PHOTO
Two established members of the men’s team and one exciting newcomer provide the Southland flavour to the New Zealand cycling squad.
Cycling New Zealand has named 21 riders for the world track championships and the world para track championships.
Fourteen riders will compete in the world championships in Shanghai on October 14-18, and seven will head to the Netherlands for the world para championships a week later.
The championships are priority events for both teams, marking the start of the qualification process for the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games, and both will look for strong starts to their Los Angeles campaigns.
The teams are built around the core riders who contested the recent Commonwealth Games.
Endurance squads for Shanghai comprise the same five riders in both the men’s and women’s campaigns in Glasgow.
The women’s endurance team includes Paris Olympic medallists Bryony Botha, Ally Wollaston and Emily Shearman, 2025 world championship medallist Prue Fowler and Canterbury’s Samantha Donnelly.
The men’s endurance includes three of last year’s world championship medal-winning team.
Invercargill riders Tom Sexton and Marshall Erwood are joined by Keegan Hornblow from that team, as well as Commonwealth Games medallists Dan Morton and George Jackson.
Paris gold medallist Ellesse Andrews leads the women’s sprint group that includes double Olympian Rebecca Petch, Olivia King and exciting Southland teenager Riley Faulkner.
The seven-strong para track squad includes Glasgow double gold medallists Emma Foy and pilot Jessie Hodges, fellow gold medallist Devon Briggs and podium placegetter Nicole Murray.
New mother Anna Taylor, a Paris Paralympic pursuit medallist, makes her return to top-flight competition, joined by 2025 quadruple world championship track medallist Siobhan Terry.
A newcomer is multi-talented Oceania track medallist Ieuan Edwards. The Cantabrian is also a champion swimmer. — Allied Media