Gallagher on track to glory
THREE-TIME Paralympic medallist Jessica Gallagher will tick off another achievement when the Geelong-born athlete represents Australia for the first time at a Commonwealth Games.
The para-cycling track world champion — and Australia’s only athlete to win both Winter and Summer Olympic medals — was yesterday confirmed a member of the host team for the Gold Coast, to pair up with Madison Janssen in the para track tandems.
Fellow Geelong cyclists Leigh Howard and Rebecca Wiasak will also compete in their maiden Commonwealth Games.
After claiming her second Winter Olympic medal in skiing at Sochi in 2014, Gallagher faced a crossroads moment, with her most competitive Summer Olympic discipline — long jump — booted off Rio’s 2016 Olympic program.
“I had that opportunity to decide if I go back to alpine skiing or stick with the track cycling,” Gallagher told the Geelong Advertiser.
“It’s such a rare opportunity for an athlete. I’ve medalled at the past two Winter Paralympics and I felt I couldn’t resist the chance to compete on home soil.”
While following this year’s Winter Games has been a surreal feeling, her goal is clear.
Boasting the current sprint world record of 11.045 with pilot Janssen, a time under 11 seconds will all but guarantee a gold medal.
“We obviously won the world championship and broke the world record in 2016, so it’s very exciting to be with Mads and have her piloting the bike,” she said.
“We’re riding really fast, so I’m really excited to have the opportunity to race on home soil.
“We’ve certainly put a lot of expectation on ourselves on what we want to achieve on the Gold Coast.”
And for those whose memories of track cycling are limited to Anna Meares winning gold against fierce rival Victoria Pendleton at London in 2012, Gallagher said viewers should be similarly entertained.
“The English are without a doubt our biggest rival,” she said.
Gallagher, who is legally blind due to a rare eye disease called cone dystrophy, won bronze at Vancouver in 2010 and Sochi in 2014 in the slalom and giant slalom visually impaired, respectively, before claiming bronze in cycling’s 1km time trial at Rio in 2016. She also competed at London in 2012, finishing fifth in the long jump and sixth in the javelin.