WA Track Juniors Compete at World Champs

All four WA representatives on the 2017 Australian Junior Track World Championship team were on the boards on the opening day of competition in Montichiari, Italy.

Matt Richardson and Kye Bonser were partnered in the Australian men’s team sprint, Tyler Lindorff raced in the men’s team pursuit, whilst Jade Haines rode with the women’s team pursuit.

In the team sprint, Richardson and Bonser competed with their fellow Oceania Champs gold medal teammate James Brister (SA) in setting the fifth fastest time in qualifying.

They lowered their time to 45.131secs in their round one match up with Germany, but exited competition as the Germans bested them in 44.995.

Russia claimed gold ahead of Germany, with Poland taking bronze.

The Australian men’s team pursuit saw Lindorff compete with Godfrey Slattery (VIC), Cooper Sayers (SA), Stephen Cuff (NSW) and Isaac Bucknell (VIC), with the squad finishing competition with a ranking of sixth.

Lindorff, Bucknell, Slattery and Cuff posted the fifth fastest time in qualifying (4:05.856mins) with Sayers replacing Bucknell in round one as the Aussies defeated Poland in a time of 4:06.219 which was good enough for sixth rank, but short of the top four medal rides.

Haines and the women’s team pursuit squad of Alice Culling (VIC) and Maeve Plouffe (SA) will push for a ride in the bronze medal round on day two of competition after they clocked 4:37.500 to set up a round one race-off against eighth seeds Colombia.

Italy appear favourites for gold, after qualifying with a new junior world record time of 4:23.229.

The 2017 World Championships are being held in the province of Brescia, part of the Lombardy region approximately 100km east of Milan. The Championships will conclude on Sunday.