The young Dunedin cyclist emphasised his astonishing versatility with another — and highly unexpected — national title in Cambridge at the weekend.
Gardner (17) won the under-19 men’s omnium at the first round of the New Zealand track championships at the Grassroots Trust Velodrome.
That is exciting enough, but to fully appreciate the scale of the achievement, you need to appreciate that Gardner was originally a mountain biker, he won the New Zealand under-19 road race earlier this year, and he was competing at his first national track event.
"I’m super happy, but it’s a bit of a surprise," Gardner told the Otago Daily Times before he flew home to Dunedin yesterday.
"I literally only did my first track race ever a year ago, and I’ve probably only done five track races, so to win this was not really expected.
"To be honest, my coach and I had a goal of just gaining some experience from the weekend. There were no plans for winning or even really a podium, but I’m pretty happy with how I rode."
The four-race omnium and its scoring system can be on the confusing side.
But the main point to highlight is that Gardner claimed the title by winning the last sprint of the final event, the points race — he was not even sure himself that meant he had won the overall title — so it could not have been much more dramatic.
Southland rider Marshall Erwood was looking the likely winner as he won the scratch and tempo races, and only needed to finish second in the final sprint of the points race, but dropped to fourth.
Gardner was outside the top four after the opening scratch race. He won the tempo race and dropped to fifth in the elimination after a disqualification.
He then produced a superb solo dash with three laps to go in the 80km points race, winning the double points final sprint to claim the overall omnium title on 126 points, seven clear of Erwood.
Southerners dominated the men’s racing, as Southland Olympic rider Corbin Strong won the elite omnium.
It caps a year in which Gardner claimed his national road title — to go with the New Zealand under-17 road time trial championship he won last year — and won the Gore to Invercargill Classic.
At 1.97m and 92kg, he has the build for track, not necessarily the road, but he has no intention of switching fulltime to velodrome racing.
"Definitely not. I’m the biggest bloke on the road by a mile but you can use your size to your advantage.
"Obviously hills are hard for me, but I can make it up on the flat.
"Road racing is certainly not out, and I’d like to think I can do both equally as well in the future."
Gardner has just finished his time at Otago Boys’ High School and is bound for engineering studies at the University of Otago.
His next major cycling target is the overall national track championships — the pursuit and other individual races — in March. Most of his training will be done on his road bike and he will have only limited opportunities to get more experience in a velodrome.
