A busy few days for New Zealand team announcements started with a 19-strong track cycling squad being named yesterday.
Invercargill endurance trio Marshall Erwood, Nick Kergozou and Tom Sexton will all wear the silver fern in Glasgow.
It will be a third Commonwealth Games for both Kergozou and Sexton, while Erwood makes his debut.
Sexton won gold in the team pursuit and silver in the individual pursuit at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.
Both Andrews and Botha have been exceptional performers on the track in recent years and have won seven Commonwealth Games medals between them.
Sprint star Andrews became the first New Zealand rider to win an individual gold medal in a sprint discipline at a world championship in Glasgow in 2023 and made history with double gold at the Paris Olympics in 2024.
She won three golds and one silver at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
Endurance rider Botha won gold in the individual pursuit in 2022, was part of the silver medal-winning team pursuit in both 2022 and 2018, and won silver with the Olympic team pursuit in Paris.
Andrews headlines the women’s sprint team alongside starter Rebecca Petch, recently returned after the birth of her son, and Paris 2024 reserve Olivia King.
Botha leads the women’s endurance squad alongside Ally Wollaston and fellow Paris 2024 medallist Emily Shearman.
They are joined by exciting newcomers Samantha Donnelly and Prudence Fowler, who have been key contributors over the past two years.
The men’s endurance pack is a strong and experienced group with Olympians Sexton, Kergozou, Keegan Hornblow and George Jackson joined by exciting newcomers Erwood and Daniel Morton.
Glasgow also marks the first combined New Zealand track cycling team with three para cyclists in the Waikato trio of Nicole Murray, Devon Briggs and Emma Foy with pilot Jessie Hodges.
The trio earned nine medals between them at the world championships last year, led by a gold medal for Briggs in the 10,000m, while Murray and Briggs collectively won seven medals at the world championships in Glasgow in 2023, where Murray won gold in the omnium.
Glasgow will offer a vastly reduced sporting programme — the Scottish city became a belated host when the Australian state of Victoria pulled out — but the event remains an important one for the New Zealand cyclists.
‘‘We’re grateful Commonwealth Sport has kept the Games alive and it remains a key event for us as we look towards the Los Angeles Olympic Games,’’ Cycling New Zealand high performance manager Ryan Hollows said.
‘‘We have a strong team of proven performers and emerging talent focused on strong execution.’’
New Zealand riders will complete their final preparations at a training camp in the United Kingdom ahead of the Commonwealth Games, which start on July 23.
Glasgow’s Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome has been a happy hunting ground for Kiwi track cyclists, who earned 11 medals at the 2014 edition of the Commonwealth Games. — Allied Media
