An under-strength New Zealand’s women’s team pursuit combination overcame the odds to claim their second straight track world cup gold medal, in Malaysia on Saturday, after victory in Hong Kong a week earlier.
Prudence Fowler, suffering ill health, led for the first few laps before pulling off, leaving Bryony Botha, Samantha Donnelly and Emily Shearman for the final 12 laps of the 4000m journey,topping qualifying in 4min 16.917sec.
They then beat the Netherlands in the first round to move into the gold medal clash with China. The teams were level at 1000m in the final before the Kiwis built a slim lead over the middle stages and powered clear over the final kilometre to win by nearly 2sec. — Allied Media
