WAIS Athletes Prepare for Cycling World Champs

The Australian ‘Cyclones’ are in the final phase of preparation ahead of the UCI Track World Championships which get underway on Wednesday in Copenhagen, Denmark.

WAIS athletes Cam Meyer, Travis Meyer, Scott Sunderland, Josie Tomic and Sarah Kent are all in final training before launching Australia’s 2010 medal charge.

The team comes into the Championships with high expectations after their performance last year saw them top the medal table but the success has also made them the team to beat as far as other nations are concerned.

Day one of competition will feature Anna Meares and Kaarle McCulloch in the 500 metre time trial and the men’s team sprint in action while in the endurance events Cameron Meyer will line up in defence of his 2009 points race crown and Australian Champion Sarah Kent will contest the women’s individual pursuit.

“Anna will be very competitive and has done some really good times in training in recent days and weeks,” said sprint coach Gary West. “Likewise Kaarle has been putting some good times on the board so I expect both of them to go super well.

“The men’s team sprint is a little more challenging but I was very encouraged with Danny Ellis and his performance out of the gate at training today,” said West. “Jason Niblett will ride in second wheel and Scott Sunderland (AIS-WAIS) in third and both those guys are in very good form at the moment.”

West says the decision to arrive in Copenhagen a day earlier than last year in Poland has been a good move.

“Everyone has settled in very well and by the time competition comes around they’ll be well and truly adjusted.”

West says despite coming into the Championships with the mantle of best team of 2009 he hasn’t noticed any stress in the team.

“I guess there’s an expectation amongst the group (to perform well) but I haven’t felt in the sprint group any pressure to do better than last year,” he explained. “They know they’ve got a job to do and they’re well prepared and well trained and they’re looking forward to the competition.”

Women’s endurance coach Gary Sutton says all the riders have been putting in the work and impressing in training.

“In the individual pursuit we’re not sure what to expect and it’s mainly to give Sarah a bit of a hit out,” said Sutton. “It’s an area we need to work harder on and there’s not too much pressure on Sarah there because the emphasis has been on the teams pursuit.”

“They are looking fairly good and I was pretty pleased with last workout today leading into competition,” he said. “The expectations are for the teams pursuit to go one better than last year (Australia claimed bronze in 2009).”

“Deciding the trio to line up in the teams pursuit has been one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever had to make,” Sutton explained. “There is very little between the four of Josephine Tomic (WAIS), Sarah Kent (WAIS), Ashlee Ankudinoff and Belinda Goss.

“But I’ve decided to go with Tomic, Kent and Ankudinoff which is the team that rode to bronze last year and won the Beijing round of the World Cup in January.”

Goss will line up in the scratch race, the event in which she has finished third at the last two World Championships.

“Belinda is in fantastic form and is the most experienced athlete in the team,” said Sutton. “With her knowledge and skill she’s in a class of her own and I have a good feeling about her in the scratch race.

“If she does all the small things right she’ll do well.”

The final member of the women’s endurance outfit is six time junior World Champion and the youngest on the team, Megan Dunn, who is making her senior debut.

“Megan will be doing the points race and she’s a star of the future, no question there,” said Sutton of the 18 year old who won the gold medal at the Beijing World Cup in January in her first senior international outing. “The senior worlds is a totally different thing to the junior worlds and this is just the start of a very promising future for her.”

Tomic will also contest the women’s omnium going in as the defending World Champion.

“Even though she was beaten at Nationals by Ashlee (Ankudinoff), I don’t think Ash is quite ready for the bunch races and doesn’t have as much experience as Josie who is starting to come into really good form and in teams pursuit training has been posting some of the best efforts she’s ever done,” explained Sutton. “Ash has also had some injury issue leading so her focus has been on the team event.”

A lot of focus will be on Jack Bobridge in Thursday’s men’s individual pursuit after the blistering time he rode at the Australian Championships in February. The 20 year old posted the third fastest time in history with his qualifying ride of 4min14.427sec at the nationals in Adelaide.

The only rider who has gone faster than Bobridge is Britain’s Chris Boardman, who set the world record time of 4min11.114sec at the 1996 World Championships in Manchester. But that time was set using an aerodynamic stretched out position that has since been banned which means Bobridge is, effectively, the fastest rider in the world over 4km under the current rules.

His team mate Rohan Dennis also clocked an Australian record in Adelaide only to have Bobridge better it minutes later. Both will contest the individual pursuit on Thursday.

“It’s a bit of a tough one as to whether they’ll go as fast but it would be really nice if they do,” said men’s endurance coach Ian McKenzie. “The conditions were pretty much perfect in Adelaide so that contributed to the world class times but having said that the track and conditions here seem pretty quick and I think they’ll both be very competitive.”

McKenzie says all his riders are all looking pretty good at this stage.

“Their performances in training have been about where I would have expected so we have some good signs going in,” said McKenzie who left until the last possible day his selection of the final six riders to put on the plane to Denmark. “I think certainly the guys who have been around a couple of years like Jack Bobridge, Cameron Meyer (WAIS-AIS) and Leigh Howard will step up and do the job but probably it’s a big ask for Michael Hepburn who’s a first year senior to really be a significant contributor but he’s got a lot of talent and a lot of class so it will be interesting to see how he handles it.”

McKenzie is also confident the riders have adjusted well to the track particularly for the team pursuit where precision and technique play such a vital role.

“Adelaide is more of a bowl with longer, easier bends and shorter straights whereas the Copenhagen track has very tight bends with long straights but I’m pretty pleased with how they’ve adapted,” he explained. “In Poland last year it took us four sessions to get used to it but this year by the second session they were pretty much spot on.”

McKenzie will finalise the starting line up for Friday’s teams pursuit after Thursday’s competition.

“In terms of the omnium the plan is for Leigh Howard to step up to defend his title and barring illness or injury he’ll be a strong contender.”

The team, with an average age of 21, includes the 15 members of the 2009 World Championship team that brought home four gold, four silver and two bronze medals. Joining them are 2009 Junior World Champions, Michael Hepburn and Megan Dunn, who are both 18-years-old. Former short track speed skater Emily Rosemond has also earned a place in her first elite track World Championships team.

– Cycling Australia