The New Zealand sprinting pair of Olivia Podmore and Emma Cumming have won a silver medal on the opening day of the UCI Juniors Track Cycling World Championships in Kazakhstan.
Canterbury and New Zealand cyclist Olivia Podmore. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
The New Zealand women's team pursuit combination were top qualifiers in the team pursuit, breaking the world record in the process to complete an outstanding day for the small New Zealand team.
Podmore (Canterbury) and Cumming (Southland) were the second fastest in qualifying in the women's team sprint in 34.406s, beaten by European champions Germany who set a new world record of 33.992.
This broke the previous record set by Russia at the world championships in Invercargill in 2012.
While the New Zealand combination were able to lower the personal best again to 34.219in the final, they could not quite match the Germans who broke their own world record again, winning in 33.899.
Podmore was thrilled with the result.
"It is so exciting and such an honour to be up on that World Championship podium representing New Zealand,"
"It was great team work, great process focus and we went out there and just going out and smashing it," said Cumming.
There was further cause for celebration when the women's team pursuit quartet of Bryony Botha, Michaela Drummond, Madeleine Park, Holly White not only qualified at the top of the leaderboard, but broke the world record in the process.
They clocked 4:35.155 to be the only team under the 4:36 barrier and beat the previous world record set by Great Britain at the last world championships in Glasgow.
The New Zealander's take on Japan in the semifinal tomorrow.
