scratch race which saw her lap the field twice to win gold. 

"I was not expecting that at all. I had a pretty big ride with my teammates in the team pursuit earlier, and I have a pretty full schedule," said Plouffe. "Once I lapped the field, it was all about protecting myself and making sure the final sprint was perfect, and the end couldn't have gone any more perfectly."

Top qualifier Leahy took out the 4000m individual pursuit, with the Western Australian fending off New Zealand's former world champion Jordan Kerby in the final.
​
"I always tend to back up pretty hard, so I had good confidence that I could put it to Kerbs - he's a renowned IP, so I knew I had a good challenge ahead of me, but I just went out hard and tried to stick to as good a time as possible."

In the sprint, Matthew Richardson (9.797) clocked a personal best in qualifying, while Thomas Clarke (9.896) finished just off the podium in fourth.

Cycling Australia is pleased to announce a 17-rider team for the 2019 UCI Track World Championships to be held in Poland from 27 February to 3 March.

Team pursuit world record holders Leigh Howard (VIC), Kelland O’Brien (VIC), Alexander Porter (SA) and Samuel Welsford (WA) feature in the men’s endurance selections with Cameron Scott (NSW) who will make his World Championship debut. Nine-time world champion Cameron Meyer (WA) is also confirmed.

Commonwealth Games champions Ashlee Ankudinoff (NSW), Amy Cure (TAS), Annette Edmondson (SA) and Alexandra Manly (SA), plus Georgia Baker (TAS), comprise the women’s endurance selections.  

Reigning world champion Matthew Glaetzer (SA) headlines the men’s sprint quartet with Patrick Constable (SA) and Nathan Hart (ACT), with nineteen-year-old Podium Potential Academy member Matthew Richardson (WA) named to his maiden elite World Championship team.

Sprint silver medallist at the past two World Championships Stephanie Morton (SA), and Kaarle McCulloch (NSW) complete the women’s sprint selections.  

“These World Championships provide a great opportunity to benchmark where we are at against the world’s best,” said Simon Jones, Performance Director, Cycling Australia.

“However the focus will be about learning rather than winning. As we build towards Tokyo the focus will increasingly be on performance, but performing with a clear strategy and winning processes.”

The team will finalise preparations in Adelaide before departing Australia on February 20.

Australian Team

Endurance

• Ashlee Ankudinoff   
• Georgia Baker
• Amy Cure   
• Annette Edmondson   
• Alexandra Manly   
• Leigh Howard   
• Kelland O’Brien   
• Cameron Meyer  
• Alexander Porter  
• Cameron Scott   
• Samuel Welsford  

Sprint

• Kaarle McCulloch
• Stephanie Morton    
• Patrick Constable
• Matthew Glaetzer       
• Nathan Hart    
• Matthew Richardson    

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2015 world champion and 2012 Olympic bronze medallist Annette Edmondson returned to the top step of the omnium podium with a controlled victory in the women’s event.  

Edmondson opened her account in the four-race omnium with a win in the scratch race, before taking fourth in the tempo. Victory in the elimination race provided an eight-point lead heading into the final event, the points race. 

A controlled race from Edmondson saw her maintain her advantage over Canada’s Allison Beveridge (123pts) and Japan’s Yumi Kajihara (113pts) to take the win on 131 points. 

“[I’m] Delighted to get the win here, we came here to get some experience because this would only be my third omnium in the new format,” said Edmondson, who took her world title and Olympic medal in the now-defunct six-race format. “Happy to tick some boxes, test out some new plans.  

“The race might have been missing some of the bigger names in omnium, but the great opportunity of racing, to practice race strategies was not lost. Also, to learn to ride the final points race in the lead, that experience is hard to get at that level, so it was great to have this opportunity.

“It was a nice battle at the end there, but I did feel in control and happy to take the win.”

Kaarle McCulloch claimed her first individual sprint medal at a World Cup level when she claimed bronze in the women’s event.
 
On the eve of her thirty-first birthday, McCulloch surged to a personal best time of 10.677secs in sprint qualifying, second fastest and just three-hundredths behind Hong Kong’s Wai Sze Lee.  
 
