CYCLING - TRACK: South Australia's Matthew Glaetzer lead a team of young Australian riders which collected four gold medals on the third night of the 2013 Oceania Track Championships in Adelaide.
Glaetzer showed he still had fire in the belly following his Olympic campaign taking gold in straight heats in the men’s sprint over Peter Lewis (NSW).
"It’s tough coming home after such a high from competing at the Olympics, it has taken me about two months to regain the desire and want to race seriously again,” Glaetzer said of his Olympic team sprint performance where he narrowly missed out on a medal in London.
"In recent weeks I've come into to some form and at just the right time for these Championships. To win a medal on my home track is amazing.
"My family are all here to support me and they don’t get many opportunities to see me race so it’s really special," Glaetzer added.
Glaetzer added he plans on trying a new approach to cycling in 2013, "I'm living the dream being a professional athlete - but next year I'll be combining Uni with my racing which I think could be better for me,” the 20-year-old concluded.
Sam Webster (NZ) picked up bronze in his battle over Andrew Taylor (NSW).
In the men’s 30km scratch race, New Zealand’s Hayden Mccormick claimed his countries second gold medal for the night in spectacular style.
Mccormick lapped the field and dominated the five point sprints yet in the dying moments of the race, his wheel was clipped and the Kiwi came down heavily. Despite his injuries, Mccormick managed to pick himself up and dragged his bike across the line to win by twenty points over Victoria’s Jack Cummings (33 points) and Queensland’s Mitchell Mulhurn (32 points).
"I'm hurting at the moment and can't stand, but I'll be back tomorrow for the presentation and to race, don't worry about that" McCormick said shortly after finding out presentations for the points race would be postponed until Sunday, the final day of competition.
Australia continued to show its depth with three under 19 future stars adding Oceania track titles to their name.
Jack Edwards (NSW), Zac Shaw (VIC) and South Australian’s Callum Scotson and Joshua Harrison (4: 09.986) toppled their trans-Tasman rivals in the men’s under 19 team pursuit. The quartet passed the NZ team of Michael Culling, Regan Gough, Josh Haggerty and Connor Stead at 2 minutes 30 into the 4000m race to seal gold.
Western Australia’s Brendon Meney, Blake Smith, Sam Welsford and Theodore Yates (4:15:224) missed out on a team pursuit medal after South Australian’s Jack Hogan, Matthew Holmes, Tom Kaesler and Alexander Porter (4:13.958 ) clocked a faster time than any qualifying time earlier that day.
Zac Shaw said the team were excited at how quickly the team were improving,
"We rode much better than we did this morning in qualifying,” the 17-year-old Shaw said. “Our coach Gene Bates changed the order around for the final and we got rid of the bugs.
"It was a very solid team ride when you consider it was our second ride as a team, well that's cool for the future,” he said.
In the under 19 women’s sprint it was Tennille Falappi of Queensland who claimed a 2-0 victory over Tian Beckett (WA) while Holly Takos (SA) was awarded bronze over Emily Apolito (VIC).
"It's always good to win yet this one means a lot to me, this win tells me I'm on the right track and all my work and training are paying off,” said the 17-year-old Falappi.
17-year-old Alexander Radzikiewicz beat out fellow South Australian Jai Angsuthasawit for his gold medal in the men’s under 19 sprint while Patrick Constable (SA) took the bronze from Tom Clarke (ACT).
"I am so happy and proud to have won an Oceania gold medal. Jai (Angsuthasawitt) is a mate and training partner and there was nothing in that final race, I got it on the day by the smallest of margins,” Radzikiewicz said.
Regan Gough of New Zealand won the men's under 19 10km scratch race over Nathan Bradshaw (NSW) and South Australia’s Alex Porter.
Luke Davison leads the men’s Omnium standings after three rounds. Davison claimed victory in round one the flying lap and round three’s elimination race while his road teammate Peter Loft took out the round two points race.
Annette Edmondson continued her form in the Omnium which she holds an Olympic bronze for – leading the standings after winning all three events so far including the flying lap, points race and the elimination.
In the women’s under 19 omnium, Josie Talbot (NSW) sit on top of the standings after round three. Talbot won the first two rounds before a crash in the elimination marred Lara Batkin’s victory in the round. South Australia's Carla Fromentin was taken to hospital for observation.
The 2013 Oceania Track Championships will be held from November 28 - December 1 at the Adelaide Super-Drome.
The Oceania Championships will conclude on Saturday night with nine finals including the men and under 19 men’s keirin, men’s 40km madison, women’s sprint and points race, under 19 women’s points race and Omnium finals in the men, women and under 19 women’s categories.
Cycling Australia
