Hawkes Bay rider Westley Gough will ride off for the bronze medal in the individual pursuit on the fourth night of finals at the UCI Track Cycling World Championships in Melbourne.
The 23 year old will take on Australian Rohan Dennis in the ride for third and fourth at the Hisense Arena.
Gough took nearly a second off his previous best to clock 4:17.001 for the 4000m journey with Australians filling the other places in tonight’s medal rides.
Great Britain road star Geraint Thomas set the bar with a 4:17.265 but Gough showed his class, powering home strongly with a 2:05.434 over the final 3000m, second only to top qualifier Michael Hepburn.
Hepburn clocked 4:13.224, the third fastest time in history, to pip compatriot and world record-holder Jack Bobridge (4:14.783).
Waikato’s Peter Latham finishes sixth fastest behind Thomas with an excellent 4:18.152, a personal best by more than a second from his time in finishing runner-up to Jesse Sergent at the Oceania Championships.
Southland’s Natasha Hansen and Otago’s Katie Schofield were eliminated from the women’s keirin after both finished fourth in their respective heats. They went through to the repechage where both finished third where only the winner progressed.
Jo Kiesanowski (Christchurch) has dropped to 10th overall with two rounds remaining in the six-event women’s omnium.
She finished 16th in the 3000m individual pursuit in 3:43.594, which was just over a second outside her best set at the recent London World Cup.
Great Britain’s Laura Trott took the overall lead by one point from Australia’s Annette Edmondson.
They will contest the scratch race and 500m time trial in tonight’s programme.
Results:
Men’s 4000m individual pursuit qualifying: Michael Hepburn (AUS) 4:13.224, 1; Hack Bobridge (GBR) 4:14.783, 2; Dennis Rohan (AUS) 4:16.051, 3; Westley Gough (NZL) 4:17.001, 4. Also: Peter Latham (NZL) 4:18.152, 6.
Women’s keirin, first round, heat 1: Anna Meares (AUS) 1, Kristina Voegl (GER) 2. Also: Natasha Hansen (NZL) 4. Heat 3: Shung Guo (GHN) 1, Sandie Clair (FRA) 2. Also: Katie Schofield (NZL) 4.
Repechage 1: Ekaterina Gnidenko (RUS) 1, Wai Lee (HKG) 2, Schofield 3. Repechage 4: Olena Tsos (UKR) 1, Lisandra Rodriguez (CUB) 2, Hansen 3.
For further information contact:
IAN HEPENSTALL
Media Liaison, BikeNZ High Performance
Sports Media NZ Ltd
