Fourth placings disappoint New Zealand junior cyclists

It was a night of nearly but not quite for the New Zealand cycling team at the UCI World Junior Track Championships in Moscow today.

After two gold medal performances on the first two days in the team sprint and the keirin, the kiwi contingent were hopeful of continuing the medal haul.

They had to settle for two fourth placings in the in the kilo time trial and men’s team pursuit.

“They rode really well but fourth place is a bit gutting. They were so close in both events but came away without a medal to show for their excellent efforts. The boys are disappointed they could not get on the podium again,” manager Mike McRedmond said.

Auckland’s Ethan Mitchell and Southland’s Cameron Karwowski, part of the gold medal winning team sprint, finished fourth and seventh respectively in the kilo time trial.

Mitchell clocked 1:03.532 to be only 3/100ths of a second away from the bronze medal position and less than half a second from the winner’s time.

“Ethan really put the hammer down and was the fastest after two laps and was a blink of an eye away from the bronze medal.”

The pursuit team were third fastest in qualifying with a strong 4:10.162 to finish behind Australia and hosts Russia, who both went under the world record.

The kiwis, Josh Atkins, Patrick Bevin, Ruaraidh McLeod and Hamish Tomlinson, took on Germany in the bronze medal ride-off in the evening.

The Germans started powerfully to open a 1.25 second gap after the first km with the New Zealanders closing slightly over the next two kms. The Germany combination managed to regroup finishing strongly in 4:07.972 to claim the bronze medal ahead of a disappointed New Zealand combination who clocked in 4:09.099.

The hosts Russia claimed the gold medal over the top ranked Australians who did not finish after one rider crashed, reducing the world record time again in an impressive display on the big banked track at the Moscow Velodrome.

Canterbury’s Elizabeth Steel rode impressively to finish 13th in the Women’s Scratch race won by Australia’s Amy Cure.

Tomorrow's racing will see Steel in the women’s Omnium, Sam Webster and Mitchell in the qualifying rounds of the men’s sprint, and McLeod and Bevin riding the qualifying heats of the Madison.

Results:

Women’s scratch race (7.33km): Amy Cure (AUS) 1, Lucie Zaleska (CZE) 2, Aleksandra Sosenko (LTU) 3. Also: Elizabeth Steel (NZL) 13.

Men’s kilo time trial: Nikolay Zhurkin (RUS) 1:03.060, 1; Loris Paoli (ITA) 1:03.078, 2; Krzysztof (POL) 1:03.500, 3. Also Ethan Mitchell (NZL) 1:03.532, 4; Cameron Karwowski (NZL) 1:04.250, 7.

Team Pursuit, 4000m qualifying: Australia 4:05.352, 1 (world record); Russia 4:05.931, 2; New Zealand (Josh Atkins, Patrick Bevin, Ruaraidh McLeod, Hamish Tomlinson) 4:10.162, 3; Germany 4:12.642, 4.

Ride-off for 1-2: Russia 4:04.646, 1 (world record); Australia dnf, 2.

Ride-off for 3-4: Germany 4:07.972, 3; New Zealand 4:09.099, 4.