Cycling: Shanks determined to learn from failure

Copenhagen did not look so beautiful for Dunedin rider Alison Shanks when she slipped back to fourth in her specialist individual pursuit yesterday.

Shanks (27) was defending her world title in Denmark but slipped out of the gold-medal reckoning when she finished third in the qualifying heat behind American Sarah Hammer, who topped the qualifying times with 3min 27.826sec.

Hammer later beat Great Britain's Wendy Houvenaghel in 3min 28.601sec in the gold-medal ride.

Shanks lost her ride-off for bronze when she was pipped by Lithuanian Vilija Sereikaite. Shanks had posted a time of 3min 31.259sec to finish third in qualifying then recorded 3min 32.733sec against Sereikaite.

Shanks told TVNZ her "training had gone really well leading in and I was really looking forward to the race. But it did not quite come together today.

"As long as I can learn from it and move forward then I think it can only be a good thing for my overall career."

Shanks was involved in prolonged drug testing after her race and was not available to talk to the Otago Daily Times.

Shanks and her coaching team were left scratching their heads after she failed to kick on in the final kilometre of both her qualifying ride and the ride-off for a bronze medal.

Her coach, Craig Palmer, was naturally disappointed at the unexpected result.

"It is difficult to put my finger on it," Palmer told the Otago Daily Times from Copenhagen.

"It was a disappointing ride in the first round when she didn't reach the standard needed to go for the gold medal."

Palmer remained puzzled because Shanks was in good form leading into the championships.

Her training had pointed to a sub-3min 30sec ride and Shanks was shattered she could not deliver.

"But it didn't happen on the day and we will have to delve into the reasons for it before Ali starts training for the Commonwealth Games," Palmer said.

"A number of things need to come together on the day. Her time in the first round was just 0.3sec slower than the time Ali rode when qualifying at the world championships in Poland last year."

Shanks had little time to dwell on her disappointment as she prepared for this morning's team pursuit qualifying.