Cycling: Medals, world record still sinking in for Ellis | Otago Daily Times Online News
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Cycling: Medals, world record still sinking in for Ellis

For cyclist Lauren Ellis, who had two medals amongst her baggage as she arrived back in Auckland today, New Zealand's most successful campaign at a world track championships is still sinking in.

The New Zealanders came away from the championships, which ended in Denmark at the weekend, with four medals, beating their country's previous best of three in Poland last year.

Two of the haul at Copenhagen came in Ellis' events.

She claimed bronze with Alison Shanks and Rushlee Buchanan in the 3000m women's team pursuit, with the trio breaking the world record with a time of 3min 21.552sec.

The 20-year-old from the Mid-Canterbury town of Hinds followed up with silver in the women's points race on the final night of competition.

"I don't think it's really sunk in," she said. "You just go out and give everything you can. When you get an amazing result like that, it's really hard to comprehend."

New Zealand's other medals went to Jesse Sergent, silver in the men's individual pursuit, and the men's pursuit combination, who got bronze despite having just three riders at the finish in Sam Bewley, Peter Latham and Wes Gough, after Sergent had a mechanical problem.

Ellis believed the preparation put in and the camaraderie within the camp were keys to New Zealand's success in Denmark.

"I just think we've put in so much hard work in the last couple of weeks of training and you get so much support from the whole team," she said.

"We're a really tight team and it just makes you work harder and you give it everything you can."

Ellis won team pursuit silver along with Shanks and Jaimee Neilsen at last year's world championships and she said failing to make the ride-off for gold this time around was a definite disappointment.

But it led to what was for her the highlight of the championships -- the world mark set while beating the United States to the bronze.

"It was just an amazing ride," she said. "At the finish I looked up at and I was like: `3:21.5? I think that's a world record.' But you don't want to be celebrating just in case it isn't. I think we rolled around for a couple of laps before we actually realised."

Ellis' focus during the meet had been the team pursuit, an Olympic discipline.

She competed in the points race, which has been dropped from the Olympic schedule, to get more international racing experience.

"I did it because it was after the team pursuit and it's another event," she said. "I just wanted to do my best and give it everything and to get a medal is a complete bonus."

Ellis will now take a break for the next three weeks, while also awaiting the announcement in mid-April of the track team for this year's Commonwealth Games in New Delhi in October.

The selected riders head to the United States in June for further competition.

 

 

 

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