Dual Omnium Medals for WAIS Cycling Duo

Published On: 2 February 2011

Hoskins (left) and King (right) on the podium following the omnium

WAIS athletes Melissa Hoskins and Isabella King have won WA’s first medals at the 2011 Track Cycling National Championships in Sydney, winning silver and bronze respectively in the women’s omnium.

The pair finished behind South Australia’s Annette Edmondson who appears to have taken a liking to track nationals having won six titles at last year’s championships in the U19 age group.

The 19 year-old Edmondson recorded wins in the flying lap with a time of 14.556 seconds, the 10km scratch race and the 500 metre time trial where she posted a time of 36.008 seconds.

In the points race, Edmondson finished in fifth place with the event won by reigning team pursuit world champion Ashlee Ankudinoff. In the elimination race WAIS athlete Melissa Hoskins was too strong in the final sprint putting Edmondson into second place.

Hoskins haul of 18 points was six adrift of Edmondson’s 12 with Isabella King third on 19 points. With two podium finishes for the Darryl Benson’s WAIS trained athletes across the multi discipline event, it shows Benson’s young charges have a good range of endurance and speed, with King like Edmondson competing in her first year as a senior.

South Australian Edmondson admitted the feeling was a different one to adjust to.

“Still feels kind of strange, it still hasn’t quite sunk in yet, but I am very happy,” said Edmondson, who was named Champion of Champions at the 2008 and 2009 National Championships for winning six gold medals in the under 19 division.

“I expected to do well in the shorter distances, like the flying lap and the 500, but there were a couple of surprise rides especially in the pursuit, but I didn’t think I was going to pull out a time like that,” she said. “It just goes to show all the training that Tim Decker has been putting me on at SASI (South Australia Sports Institute) has paid off.

“I have been working very hard for this over the past few months especially, so to come out on top is such a great feeling,” Edmondson added.

In the men’s event WAIS cyclist Michael Freiberg earned a win in the elimination race, but couldn’t weight enough points for a podium finish, settling for fifth position. The men’s event was won by NSW’s Scott Law, with Tasmanian Luke Ockerby and NSW’s Ben Harvey taking the minor medals.

– with Cycling Australia