BAKER TAKES BREAK

Star cyclist flies in for tests after heart scare

OLYMPIC track and Orica-Scott road cyclist Georgia Baker has returned to Australia from Europe for tests on her heart which forced her to stop racing last month.

The 22-year-old was in Melbourne yesterday for testing after a racing heart and sharp pains in her chest and arm saw her abandon the Women’s Tour in the UK.

“I kind of kept going for about 20km but thought, ‘Georgia don’t be silly, you can’t muck around with this sort of stuff’,” she said.

“I had a similar feeling back in April . . . but this time I got some tingling down my arm and thought ‘this is not great’.

“And given what’s happened with my dad [passing away from a heart attack in 2015], I stopped.

“That first time [April] was when I was motor pacing and fully exerting myself, pretty much doing a maximum effort, and this time I’d had these symptoms the day before and the really bad symptoms in the controlled section of the road race.”

Baker, who made her Olympic debut in the women’s team pursuit in Rio last year, said she was now focused on investigating the problem and hopefully returning to training as soon as possible.

“Now we just need to make sure everything is working well. We’ve got some great doctors here in Australia and we thought it would be best to come back and get it all sorted,” she said.

“I have to wear a monitor for 24 hours and they can analyse the data and hopefully nothing irregular comes back.

“I’ve been resting and taking it easy for a little while but given I’ve done the tests today [the cardiologist] said she’d be happy for me to start exercising again, which will be good.

“I’ve done a few easy rides back in Italy but nothing too strenuous so it’s about getting it right and back into training.”