Source: Radio New Zealand
UCI Track World Cup Hong Kong Women’s Team Pursuit gold medalists: Bryony Botha, Prudence Fowler, Emily Shearman, Ally Wollaston and Samantha Donnelly. Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com
Kiwi track cyclists have secured three medals, two of them gold, on the opening day of the UCI World Cup in Hong Kong.
Both the women’s and men’s team pursuit triumphed, while Tom Sexton grabbed silver in the omnium.
It was a slow start for the women’s pursuit team of Bryony Botha, Samantha Donnelly, Emily Shearman and Ally Wollaston, who only qualified third fastest behind Italy and China.
But after a rider change, which saw Prue Fowler come in for Donnelly, they beat the Chinese to qualify for the final, and then took out Great Britain to win gold.
“We went in with a clear goal. We wanted to focus on ourselves and produce a ride we could be proud of,” said Shearman.
“We weren’t stoked with the qualifying this morning and the final was building on from that performance. We are super-stoked to come away with a ride we are proud of. It was well-executed and that resulted in the win and a good time.”
The men’s team pursuit with Keegan Hornblow, Marshall Erwood, George Jackson and Daniel Morton were also on form.
They were fastest in qualifying, before beating Japan in the first round with Nic Kergozou coming into the line-up.
They faced Denmark in the final, and beat them by more than two seconds.
“We have five guys here who rode across all the rounds,” said Hornblow. “We qualified first which, to honest, was a little bit of a surprise. But to back that up ride-after-ride and come out on top was a great team result.”
The decision to spell Sexton from the pursuit squad to focus on individual events also paid off.
He finished second in the two-rider omnium final behind Italian Matteo Florin.
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
