Potential medallists on road to nowhere
Niamh Fisher-Black would have been riding for a medal, had she been on the start line at the Tokyo Olympics. But New Zealand’s failure to qualify a single cyclist for the women’s road race more than 18 months ago has put the brakes on the up and comer’s Olympic dream.
‘‘If we could have a few riders in Tokyo we could be in for a shot,’’ FisherBlack said.
‘‘You see how strong Mikayla Harvey is riding and Georgia Williams too – it’s a strong group of girls coming through for New Zealand.’’
Along with Canyon-SRAM’s Mikayla Harvey, Fisher-Black is considered one of the top prospects in women’s cycling, but she will have to wait until Paris 2024 to vie for a spot on the Olympic podium.
Both Fisher-Black and Harvey would have targeted winning a medal in Tokyo given their rapid rise through the ranks but New Zealand failed to collect enough points to qualify a single spot during the window between October 2018 and 2019 – when Fisher-Black was still riding as an amateur.
In her first season as a professional, the 20-year-old won the national title, finished second on the final stage of the prestigious Giro Rosa, cracked the top 15 at the World Championship and signed a contract with WorldTour heavyweights SD Worx.
‘‘[In 2019] I didn’t have an actual team. I did come to Europe but I just dotted between small teams where I could find any opportunity to race and just rode as a guest and jumped into small UCI races where I could, and learned my way into the sport,’’ she said.
‘‘There was no way at that time I was thinking about the Olympics.’’
The qualification for the men’s and women’s road races is determined by each country’s UCI ranking.
The 67 spots for the women’s race were allocated to riders from the top 22 nations in the world, with those ranked 1-5 getting four spots, 6-13 getting three and 14-22 getting two.
New Zealand riders collected 596 points during the 2019 season, placing the country 30th overall. They were 208 points below Russia, who snared the final two spots.
The calculations for Tokyo were done at the end of the 2019 season, the year prior to the original date of the Olympics. But the postponement of the Games due to the Covid-19 pandemic has exacerbated the problem for New Zealand’s top female riders.
If the rankings were taken from last year, the country would have qualified three riders for the women’s road race. Harvey led the way in 2020 with 552 points while Fisher-Black collected 337 and Ella Harris 312. New Zealand’s combined 1378 points saw the country finish the year ranked 11th overall, one spot higher than France.
‘‘So much has changed, there’s so much more depth in the peloton and I think it’s silly that 50-60 riders from 2019 are getting to go to the Olympics.’’
In athletics, some New Zealanders will have until June 22 this year to qualify for Tokyo.
Fisher-Black said the cyclists’ predicament had been a big talking point at SD Worx, where she rides alongside current world champion and defending Olympic Games gold medallist Anna van der Breggen.
‘‘We’ve been talking about it amongst our team because their selections are coming up and they have to think about their Olympic selection and fighting for it.
‘‘It’s strange speaking about it with them. They can’t believe that New
Zealand doesn’t even have one spot. They keep telling me it’s absurd.’’
Cycling New Zealand high performance director Martin Barras said the issue highlighted just how rapid Fisher-Black’s progress has been.
Along with national champion Georgia Williams, who is back to full health after two years of injury and illness setbacks, the country now has four riders on Women’s WorldTour teams.
Previously, New Zealand has had to rely on Williams, and before that Linda Villumsen, to accumulate UCI points to qualify for pinnacle events.
‘‘We all embark on the same qualification as every one of other teams and we knew the rules, we knew when that selection was going to be made,’’ Barras said.
‘‘But if you put it into context, in 2019 when this qualification was taking place, riders like Niamh and Mikayla were on development tours, in which they drew their first professional contracts.
‘‘They climbed very, very rapidly. It is frustrating but at the end of the day, we knew the rules.’’
But while she will have to wait for her chance to represent New Zealand at the Olympics, Fisher-Black was optimistic about Paris 2024, where she hoped to be a serious medal contender along with Harvey.
‘‘I would really love to go to an Olympics and Paris is definitely a good goal to look forward to,’’ Fisher-Black said. ‘‘It’s only three years now.’
the Chiefs were skidding to a record-breaking 12 consecutive defeats.
It seemed as though McMillan had been chucked a hospital pass, but the former Bay of Plenty coach kept insisting the Chiefs were close to climbing out of their ugly rut.
He was right.
The Chiefs stormed the Canes in the capital with a thrilling second-half comeback and haven’t looked back. Granted, their five successive victories to reach the final have been tight – some decided at the death by Damian McKenzie’s razorsharp boot – but the Chiefs lost those marginal contests last year. Professional sport is a ruthless, results-based business and the Chiefs have returned to winning ways with McMillan at the wheel. Young stars, such as Samisoni
Taukei’aho, All Black Tupou Vaa’i, Naitoa Ah Kuoi and Etene NanaiSeturo, are reaping the rewards of last year’s harsh lessons and playing with confidence that is surging throughout the squad.
Once the Chiefs were on a roll, their belief and never-say-die attitude made them hard to stop.
McMillan and his coaching staff have galvanised the squad after last year’s struggles and while they are underdogs for the final, the Chiefs won’t care about the odds or the Crusaders’ daunting play-off record.
Nor will they lack confidence, having beaten the Crusaders, 26-25, three weeks ago in Hamilton.
Gatland’s scheduled return next year is interesting.
If McMillan’s Chiefs topple the Crusaders, he still moves to an assistant’s role under Gatland after winning the top prize available in 2021. McMillan says that won’t change and the pair have spoken regularly while Gatland has been away.
‘‘Our team is only going to be better for that man being involved with this environment,’’ McMillan said last month.
‘‘I always knew coming into this that it was going to be an interim role if Gats is coming back. And one of the real attractions for me was to work alongside a man of that level of experience.
‘‘And absolutely nothing has changed.’’
Still, McMillan has demonstrated his credentials by guiding the Chiefs to the final, establishing himself as one of New Zealand’s most promising coaches.
Winning Super Rugby Aotearoa would enhance his reputation tenfold.
2 TEAMS 1 WINNER