Madison Return – Music to Meyer’s Ears
Dual former Madison World Champion Cameron Meyer has greeted the return of the track cycling event back into the Olympic program for Tokyo 2020.
The 29 year-old toasted the news after riding solo for a win in the Dwars door de Vlaamse Ardennen in Belgium last Saturday.
Meyer has been riding with the Australian U23 National Road Team in Europe in recent weeks, in a squad that also features Western Australian athletes Sam Welsford, Michael Storer and Jai Hindley.
Via a social media post on Instagram, Meyer said it had been a successful 24 hours, on and off the saddle.
The Helena Valley resident is justified in his enthusiasm, having won world championship titles in the Madison event in 2010 in Denmark and again in the Netherlands in 2011 – both times riding with Leigh Howard.
At this year’s Track World Championships in Hong Kong, Meyer won dual titles in the Teams Pursuit and Points Race before teaming with Callum Scotson for a silver medal in the Madison.
The Madison race pits two-riders together across 50km (30km for women) and requires a sprinter and a rouleur. Sprints take place once every 10 laps with points awarded to the first (5pts), second (3pts), third (2pts) and fourth (1pt) sprinters across the line.
Sprint points are doubled for the final sprint, whilst teams can also gain 20 points for lapping the field. Race winners are determined by the team with highest points total at the completion of the 50km.
Having returned to track competition in late 2016, Meyer is now aiming to make his first Olympic team since debuting in 2008 at the Beijing Games, where competing as a 20 year-old Meyer finished fourth in the Points Race, an event he has since gone on to dominate in at World Championship level.
His decision to focus on road cycling thereafter was influenced by the Points Race and Madison being replaced at Olympic level by the multi-event Omnium. With Madison back on the cards in addition to the endurance Teams Pursuit, Meyer now has two events to target in 2020.