Three WAIS Cyclists Selected for Cali World Cup
Three WAIS scholarship holders have been named on the 15-strong Australian track cycling team for the opening round of the UCI World Cup series in Cali, Columbia.
Isabella King and Elissa Wundersitz will form part of the women’s endurance squad for Australia, whilst Sam Welsford is joined by fellow 2014 Junior World Champion teammates Daniel Fitter and Alex Porter in the men’s endurance squad.
Welsford is set for a busy campaign in Columbia. As well as riding the team pursuit for Australia, the reigning WAIS junior athlete of the year will also take on the six-event omnium, with the first year senior having recently taken gold in the same event at the Oceania Track Championships in Invercargill, New Zealand.
King will be looking to use the world cup as a spring board into the 2016 competition season, following a difficult 2015 campaign that has been affected by illness. The medicine student at full health and fitness is a major threat in Australia’s best women’s team pursuit line up.
Wundersitz, like Welsford, competed at the recent Oceania Track Championships, herself picking up a bronze medal in the omnium. It is this event that the 20 year-old is preparing to line up in, in Cali (30 October-1 November).
The 2015/16 UCI Track World Cup series features the world’s best track cyclists competing across three rounds for points towards World Championships and Rio 2016 Olympic Games qualification.
Cali (Colombia) hosts the first round of the series at the end of October, followed by round two in Cambridge (New Zealand) from 5-6 December, with the third and final round in Hong Kong from January 16-17.
The 2016 UCI Track Cycling World Championships will be held in London, Great Britain in March.
In addition to the ten Olympic events – keirin, sprint, team pursuit, team sprint and omnium for both men and women – the Cali round also features a men’s points race, individual pursuit and Madison and a scratch race for women. The additional races on the programme are all C1 UCI events with UCI points on offer.
-with CyclingAus