16 Aug 2008

Roulston and Shanks through

8:17 am on 16 August 2008

The Ashburton cyclist Hayden Roulston appears to have put himself into Olympic medal contention after a good start to the Individual Pursuit at the velodrome in Beijing.

He's qualified second fastest for today's second round, while Alison Shanks has also made the second round of the women's pursuit.

Roulston's time of four minutes and 18 seconds put him well clear of the rest of the field, until the favourite Bradley Wiggins of Great Britain broke his own Olympic record in the last ride to take top spot.

Roulston says it was good to get a top first ride under his belt and he feels good about his chances today.

In the second round this afternoon the top eight riders again race against the clock with the top two then riding off for gold and the next two riding off for bronze.

The final is at 10.50pm.