Big things ahead for cyclist Bradly Knipe
Exciting Southland cycling prospect Bradly Knipe has a big future in the sport.
The 17-year-old returned to Invercargill after being part of a successful New Zealand campaign at the Junior Track Cycling World Championships.
Knipe’s coach Karl Watson was delighted by the performance.
‘‘It is just great, it is awesome to see a young person stick at something and reap the rewards from it,’’ he said.
‘‘The first individual rainbow jersey by a Southlander, which when you think about who has gone in front of everybody it is a pretty big achievement really. Dawkins got silver I think, but he never got a gold.’’
The cycling coach is excited by Knipe’s huge potential, but is hoping that the 17-year-old’s success will continue once he hits the elite ranks.
‘‘It’s quite exciting too because the journey has only just begun now, I guess that was a stepping stone and now hopefully he can move on to bigger and better things,’’ Watson said.
‘‘He would probably want to get picked up by the elite squad now, I am pretty sure they will want him.’’
Watson who used to also coach Emma Cumming, spent plenty of time watching the events unfold.
‘‘I sort of didn’t sleep for five days really,’’ he said.
The Southland Boys’ High School student helped New Zealand finish at the top of the medal table, breaking two national records on the way to a rainbow jersey.
Knipe smashed Dylan Kennett’s 1000m time trial national record by over a second, with a time of 1:01.897, but that isn’t all.
He also claimed a record on his way to winning the rainbow jersey in the 200m men’s sprint in a time of 10.223s.
Knipe also became the first Southland individual to win a junior world championship title, going one better than a silver medal at the event by superstar Kiwi sprint ace Eddie Dawkins.
He adjusted to the 200m track in Aigle,Switzerland during the meet, to improve from a sluggish start to the event.
‘‘Everything was so quick, it was a different track as well you had to ride everything differently, it was unreal,’’ he said.
‘‘After the first day I raced, I got 10th, so I was kind of down after that, I got second in the time trial the next day and so I progressed upwards, I am real happy.’’
Knipe and James Hargest College student Tom Sexton arrived at Invercargill Airport on Thursday, while their Southland team-mates Emma Cumming, Ellesse Andrews and Nicole Shields returned to various other parts of the country.
Cumming and Andrews are based at the Cycling New Zealand high performance hub in Cambridge, while Shields who lives in Central Otago flew into Queenstown.