Kelland O'Brien

Growing up in Kew, Victoria, Kelland O’Brien would accompany his dad to the BMX track where he was introduced to the different cycling disciplines. Kelland started in BMX, switched to mountain bike and also ventured onto the road before ending up at the track.

Kelland’s green and gold journey began in 2015 when he represented Australia at the 2015 Junior World Championships. His performances netted him a madison gold and team pursuit bronze.

In 2017, he graduated to the elite ranks and claimed dual Oceania crowns as well as maiden World Championships gold in the individual pursuit. There he also won bronze in the individual pursuit in a personal best time.

In 2018, Kelland netted dual nationals and dual Oceania crowns, plus World Cup gold. The season highlight came at the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games when he won team pursuit gold with Sam Welsford, Leigh Howard and Alex Porter.

The quartet became the first in history to break the three-minute (3:49.804) 50-second barrier.

As well as defending their world title in 2019, Kelland and the team also broke the world record.

With six national track titles to his name, Kelland broke through and won his maiden road national crown in 2020, winning the Under 23 Criterium Championships. 

Kelland was notably absent from the 2020 Track World Championships after he experienced a crash during stage four of his first Tour Down Under. He required surgery to repair a broken collarbone.

In Tokyo, Kelland was part of Australia’s men’s team pursuit, which bravely fought back from a nasty crash in qualifying to win a bronze medal.

Kelland’s teammate Alex Porter was involved in a heavy crash during qualifying which forced the Australian quartet to restart their ride.

They posted the fifth-fastest time of 3mins 48secs then with Lucas Plapp replacing Porter in the line-up. They produced an Olympic record ride of 3mins 44.90secs against Switzerland in the next round to progress to the bronze medal race against New Zealand.

In a dramatic showdown, Australia’s team of Kelland, Lucas, Sam and Leigh Howard trailed the Kiwis by just 0.048 of a second at the 2km half-way mark of their race before one of the New Zealand riders crashed and Australia lapped their Trans-Tasman rivals.

Kelland also combined with Howard to finish 12th in the madison, which was won by Denmark’s Lasse Norman Hansen and Michael Morkov.

Kelland switched focus to the road in 2022. He showed his potential in his first classics campaign with a standout ride at Dwars door Vlaanderen and displayed his skills as a leadout man in the La Vuelta a Espana.

In 2023, Kelland won criterium gold and time trial bronze at the Australian national championships. Again he had success in the spring classics in Europe, claiming several top-10 finishes.

Brent Copeland, boss of Kelland’s professional team, said of the Aussie cyclist: “Kell has been developing very well over the past two years and it is very promising seeing what he can do in the spring classics, he has been up there with the best riders. (In 2024) he will have the Olympics that he’s concentrating on, but after that he’s going to be fully dedicated to the road once again and we are confident he will make great progress.”