Connor Douglas amongst medals again at Oceanias

The New Zealand pair Ellesse Andrews and Aaron Gate continued their golden run with victories on the second day of the Oceania Championships in Brisbane.

Andrews, the Tokyo Olympic silver medallist, added victory in the keirin to the sprint honours she won on the first day of the championships at the Anna Meares Velodrome.

Gate, who has just returned from Europe, produced a stunning effort to bag two gold medals on the evening programme, claiming the final of the 4000m individual pursuit and then superb in winning the scratch race.

Both kiwi riders came to Brisbane without any specific track preparations, with Andrews only recently returned to training after an eight-week break following her serious crash in December where she broke her collarbone and suffered from concussion.

Caption: Aaron Gate. Photo: Michael Shippley/AusCycling

Meanwhile Gate has been based in Europe, after flying there from Tokyo for surgery on his broken collarbone in his fateful crash during the bronze medal team pursuit against Australia. Following a complete break off the bike in December after the plate was removed from the shoulder, Gate came directly off a build-up on the road to travel to Australia.

Andrews was a class above today, winning her heat emphatically although she was made to work hard for the win in the final after pushing to the front two and a half laps out.

“I wanted to stay out of trouble and do a long sprint. It was a very tough final. I was definitely dying at the end but I was happy to hold on for that win,” said Andrews.

“Obviously with the crash in December and coming back from a broken collar bone and concussion, I am really happy with where I am, and where I can develop to with the big competitions later in the year.”

Caption: Ellesse Andrews. Photo: Michael Shippley/AusCycling

Andrews will join up with Rebecca Petch and Olivia King in their newly formed combination for the women’s team sprint, with the event now contested by three women over 750m.

“The plan is to put together a nice tidy ride, and hopefully better our time from nationals,” said Andrews of the combination that produced a world-class time at the recent championships in New Zealand.

Gate, who qualified for the individual pursuit final 3.5 seconds slower than top qualifier Connor Leahy (AUS), pipped kiwi Olympic teammate Jordan Kerby by 0.1s for the right to take on the Australian in the final.

However, Gate stepped up, opening an early lead before Leahy caught up at the halfway mark. The pair could not be separated to the 3km mark before Gate just found some clear air, and eased away to win in 4:08.482, with 1.5 seconds back to the Australian.

The 31-year-old broke the national record in the process, going 0.3s inside his own mark set over a year ago at the national championships, while Kerby was untroubled in winning the bronze medal after catching his opponent.

No-one was more surprised at his outstanding form than Gate himself.

“I didn’t have the biggest expectations coming here, especially the pursuit. I haven’t touched that bike since I fell off it at 65kph at the Olympics,” said Gate.

“It was like hope for the best which is, of course, textbook how you should not approach an individual pursuit. Luckily, I guess all the work we did the Games is still in the tank so to speak.

“The PB was awesome. To shave 2.5 seconds off the morning time was something I was pretty stoked with.

“It is called the individual pursuit and not the individual time trial for a reason. It is all about how you race that final. I am really stoked with two good days of racing and more to come.”

He returned late in the evening session for the 15km scratch race, with the New Zealand contingent working well as a unit, before Gate broke clear mid-race with Australian Blake Agnoletto to gain a lap on the field. The kiwis kept the pace hot with Gate out-lasting his rival to claim the win to make it three gold medals in two days.

In other racing, individual pursuit gold medallist Bryony Botha led the points race until she got stuck at the back of the pack for the final sprint, taken by Australian Chloe Moran. Botha had to settle for second with teammate Prudence Fowler claiming the bronze.

Sam Webster, in his first competition since Tokyo, was the best of the Kiwis in the sprint competition. He qualified sixth but used his renowned racing nous to win through to the semifinals. He found Matthew Richardson too strong in the best of three race semifinal with another Australian Thomas Cornish edging the kiwi in two rides for the bronze medal.

Hamilton’s Liam Cavanagh won the bronze medal in the under-19 sprint, beating Australian Jaydan Stanton-Kerr 2-1 in the best of three races.

In Para-cycling action, Connor Douglas impressed in winning the Flying 200m in the MC5 category in 10.961s with Ben Westenberg third, while Devon Briggs won the MC4 class in 11.298s.

All cycling disciplines are competing in the Oceania Championships in Brisbane, with the mountain bike completed last week, and BMX and road racing to be staged next weekend.

Day three action includes team pursuit and time trial for all classes, with the evening programme highlighted with the two-rider madison for juniors and elites.

Competition finishes on Tuesday.