Selections for the Australian Paralympic Cycling team are set to be announced, or at least conveyed to those vying for selection, next week.
The key dates that all the athletes are sweating on are as follows (taken from the Cycling Australia "2012 Australian Paralympic Team Cyling Australia Nomination Criteria"):
12 March 2012 - UCI notifies in writing to the APC the number of allocated qualification slots and ring fenced positions from the UCI Para-cycling Games Road and Track "Combined" Rankings.
13 March 2012 - Deadline for the Selection Committee to lodge the final nominations for the 2012 Australian Paralympic Team with CA CEO.
14 March 2012 - Deadline for CA Board of Management to review and endorse nominations (1pm AEST).
14 March 2012 - CA to commence advising Shadow Team members of the nominations and non-nominations to the APC (2pm AEST).
16 March 2012 - Closing date for athletes to lodge an appeal with CA CEO against non-nomination to the APC for selection (5pm AEST).
19 March 2012 - Final date for nomination of athletes to the APC.
TBC - The APC Board selects athletes to the Team. Appeals are heard in accordance with the APC's General Selection Criteria. A public announcement will be made following the confirmation of selections by the APC.
If anyone is interested in the full nomination document, it is available at: http://www.cycling.org.au/default.asp?Page=8021&MenuID=High_Performance/20012/0
NB. Ring fenced positions are spots that the UCI dictates must be filled by a country out of its allocation of spots to ensure that a category is viable or that a nation selects the riders who should compete in a particular event.
Anyway, looks like it will be a busy week or so!
The maximum number of female spots that Australia can qualify for the Games is seven (and 14 male spots). While the actual number won't be confirmed until advice is received from the UCI, on the basis of results achieved in the last 12 months Australia would have to be looking good for maximum number of female spots. Unfortunately, there are more Australian female athletes vying for spots than the maximum number so the selectors will have to make some tough decisions next week, bearing in mind that they are also not obliged to fill all allocated spots.
Equally tough, once the non-nominations have been advised to the athletes, will be the decision as to whether to appeal or not.
Fortunately the appeals mechanism affords an opportunity for athletes who feel they have been incorrectly omitted from the team to state their claims and convince the powers that be that the decision should be changed. It is my personal opinion that no athlete should feel guilty about appealing if they feel they have a legitimate claim, and the fact that they have appealed should not be held against them at a later date by management or other athletes. Everyone is human and no one gets it right 100% of the time.
So watch this space for confirmation of nomination (or not) of the Canberra paras. Obviously there won't be any announcement before the formal process is completed but there might be a bit more personal insight here!
Thursday, 8 March 2012
Monday, 13 February 2012
The Wrap from LA
Australia finished the day on a high with another gold medal to Flick and Steph in the Women's Tandem Sprint, and bronze medals to Michael Gallagher in the Men's combined C4-5 10km Scratch Race and Sue Powell in the Women's combined C4-5, all the more impressive because Sue fell midway through the race, but remounted and finished 3rd to two C5 competitors.
At the conclusion of competition, Australia finished with:
8 Gold
3 Silver
2 Bronze
All that remains is for the final allocations of spots for the Paralympics. Australia's allocation may well be improved by the LA results, but all will be revealed in the fullness of time.
See www.cycling.org.au for further information and timelines on the announcement of selections for the London Paralympics.
And that's me signing off until the next major event other than the announcement of Paralympic places.
The Australian Para Road Cycling Championships will take place on 14-15 April 2012.
At the conclusion of competition, Australia finished with:
8 Gold
3 Silver
2 Bronze
All that remains is for the final allocations of spots for the Paralympics. Australia's allocation may well be improved by the LA results, but all will be revealed in the fullness of time.
See www.cycling.org.au for further information and timelines on the announcement of selections for the London Paralympics.
And that's me signing off until the next major event other than the announcement of Paralympic places.
The Australian Para Road Cycling Championships will take place on 14-15 April 2012.
Sunday, 12 February 2012
Another day in the medals
Today's action in LA at the Para World Track Cycling Championships saw some more stand out results for the Aussies.
In action today were Claire McLean in the Women's C5 pursuit, Alex Green and Sue Powell in the Women's C4 pursuit and David Nicholas in the Men's C3 1km Time Trial.
Claire qualified 5th in the C5 division, which saw her miss out on the finals ride-offs but that's no disgrace when the field contains a rider of the calibre of Sarah Storey from Great Britain!
Alex and Sue qualified 1st and 2nd fastest in the Women's C4 pursuit, and contrary to my surmising this morning, Alex actually rode off against World Record holder Marie-Claude Molnar from Canada and easily accounted for her - congratulations to Alex the giant slayer for the first big scalp of her career!
Between pursuit qualifying and finals, David kept the Aussie flag flying with silver in the men's C3 1km Time Trial. Great result for the Pursuit World Champion.
In the Women's C3 pursuit final, a captivating battle saw Alex knock another second off her earlier PB to take the gold in 4.09.112. Sue finished second in 4.13.191.
The only events now remaining are the tandem sprints, team sprints and the newly introduced scratch races.
Australia will be hoping that Steph and Flick can hold their World Record form and claim another gold medal in the women's tandem sprint, and who knows what will happen in the lottery that is a scratch race...
