Petch pushing for second Olympics in new discipline
Strong team of 14 riders selected for the opening Nations Cup in Adelaide
Summer holiday festivities have been kept in check for New Zealand’s leading track cyclists, including Te Awamutu’s Rebecca Petch, Cambridge’s Ally Wollaston and Dan Bridgwater, who take their first serious pedalstrokes towards the Paris Olympics when the Nations Cup series begins in two weeks.
Te Awamutu has followed Petch’s rise to fame since she first started riding as a 3-year-old — but that was in the sport of BMX.
With multiple titles under her belt she also had a stellar international career and in 2021 was New Zealand’s sole BMX rider for the delayed 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.
A year later she had made a successful switch to track cycling and was winner of the Birmingham Commonwealth Games sprint Gold medal with team-mates Ellesse Andrews and Olivia King.
Petch is campaigning for her second Olympic Games, this time as a track cyclist, as part of the 14-strong team that has been named for the Nations Cup in Adelaide on February 2-4, with the competition series the key qualifier for the World Championships and an important building block towards Paris.
The team is largely built on the successful 2023 world championship squad that brought home a record eight medals from Glasgow, led by rainbow jersey winners Ellesse Andrews and Aaron Gate.
Andrews joins teammates Petch and Shaane Fulton in the team sprint, after breaking the national record on the way to a respectable fifth place in Glasgow.
The team sprint is on the opening day, with a morning heat and evening finals, as the trio look to secure qualification for the Paris Olympics. The individual sprint and keirin, where Andrews will sport the world champion’s rainbow jersey, are on the final two days.
Sam Dakin, as he did in Glasgow, is the sole male sprinter, focussing on the keirin, where he was a quarterfinalist in Glasgow, and the individual sprint.
The team pursuit is also on the opening day, with the women’s squad — silver medallists in Glasgow — remaining intact, and led by world championship individual medallist Bryony Botha.
The squad also includes Wollaston, Sami Donnelly, Emily Shearman and Michaela Drummond.
The men’s team pursuit— bronze medallists at the world championships — are led by Gate, World Tour
There has not much time to put the feet up over Christmas and New Year.
Ryan Hollows
road rider Campbell Stewart and Tom Sexton, with Bridgwater and Keegan Hornblow joining the squad in Adelaide.
Gate and Stewart — bronze medallists in the two-rider madison at the worlds, will likely join again in Adelaide with the remainder to compete in the elimination and omnium competitions, although final event lists will not be confirmed until the competition.
“There has not much time to put the feet up over Christmas and New Year,” Cycling New Zealand highperformance director Ryan Hollows said.
“The squads have worked very hard before Christmas, both in some testing work looking ahead to Paris, and then the start of preparations for Adelaide.
“They are back in the velodrome with some riders also involved in road races which are an important development for endurance track events.”
Gate led a New Zealand National team to a general classification win in the NZ Cycle Classic, while Stewart is competing for his WorldTour team in the Santos Tour Down Under.
“We are looking for strong performances in Adelaide and the second round in Hong Kong later in March. If the riders can perform to their capabilities in the opening two competitions, it will secure most of what we need to then re-set our focus on the world championships and on to the Olympics.
“First thing first is Adelaide. We have the advantage of coming out of our conditions and basically our time zones and we need to make that work in our favour as well.”