Gigante stars on bike, with books

SEVEN months ago, Sarah Gigante’s mother had to transcribe her homework because the teenager had suffered two broken arms in a bike crash.

Yesterday, the rising cycling star could be forgiven for her quiet day at the Australian track championships, given the double dose of great news in the morning.

The 18-year-old achieved a perfect ATAR score of 99.95 in her VCE results.

Gigante is also among only 43 students to be offered the Melbourne Chancellor’s Scholarship at Melbourne University.

So this was a banner day, even though she was no chance of a medal in the elite omnium at the nationals.

“I was pretty stoked when I saw it this morning — I tried hard all year in study and on the bike, but I didn’t expect it,” Gigante said.

It caps an outstanding year of excellence, on and off the bike. In January, she won the junior road race, criterium and time trial at the national road championships and two months later, she took out the junior Oceania road race title as well.

Then came the May crash, which meant mum Kerry had to transcribe her homework.

The August junior track world championships and September road worlds appeared out of the question.

But Gigante recovered to win silver in the points race and also raced at the world road championships.

“Once I had that bad crash and broke both my arms, I thought it would be all downhill from there,” she said.

“It actually turned out to be an amazing year after all.

“I have the best family and friends ever.”

Gigante wants to start university next year as well as pursuing her cycling career.

“I really enjoy the challenge of both and I think I can make it work,” she said.