‪McCulloch defeated Ukraine’s Liubov Basova and the USA’s Madalyn Godby to move to the semi-finals where her run was ended by Olena Starikova (UKR). 
 
In the bronze medal final, McCulloch came back from 0-1 down against hometown hero Natasha Hansen to win the bronze. 
 
“Very very happy, to win my first ever individual sprint medal at a World Cup,” said McCulloch, who celebrated her birthday with fifth in the keirin. “I was thrilled when I got into the semis, a little disappointed how I rode it, but happy with how I bounced back in the bronze ride off to beat Natasha on her home turf.”
 
A host of Australian Cycling Team Podium Potential Academy riders got their first taste of international cycling when they made their World Cup debut.
 
The all-teenage quartet of Jarrad Drizners, Godfrey Slattery, Conor Leahy and Luke Plapp qualified seventh fastest (4:02.293) in the team pursuit, before defeating Russia with a time of 3mins 56.379secs in the first round.  However, the quartet just missed the medal rounds by three-tenths of a second and finished fifth overall. 
 
In other events, Drizners took a gallant fourth in the scratch race, Slattery was twelfth in the omnium, while Plapp and Drizners finished tenth in the Madison. 
 
The Academy riders now form the majority of the Australian sixteen-rider team that will line up in the final World Cup round in Hong Kong this weekend. ​

Kaarle McCulloch and Stephanie Morton powered over the New Zealand pair of Natasha Hansen and Emma Cumming in the women’s team sprint final to win gold.

With former teammate Anna Meares watching on, the duo powered in qualifying to take the mental advantage into the final, which saw them ride the wave of parochial Aussie support as they clocked a new Commonwealth Games and national record time of 32.488 seconds.​

​More:  Watch live via  7commgames.com.au  | Visit  gc2018.com for all the event information. 

Stephanie Morton

Can’t complain with a casual Aussie record but we’re stoked, that’s what we came here for — to smash our own record and we got it convincingly so it’s pretty exciting with three days to go.

It’s insane, we were pretty lucky to get to see the track endurance and tandems go before so it was cool once you got up there, you knew that noise was for us.

Kaarle McCulloch

Steph and I are not a new team but we’re not an old team either, we’ve almost won nearly every time we step on a track together, so to be able to go from Anna as a team sprint partner to Steph and make some history is awesome, and I’m looking forward to Tokyo and beyond.

We’ve both got amazing form at the moment which is a credit to our coaches and I think this crowd is pushing us over the line as well.

The Australian men's quartet of Nathan Hart, Matthew Glaetzer, Patrick Constable and Jacob Schmid won bronze in the men's team sprint. 

It was a heartbreaking opening for the team the afternoon qualifying, with Constable pulling his foot at the start of their heat.  The team was granted a re-run minutes later, and recovered to post the third best time to send them into the bronze medal ride. 

Schmid came in for Glaetzer in the final, with the team too strong for Canada as they clocked 43.645seconds for three laps to win the bronze.  

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

• Tiffany Cromwell                                
• Gracie Elvin                                       
• Katrin Garfoot                        
• Chloe Hosking                         
• Shannon Malseed*                
• Sarah Roy*                            
• Mitchell Docker*                     
• Alexander Edmondson                      
• Mathew Hayman                    
• Cameron Meyer                                 
• Callum Scotson*                                
• Steele Von Hoff*                    

MTB   

• Daniel McConnell                              
• Rebecca McConnell (nee Henderson)

TRACK ENDURANCE          

• Ashlee Ankudinoff     
• Georgia Baker*
• Amy Cure       
• Annette Edmondson  
• Alexandra Manly*
• Rebecca Wiasak*      
• Leigh Howard*           
• Jordan Kerby*
• Cameron Meyer         
• Kelland O’Brien*
• Alexander Porter*      
• Samuel Welsford*      
• Nicholas Yallouris*    

TRACK SPRINT

• Kaarle McCulloch      
• Stephanie Morton 
• Patrick Constable*     
• Matthew Glaetzer 
• Nathan Hart   
• Jacob Schmid*           

PARA TRACK (TANDEMS)

• Jessica Gallagher* / Madison Janssen* - Pilot         
• Bradley Henderson* / Thomas Clarke - Pilot

​* Commonwealth Games debutant