Three Gold as WAIS Cyclists Dominate in Moscow

The WAIS cycling program has continued its phenomenal 2009 form with three WAIS scholarship holders claiming gold medals at the Junior World Championships in Moscow, Russia.

Luke Durbridge, D’Arcy Slater scholarship recipient Michaela Anderson and Melissa Hoskins have followed in the blistering footsteps of 2009 senior World Champion WAIS cyclists Cameron Meyer and Josie Tomic by dominating their events in Russia.

WAIS Head cycling coach Darryl Benson was delighted to see his new generation come through with flying colours and is looking forward to seeing future results.

“I’m very proud of what they have achieved and the way they performed under pressure,” Benson said. “Hopefully there will be more to celebrate as the championships continue, but they have done brilliantly and competed very strongly,” he said.

Benson was also full in his praise of the WAIS support staff who play such an important role in assisting Benson with his squad in preparation and conditioning.

“This is also a great result for the tireless work of the WAIS staff. Frankie Tan and Pete Peeling in physiology, Simon Jones (Former GB Head cycling coach) in his assistance with Michaela, Geish Hori in the gym and the help offered by Jenny Marsh (Athlete Career and Education) all contribute significantly,” Benson said.

Luke Durbridge launched the Australian medal charge by winning gold in the U19 time trial on day one of the 2009 UCI Junior Road World Championships in Moscow.

The 18 year old covered the 25.8km individual road time trial course, over two laps of a circuit out and back from University Square, in a time of 32min52.23sec at and average speed of 47km/h. The silver medal was claimed by American Lawson Craddock who was 2.22sec slower (32min54.45sec) with Denmark’s Lasse Hansen third in a time of 33min03.01sec.

“I’m absolutely stoked and I just can’t take it in at the moment,” said a delighted Durbridge after the medal ceremony. “I headed out really really quick and was fastest in the first lap (by six seconds on Hansen) and then I died a little bit in the last lap but I managed to hold onto it.

“It was a good day and I’m really happy and I really want to thank Darryl Benson, my coach at WAIS (WA Institute of Sport) for all the work he’s done with me.”

The reigning Australian U19 time trial champion, Durbridge is no stranger to gold medals. He was a member of the victorious team pursuit line up at his Junior World Championship debut last year on the track where he also claimed bronze in the points race.

At last year’s Melbourne World Cup the teenager stepped up to join the elite men in the team pursuit and collected another gold medal. This season he added team pursuit gold at the Oceania and Australian Championships as well as the Australian Youth Olympic Festival.

“I’ve ridden flat courses that I’ve done well on and the Nationals was really hilly and I won that so the type of course hasn’t really worried me,” said Durbridge. “This course had lots of gradual climbs and I could use the big gear and my power to get up them and my track work preparation meant I could use high cadence on the downhills so that helped me a fair bit as well but the course was rather flat.”

Durbridge says he felt on form from the minute he began his warm up.

“When I got on the rollers today I knew it was going to be a good day,” said Durbridge. “I was going well in Adelaide (pre-event team training camp) and I coped well with the flight over.

“I did all the right things, lots of stretching and light rides and the coaching staff got me up to where I needed to be,” said Durbridge who was also happy to draw a good starting position midway through the field.

“The first few days we were here it was really sunny but then we came out on the course yesterday and the wind picked up later in the afternoon,” he explained. “When I started today the wind blowing a little bit and there were heaps of clouds but then it got progressively windier.”

The newly crowned World Champion will not contest Sunday’s road race but will instead turn his attention to the track events which begin on Tuesday.

“For sure we’ve been training for six months on the team pursuit and that’s definitely my goal but I think I’ll enjoy this for a couple more hours and then start to focus on the track,” said Durbridge.

Michaela Anderson got Australia’s track campaign off to an incredible start with her gold medal performance in the individual pursuit.

Anderson, who turns 17 on Friday, posted a time in the final of 02min26.282sec to win the crown in the showdown with Cure, 16, who rode 2min27.207sec for the silver medal.

“I am so excited right now I still can’t believe I’m World Champion- it’s an early birthday present,” said Anderson. “I’m happy with the time and so happy with the result, in fact I’m just a really happy person.”

Both Anderson and Cure posted personal best times to qualify for the gold medal final with Cure setting her mark of 2min25.983sec early in the qualifying round while Anderson was in the tenth heat.

“Amy did a good time and I knew she’d be up there but I thought if I could match her time or do better then hopefully I’d make it into one of the finals (gold or bronze rides),” said Anderson. “I did my usual warm up and it was all good up until the last ten minutes before qualifying when I started to get really nervous and began to realise this is what I’ve been training for, this was the ‘big event’.”

By the end of her ride Anderson, with a time of 2min25.929sec, had slotted into the top qualifying spot and Cure was sitting in second but the Australian pair had a nervous 40 minute wait to see if any other riders would better their times.

“Then when we realised we were in the final we celebrated but then we realised we had to actually race each other,” said Anderson. “So it was great to begin with but then ‘Oh not too good’.”

Despite this being their first outing at a World Championships the pair handled the pressure well in the lead up to the final.

“It was pretty nerve wracking because we’re in the same team together but we were just chilling out and trying to relax and probably not talking much but you don’t talk much anyway when you are focussed,” said Cure. “As the final approached I was pretty nervous because this was everything I’ve trained for and it comes down to this moment.”

Anderson admits she was also feeling the pressure.

“Timmy (coach Tim Dekker) came up to me and said’ you’ve worked so hard and I know you want it but you’re going to have to fight really hard for this’,” explained Anderson. “Amy and I have been racing together for so long we know each other’s strengths and weaknesses so it was a bit like the past four years of nationals when we’ve raced each other.

“Rolling up for the final I have never been so nervous in my life but so excited at the same time,” said Anderson adding that during the race she lost track of Dekker’s signals. “I didn’t really see where Tim was standing so I was not entirely sure how I was going against Amy but I just gave it everything and at the end it was amazing to realise I’d actually pulled it off.”

Anderson then combined with her WAIS training partner Melissa Hoskins to claim more gold and in world record time in the women’s teams pursuit.

The women’s line up of newly crowned individual pursuit World Champion, Michaela Anderson, Megan Dunn and Melissa Hoskins clocked 3min28.363 to defeat Russia’s Elena Lichmanova, Lidia Malakhov and Maria Mishina (3min32.487sec) in the 3km team pursuit final.

The time of the Australian trio clipped three seconds off their qualifying time and topped the previous Australian record of 3min37.138sec set by the 2008 Australian women’s team in South Africa at last year’s Championships.

Their time also lowered the world best time mark of 3min32sec ridden at the European Championships earlier this year. The World Record for the event, introduced last year, has not previously been credited but Australian team management have submitted the time to be listed as the first official World Record for the 3km women’s team pursuit.