WAIS Pair Earn Junior World Championship Selection

Western Australian Institute of Sport athletes Tahlay Christie and Alex Rendell have earned selection to make their Junior Track Cycling World Championship debuts in Astana, Kazakhstan this August.

The pair form part of a 15-rider strong Australian team that will look to emulate the feats of the 2014 group that topped the medal tally in Korea, a team that included WAIS Junior Athlete of the Year Sam Welsford who won gold and silver at last year’s championships.

Christie earned selection after winning the U19 time trial crown and posting an All Comers record in the U19 women’s Flying 200m at the recent Track National Championships in Melbourne.

Rendell scored victory in the U19 points race at Track Nationals and will similarly wear the green and gold of Australia for the first time.

The duo’s selection came in a week where senior track star and fellow WAIS athlete Mel Hoskins won a rainbow jersey as a member of the World Championship winning Australian women’s team pursuit squad at the UCI Track Championships in France.

In a further boost to Western Australian track cycling, WAIS youngster Jade Haines won gold on the opening day of the Junior Track National Championships in Melbourne on Wednesday, after riding the fastest time in the U17 women’s time trial.

The Junior Track Championships contest U15 and U17 events, with the program running through til Saturday at the Darebin International Sports Centre.