Women’s Endurance Squad Primed for Action
Australia’s women’s endurance squad members are primed to make a long awaited return to the top step of the podium when competition begins at the 2014 UCI World Championships in Cali on today.
Boasting a swag of podiums appearances across the five women’s endurance events over the past three World Championships, the team of Annette Edmondson (SA), Amy Cure (TAS), Melissa Hoskins (WAIS), Ashlee Ankudinoff (NSW) and debutant Bella King (WAIS) are aiming to end the world title drought.
In the team pursuit, Australia has medalled in four of the past five Championships, including a memorable 2010 world title claimed by Sydney’s Ankudinoff, plus former WAIS athletes Josie Tomic and Sarah Kent.
Most recently, Australia has finished second behind current world record holders Great Britain at the past two Championships, with the strong British outfit having claimed five of the six world titles held in the event’s short history.
“This is another opportunity for us to try to take the title, we have finished with the silver twice now and we are not quite happy with that,” said Edmondson, member of the past two World Championship teams.
“But with these Championships being the first time the event will be contested with four riders over four kilometres, it is going to be an interesting one, and we are certainly looking forward to the challenge.”
The team’s campaign begins on Wednesday through Ankudinoff who will tackle the women’s scratch race. Despite Australian cyclists finding the podium in eight of twelve scratch races held since 2002, the event remains the only women’s endurance event in which Australia has not claimed gold.
National Women’s Track Endurance Coach Gary Sutton believes the team is in a great position on the eve of the Championships.
“All the hard work is done now, it was just a matter of polishing things up a little bit up today,” said Sutton. “This will be a tough competition here with it being open, outdoors with a little bit of wind, but at the same time it will be the same for everyone.
“In the team pursuit, there is very little between the top four teams, which has been the case all through the past four years. At the moment, Great Britain is a standout, but our girls have been coming up week by week.
“But it is about four riders putting it together on the day, and sometimes that can be a little bit tough. But they are in a good positive place at the moment, they have matured a lot over the past few years, and their work ethic has been good in all areas right across the board,” Sutton added.
-CyclingAustralia