Hoskins Wins World Title
WAIS athlete Melissa Hoskins has won a world championship title as a member of the Australian women’s team pursuit squad that broke a world record in claiming gold at the 2015 UCI Track World Championships in Paris on day two.
Australia’s Ashlee Ankudinoff (NSW), Amy Cure (TAS), Annette Edmondson (SA) and Hoskins (WA) powered to an historic team pursuit victory that will see the Australians ranked as long range gold medal favourites for the event at next year’s Rio Olympic Games.
Fastest qualifiers in a national record time (4:18.135) on the opening day of competition on Wednesday, the quartet lowered that mark again with 4mins 17.410secs in Thursday afternoon’s first round defeat of New Zealand.
In the Ashes on the Track women’s final, Great Britain took an early advantage after the first two laps, before Australia settled in to the fast Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines velodrome.
The quartet built a lead of just over a second at the halfway mark, before extending their advantage to almost two seconds heading into the final kilometre.
With the rainbow jersey coming into sight with every lap travelled, the team kicked into a higher gear in the final few hundred metres, roaring home to end the four-year British reign on the event and stamping their own mark with a world record time of 4:13.683secs, three seconds clear of their opponents.
“It’s still a bit surreal. I just can’t believe it,” said Cure, 22. “We’ve been training so well together as a group.
“I think this last year we’ve really been focusing on ourselves more and I think that really showed today. We all went out there, backed ourselves and each other.
“Sutto (Gary Sutton) really knew us out there. We did exactly what we planned to do, stuck by the schedule and came home with the goods.”
For Cure, the win solidified the defending points race world champion’s decision not to defend her jersey on Wednesday night due to it lying in the middle of the team pursuit schedule.
“It’s a pretty emotional feeling and definitely makes up for it. It was a sacrifice I was willing to make. It’s such a high when things all pan out its awesome.”
After winning the title in 2010, Australia’s women claimed two silver and two bronze at the past three World Championships.
Sydney’s Ashlee Ankudinoff, the lone remaining member of the 2010 world champion team – won with former WAIS duo Josephine Tomic and Sarah Kent when the event was a three-rider, three kilometre event – was ecstatic to reclaim the crown.
“I’m a bit speechless. I definitely forgot what it was like to win a world championship,” said Ankudinoff, 24. “To do it here today with three of my best mates is a really special moment.
“We’ve had a few kicks in the guts along the way with always being bridesmaids to Great Britain.
“We’ve put in the hard work together and not just win the gold medal but to do it in world record style is pretty cool.”
For Hoskins and Edmondson, both members of the teams which finished on the lower steps of the podium at the past three World Championships, the win was reward for years of determination and hard work.
“Unbelievable,” said Edmondson, 22. “We’ve worked so hard for this. I’ve just spent every night of the last year dreaming about this so to actually go across the line and do it is speechless.
“I don’t want to ever take this jersey off. To stand up on the podium alongside these three amazing women and to have Bec Wiasak watching us and by our side the entire time, to know she could slot in and do exactly the same thing, and to know we’ve got Bella King (WAIS athlete), we’ve got a whole handful of girls back home who have really stepped up is really promising signs for Australia in the lead in to Rio.”
Hoskins echoed Edmondson’s sentiments.
“I’ve never seen us ride three rounds like that before, it is absolutely special,” added Hoskins, 23. “Seeing Sutto up on the line and getting excited, you know you’re up on a good one when he gets excited.
“I remember when Ash, Jose, Sarah won it in 2010, I was at home watching and I was just coming in and I had been training with them and I thought next year that’s going to be me I want to be on the top step. It’s been a long five years since then.”