Corbin Strong races to silver at world championships

Southland professional Corbin Strong was rewarded for his bunch riding nous with a silver medal in the elimination race on the final day of the UCI Track Cycling World Championships in Paris.

It left New Zealand with a bronze and two silver medals from the world championships and encouragement that there is a silver lining to their preparations towards the 2024 Paris Olympics in the same St Quentin En Yvelines Velodrome.

While the exciting elimination race is not on the Olympic schedule, Strong showed, with this performance and his fourth placing in the Points race, that he is a world-class bunch racer.

This year he has also developed into an emerging international road rider, picking up several podiums for his World Tour team, Israel Premier Tech.

He rode close to the front throughout the race, where the last rider is eliminated every two laps, with a desperate finish to eliminate the British rider Ethan Vernon in the penultimate sprint. Strong went early in the last sprint against defending champion Elia Viviani (ITA), the Olympic omnium champion, who managed to claw back the lead on the kiwi.

“From start to finish you could not fault his decisions,” said coach Adrian Hegyvary. “He knew exactly what he wanted to do. It was the first time he has been beaten riding the elimination final like he did. He gave himself the best chance and he got beat by one of the best riders in the world.

“With more track prep it is exciting for Corbin. His track prep for this was six or seven Italian races and he missed out on the team build-up with his road commitments, so to see his track legs coming out from not much is impressive.

“He was super-close in the points race and could have been on the podium there as well. With Aaron Gate and Campbell Stewart, then New Zealand has three world-class bunch racers.”

Earlier Olympic medallist Ellesse Andrews qualified through to the final of the women’s keirin, finishing fifth from a tough draw in the final of the keirin competition.

She overcame a series of challenging draws to finish second in her heat, progressing with third in the quarterfinal; and third in her semifinal. Andrews drew the back in the final and while she pushed up, she got boxed in for the final sprint home.

“We are reasonably happy,” said coach Nick Flyger. “It was not completely all guns firing in the final but Ellesse moved from a tough position and a difficult draw. It was great to get to the final, but more importantly, the wider learnings have been very good.

“Our race day preparation and processes were the big work-on for this competition and we have improved here. We have also seen the track and the competition for the Olympics, so we can focus on the technical and tactical work looking to 2024.

“Ellesse has only done four or five international competitions so there is still lots to learn which is the exciting part.

“The next four or five months will focus on our physical preparation – there are gains to be made there. This has been a good chance to test where we are at. We know where the next gains will come – we are not left wondering – now we knuckle down and get to work.”

In other racing, Bryony Botha finished ninth in the 100-lap points race, winning a sprint and putting a lap on the field, with the leading five teams managing a second lap to fight for the medals, won by Neah Evans (GBR).

Gate and Stewart combined to finish ninth in the gruelling 200-lap madison, where they won three sprints but could not get into a break to put a lap on the field to take them into medal contention in the event won by France.

Hegyvary, a former Olympian for USA who is interim men’s endurance coach, said the experience at the Paris Olympic track was important.

“The track is wide which is nice for Madison, and sprint qualifying. It is a nice track for team pursuit with wide and rounded corners which are more forgiving. It makes the bunch racing more challenging as it is harder to pass, and in terms of sprinting, it becomes more physical and benefits the strong riders,” he said.

“The biggest thing building to the Olympics is the exposure to the world’s best. We only have one more world champs, so to come here and see how we are tracking, how everyone else is tracking and how racing is tracking has all been really productive.

“In terms of team pursuit, we were 0.1s from making the bronze ride. The gap to the top is two or three seconds, around 11-12 watts, so it is not night and day, it is detail.

“From Tokyo we had Nick Kergozou and Tom Sexton come into the team pursuit and both did personal bests – for Kergie in the kilo and Tom bettered his Commonwealth Games time for individual pursuit. So, they both stepped up.

“We have had a debrief and agree it has been important to have had this exposure at the venue. We secured some good qualifying points, and now we are bettered equipped to put our Olympic plans in place.”

Results Day 5:

Women’s Points: Neah Evans (GBR) 60 points, 1; Julie Leth (DEN) 53, 2; Jennifer Valente (SA) 51, 3. Also: Bryony Botha 25, 9.

Men Madison 50kms: France 65 points, 1; Great Britain 47, 2; Belgium 43, 3. Also: New Zealand (Campbell Stewart, Aaron Gate) 20, 9.

Elimination: Elia Viviani (ITA) 1, Corbin Strong (NZL) 2, Ethan Vernon (GBR) 3.

Women keirin, first round, heat 4: Kelsey Mitchell (CAN) 1, Ellesse Andrews (NZL) 2. Second round, heat 3: Martha Bayona Pineda (COL) 1, Mathilde Gros (FRA) 2, Andrews 3. Semifinal 2: Mina Sato (JPN) 1, Steffie van der Peet (NED) 2, Andrews 3. Final: Lea Sophie Friedrich (GER) 1, Sato 2, van der Peet 3. Also: Andrews 5.