Oliver's Story
Rising star Oliver Bleddyn grew up in Western Australia and began racing bikes as a 12-year-old with Peel District Cycling Club.
In 2021, he relocated to Adelaide to train with the South Australian Sports Institute, where the head cycling coach Brett Aitken described him as “an extremely talented rider."
“Oli rode a sub 4:20 individual pursuit at nationals, which is almost unheard of as a first-year elite,” Brett said.
“He is a super exciting athlete who I think we’ll see a lot of in the future.”
In 2022, Oliver finished seventh in the under-23 individual time trial at the Oceania championships.
He narrowly lost to childhood friend Conor Leahy in the final of the individual pursuit at the 2022 track nationals in Brisbane.
The following year, he was third in the individual pursuit at track nationals and second in the under-23 time trial at the Australian championships and third in the same event at the Oceania championships. These performances won him selection in the Australian team for the UCI world championships in Glasgow.
Oliver recorded top-10 finishes in the under-23 criterium and the under-23 time trial at the 2024 national championships.
In March, he teamed up with Blake Agnoletto to win the Bendigo International madison.
“Over the past couple of years we started doing madisons together just to keep working on the pairing and the racing experience together,” Oliver said.
The madison is a relay competition of up to 200 laps completed in sprints of five laps. Riders compete in pairs and the gruelling nature of the race necessitates strong teamwork.
Oliver was a member of the Australian team that finished fourth in the team pursuit at the UCI Track Nations Cup in Hong Kong in March.
