Bond ‘irked’ by worlds omission
A ‘‘disappointed’’ Hamish Bond has missed the chance to compete at the upcoming track cycling world championships in Poland despite offering to pay his own way on the back of his recordbreaking performance at nationals.
The rowing great gave a glimpse of his enormous potential as a track cyclist by setting a new national record in the individual pursuit at last weekend’s national championships in Cambridge before beating 2017 world champion Jordan Kerby in the final.
However, his record ride of 4 minutes 12.436 seconds was unable to be considered as it occurred outside of Cycling NZ’s selection window, which ended on January 29. With priority given to Olympic Games events, Cycling NZ decided not to select anyone for the individual pursuit, much to Bond’s frustration as he felt like he could have challenged for the rainbow jersey.
‘‘I guess the point that irked me is I think I’m now the second fastest pursuit rider this season and I’m not allowed at the world championships,’’ Bond said. ‘‘No effort was made to get me there. Why have the world champs if you can’t get the best people along to compete?
‘‘The opportunity to win a prestigious jersey like Bradley Wiggins and some of the greats ... an athlete’s life is finite and I guess mine is more finite than some so you don’t pass up those opportunities lightly, and that was the crux of my disappointment.’’ Bond said he understood why Cycling NZ would prioritise events that will be contested at the Olympics. However, he thought he could have nullified the organisation’s financial restraints by paying his own way.
Although the competing in the team pursuit is his long-term ambition, Bond thought it would have beneficial for his development to compete in the individual discipline.
"I pushed my claim there and thought there was some opportunities but it was detailed to me that it’s not an Olympic event, which was obvious, and given there was finite resources there weren’t going to be any resources put into that, which I understand. I guess at that point I offered to pay my own way, but for various reasons it was not taken up,’’ he said.
‘‘It would have given me a chance to have some experience in that environment. Although I’ve obviously been to lots of big competitions there’s lots of nuances about how different environments play out and how teams operate so I saw it as beneficial.
Although Bond missed the cut , Cycling NZ’s high performance director Martin Barras said the multi-talented athlete has made significant progress and remained in contention for a spot at next year’s Olympics.
‘‘He is a very special athlete, and perhaps the only athlete in this country that could consider switching from a sport like rowing to road cycling and now to track cycling. After just a few months he has progressed considerably as his national record in the individual pursuit suggests,’’ Barras said.
‘‘Hamish has a focus to make the track team for the Tokyo Olympics. This will need to be in team pursuit which requires a significantly different skillset than for the individual pursuit.’’