STRONG by name – STRONG by nature
Corbin Strong knows all about conquering the pain barrier on his journey to becoming a world champion. Phillip Rollo reports.
‘‘When I broke my back it was my last year in the junior ranks and I’d dreamt of being an individual world champion for as long as I’ve ridden a bike.’’
Corbin Strong
Two years ago, Corbin Strong was involved in the worst crash of his promising cycling career when he smashed into the back of a car while doing time trial efforts on a back road in Invercargill.
Fracturing his spine from the impact, it took the best part of six months for the Southland rider to fully recover from his injuries, delivering a huge blow to his dream of winning the omnium at the junior world track cycling championships.
Although he was able to help New Zealand win gold in the team pursuit, Strong did not feel 100 per cent throughout the age-group event and was disappointed by his fourth placing in his specialist discipline.
‘‘I took eight weeks off [after the crash] and it’s probably the longest I’ve had since I learned how to ride a bike,’’ he said.
‘‘I had a lot of time to think about it but I guess I came back really hungry. I absolutely love the sport and every aspect of it, the training and everything.
‘‘I definitely missed it in those eight weeks and the hardest thing since that injury is actually taking time off the bike because recovery is a big part and especially at my young age you need a week off every now and then. But ever since that crash all I want to do is race every race I can.’’
Last Saturday, Strong erased any lingering disappointment from 2018 by becoming the first New Zealand rider to win the men’s points race at the world track cycling championships in Berlin.
The 19-year-old stunned a high quality field to win his first rainbow jersey as an elite rider.
‘‘When I broke my back it was my last year in the junior ranks and I’d dreamt of being an individual world champion for as long as I’ve ridden a bike,’’ he said.
‘‘I went to junior worlds and didn’t do what I was hoping to do. I wasn’t able to win an individual race there so I guess coming away as an elite and doing it as a 19-year-old two years later made it feel that much more special.
‘‘I was just so overwhelmed when I crossed the line. I couldn’t believe I had done it. With 20-30 laps to go I remember looking at the points board and it was all very tight at that point. But I thought to myself that I’ve dreamed of this opportunity my whole career so I’ve got to give it absolutely everything that I’ve got and see if I could bring this world title home, and that’s what I did.’’
A breakout performer in the past 12 months, Strong helped New Zealand win a silver medal in the team pursuit behind Denmark in Germany and said he felt confident heading into the points race.
‘‘I’ve been feeling really good on the bike lately and the buildup has been really good. We came here with a focus on the team pursuit and we were really hungry for that, but on the day we were just beaten by a team that went four seconds faster than anyone else has ever gone, so there was nothing we could do and we were happy with silver.
‘‘But we didn’t come here to get silver so I was really focused on getting a good result in the points race. I knew I had a pretty good form and I just told myself that I’ve got to give myself every opportunity to win the race.
‘‘The field was a very high quality field with a lot of experienced riders but I just told myself I can’t be intimidated by them, I’ve just got to go out and ride my own race and give myself every chance of winning.’’
But while he might be a world champion now, Strong will not have the opportunity to back up his points race triumph at the Tokyo Olympics. That is because the points race has not been part of the Olympics programme since 2008 – not as a standalone event anyway.
Instead, Strong will have to focus on the team pursuit if he is selected by Cycling New Zealand, although that seems a given after their performance in Berlin.
New Zealand reached the final but were outgunned by the record-breaking Danish outfit.
‘‘We knew the times were going to be super fast because the sport has absolutely blown up in the last couple of years and everyone’s just getting faster and faster,’’ he said.
‘‘The time of 3:44 even six months ago would have been just unbelievable, nobody expected it this week. We knew the Olympics would be won in something around that, but now it’s probably going to be even faster.
‘‘But we know we’ve got more left in us and we’ve just got to work really hard over the next six months.
‘‘ We’ve got a lot of work to bring back the time over Denmark but I definitely think it’s possible. We’ve got really good coaches and we all believe when it comes to the Olympics that we’ve got what it takes.’’