Dudley grabs her fourth medal at world junior cycling

Levin’s Gemma Dudley was again the toast of the BikeNZ team with her fourth medal in as many days at the UCI Juniors World Championships in Capetown, South Africa today.

The Horowhenua teenager has won a bronze medal in the 20km Points Race to add to the silver medals she won in the Scratch race and Team Pursuit and the bronze in the individual pursuit at the Bellville Velodrome.

This takes New Zealand to six medals in four days at the junior world championships.

In other finals, the BikeNZ pair of Jason Christie (Ashburton) and Tom Scully (Cromwell) finished seventh in the Madison while Sam Webster (Auckland) made it through to the round of eight in the men’s sprint.

Dudley started conservatively in the early stages of the 20km Points Race which was dominated by Australia’s Megan Dunn.

The young New Zealander was back in a share of eighth place on just two points with 20 laps and three sprints remaining. She showed her maturity and strength to finish second in two of the last three sprints to move into contention.

Dudley went with Dunn to claim third place in the final sprint to seal the bronze medal behind the Australian and Italy’s Valentina Scandolara.

Christie and Scully qualified for the final of the 30km Madison when they finished second behind Australia with nine points in their heat.

They managed two fourth placings in the final of the two-man race, where riders pass over to the other riders with a hand-to-hand sling-shot action, to finish seventh.

Webster, Ethan Mitchell (Auckland) and Chad Adair (Christchurch) all qualified in the top 24 of the men’s sprint, with Webster the best in sixth fastest.

Mitchell went out to German Phillipp thiele in the first round, as did Adair, who drew gold medallist Quentin LaFarge (France).

Webster beat off German Florian Karge in 11.722s, but went out in the next round to Switzerland’s Marc Schroder.

New Zealand results, day 4, UCI Juniors World Championship, Capetown:

Women’s 20km Scratch Race, final: Megan Dunn (AUS) 32 points, 1; Valentina Scandolara (Italy) 16, 2; Gemma Dudley (NZL) 10, 3.

Men’s 30km Madison, final: Australia 19 points, 1; Belgium 15, 2; Switzerland 11, 3. New Zealand (Jason Christie, Tom Scully) 2, 7.

Madison qualifying, heat 2: Australia 10 points, 1; New Zealand 9, 2; France 8, 3.

Men’s Sprint, Qualifying: Sam Webster 11.078, 6; Ethan Mitchell 11.328, 13; Chad Adair 11.584, 24.

First round: Webster bt Florian Karge (GER) 11.722; Mitchell lost to Philipp Thiele (GER) 11.722; Adair lost to Quentin LaFarge (FRA) 11.723.

Second round: Webster lost to Marc Schroder (SWUI) 11.877.