Welsford Defends Junior World Championship Title

Western Australian Institute of Sport cyclist Sam Welsford has defended his junior world championship title in the men’s team pursuit after claiming gold at the 2014 Junior World Championships in Korea.

The Australian team of Sam Welsford, Callum Scotson (SA), Alex Porter (SA) and Daniel Fitter (QLD) qualified fastest in 4mins 10.087secs.

Under the new teams pursuit format, teams now ride three rounds instead of two. Australia progressed to the gold medal round after defeating Russia (fourth fastest qualifier) in the first v fourth ride-off after posting 4mins 10.660secs to Russia’s 4:23.832.

In the gold medal final, the team recorded their fastest time of the day of 4mins 06.9secs to defeat Colombia.New Zealand took bronze.

Team debutant Alex Porter said the result took time to register and that the team dealt well with the new three race format.

“It is an amazing feeling, when we first crossed the line, it didn’t sink in until slightly later,” he said.

“The first qualifying was nerve wracking, I was taking lots of deep breaths to calm myself down. But as we went through the rounds, once I got through the quarter final ride I calmed down.

“Having three rides in one day with the new format was tough, but we had plans for each of the ride and we executed them really well.

“Putting on the rainbow jersey was amazing, definitely best moment of my life to this point. Standing on top of the podium knowing how much work we had put in, it was amazing feeling,” remarked Porter.

Welsford continued his strong showing at the World Championships by picking up a silver medal in the men’s omnium.

Heading in to the penultimate event Welsford and Casper Pedersen of Denmark were tied on points, with Welsford posting the third fastest time of 17.914secs in the flying lap. Pedersen (DEN – 17.821) won the event to move four points clear with one event remaining.

With the points earned in the points race now being added to rider’s existing total in the omnium, the race for the medals was still wide open. With Jihun Kim (KOR) and Valentin Madouas (FRA) who started in fourth and fifth taking a lap, Welsford was put under pressure for a medal position.

However a strong tactical race from Welsford saw him claim silver to add to team pursuit gold he won on the opening day.

Pedersen (DEN) collected gold and Kim (KOR) bronze.

-CyclingAus