Kiwis expected to dominate at champs

A handful of silver fern-wearing South Canterbury speed skating cadets are tipped to dominate their grade at the Oceania Championships in Timaru over Easter.

Grace Worner, Kyla Beveridge, Lauren Crawford, Callum Sandri and Brayden Teague are going to be tough to beat over the three-day event, long-time South Canterbury speed skating coach Bill Begg said. Worner and Beveridge won titles and shared overall honours at the 2023 championships in Brisbane, while Crawford also medalled there.

“These three cleaned up most of the titles and medals at the New Zealand championships in January and it is hard to not see them being a dominant force on their home track,” Begg said.

Sandri and Teague were also expected to shine at the championships at the Caroline Bay track on Saturday and Sunday, moving to the Levels Race-way on Tuesday for the half and full marathons. Begg said Sandri and Teague, at 14 and 13 years respectively, regularly tested each other “but more importantly they have tested the older skaters in open events this year while cleaning up the cadet New Zealand titles”. Begg said the other South Canterbury cadets selected in the 35-strong New Zealand team, Georgia Kortright, Claudia Mattingley and Zach Tong, could also surprise but there were other medal chances among the five other locals wearing the silver fern.

Begg said the open women's division would feature evergreen masters competitor Shannell Wooding competing against senior women from Hutt Valley and Palmerston North in world representatives Serenity Griffith and Ocean Woolley, along with New Zealand's current top senior women competitor Georgia Hurley.

Begg said the Australian team appeared to be strongest in the junior women's grade, also fielding some world representatives.