World champion pursuiter Alison Shanks expected to be named in the New Zealand track cycling squad for the London Olympics, but it was still a thrill to get the nod yesterday.
"It is always nice to see your name," Shanks said.
"It is a long build-up for an Olympics. It is a few years of hard work, not just the last season, so to see your name there and know that you are going to be getting on that plane and heading over to London is very exciting."
Shanks won the women's 3000m individual pursuit at the world championships in Melbourne earlier this month.
The individual pursuit has been removed from the Olympic programme but Shanks will join Jaimee Nielsen and Lauren Ellis in the team pursuit.
Fellow Dunedin cyclist Katie Schofield thought her chances of making the squad had been extinguished when she made an error out of the starting blocks in the team sprint event at the world championships in Melbourne.
The 28-year-old has been included as a reserve and will join the squad in preparations, but not in the Olympic village unless another nation pulls out of the team sprint.
"New Zealand is first in line in the team sprint if another team pulls out," Schofield said.
"I'll do part of the build-up but will not be entering the village.
"I'll be training hard and hope that maybe a team does,unfortunately, pull out. You just never know."
The New Zealand track team will be in Hawkes Bay for the next week. The women's pursuit team will contest the club national championships in the time trial and the road race events as part of its preparations.
Shanks will return to Dunedin for a week before leaving for California on May 13 with the New Zealand team.