More to come.
In action today were Claire McLean in the Women's C5 pursuit, Alex Green and Sue Powell in the Women's C4 pursuit and David Nicholas in the Men's C3 1km Time Trial.
Claire qualified 5th in the C5 division, which saw her miss out on the finals ride-offs but that's no disgrace when the field contains a rider of the calibre of Sarah Storey from Great Britain!
Alex and Sue qualified 1st and 2nd fastest in the Women's C4 pursuit, and contrary to my surmising this morning, Alex actually rode off against World Record holder Marie-Claude Molnar from Canada and easily accounted for her - congratulations to Alex the giant slayer for the first big scalp of her career!
Between pursuit qualifying and finals, David kept the Aussie flag flying with silver in the men's C3 1km Time Trial. Great result for the Pursuit World Champion.
In the Women's C3 pursuit final, a captivating battle saw Alex knock another second off her earlier PB to take the gold in 4.09.112. Sue finished second in 4.13.191.
The only events now remaining are the tandem sprints, team sprints and the newly introduced scratch races.
Australia will be hoping that Steph and Flick can hold their World Record form and claim another gold medal in the women's tandem sprint, and who knows what will happen in the lottery that is a scratch race...
More to come.
Saturday, 11 February 2012
Australia 1-2
The only event that Australia has competed in so far on Saturday is the Women's C4 Pursuit qualifying round, featuring Alex Green and Sue Powell.
Alex is definitely the most entertaining pursuiter around. Many will recall her nail biting race off for the bronze medal last year, when the Chinese 500m World Record holder almost caught her in the first three laps. This year, Alex has pulled out a 14 second improvement on her time from the 2011 Worlds - yes, that's right - from 4.24 last year to 4.10 this year, and has qualified fastest for tonight's gold medal ride off.
Qualifying second is Canberra's own, Sue Powell, defending World Champion in this event. Now I wasn't there, but I'm guessing that Sue will have ridden her qualifying round against last year's silver medallist Marie Claude Molnar from Canada, and that this ride will have occurred after all the other riders had posted a time, so all Sue had to do was ride faster than Molnar to ensure an Australian 1-2 in the final.
The significant thing about the Australians riding off for gold and silver is that Molnar is the current World Record holder in this event, but obviously couldn't find the same form that saw her ride 4.05.403 in November 2011 to break the record previously held by Sue.
The stage is set for an intriguing final - can Alex find even more speed to win her first World Championship, can Sue find a 2-3 second PB to reclaim the World Record?
Either way, later in the day, Australia will stand proud on the top two steps of the World Championship Podium!
Alex is definitely the most entertaining pursuiter around. Many will recall her nail biting race off for the bronze medal last year, when the Chinese 500m World Record holder almost caught her in the first three laps. This year, Alex has pulled out a 14 second improvement on her time from the 2011 Worlds - yes, that's right - from 4.24 last year to 4.10 this year, and has qualified fastest for tonight's gold medal ride off.
Qualifying second is Canberra's own, Sue Powell, defending World Champion in this event. Now I wasn't there, but I'm guessing that Sue will have ridden her qualifying round against last year's silver medallist Marie Claude Molnar from Canada, and that this ride will have occurred after all the other riders had posted a time, so all Sue had to do was ride faster than Molnar to ensure an Australian 1-2 in the final.
The significant thing about the Australians riding off for gold and silver is that Molnar is the current World Record holder in this event, but obviously couldn't find the same form that saw her ride 4.05.403 in November 2011 to break the record previously held by Sue.
The stage is set for an intriguing final - can Alex find even more speed to win her first World Championship, can Sue find a 2-3 second PB to reclaim the World Record?
Either way, later in the day, Australia will stand proud on the top two steps of the World Championship Podium!
Friday, 10 February 2012
A gold rush
In the interests of completeness and because it would be remiss of me not to report the final results for the day in LA, in case anyone is hanging out for the next post.....
More congratulations to the Australian team with an impressive win in the C3 Men's 3km pursuit to David Nicholas, who caught the silver medallist right on the line.
Michael Gallagher then improved on his 2nd in qualifying to convincingly beat the Chinese rider Liu in the gold medal ride off for the C5 category.
In the Men's tandem 1km TT, Bryce and Scott couldn't quite repeat yesterday's success, holding onto the number one ranking until the big guns came out to play. They finished 6th, which is an improvement on their respective finishing places in the same event last year.
Not a bad day's effort - four events, three gold, a 4th and a 6th. Well done Australia!
More congratulations to the Australian team with an impressive win in the C3 Men's 3km pursuit to David Nicholas, who caught the silver medallist right on the line.
Michael Gallagher then improved on his 2nd in qualifying to convincingly beat the Chinese rider Liu in the gold medal ride off for the C5 category.
In the Men's tandem 1km TT, Bryce and Scott couldn't quite repeat yesterday's success, holding onto the number one ranking until the big guns came out to play. They finished 6th, which is an improvement on their respective finishing places in the same event last year.
Not a bad day's effort - four events, three gold, a 4th and a 6th. Well done Australia!
1km TT - a matter of pride redeemed and a new World Record for Australia
The women's tandem 1km Time Trial Para World Championship has been run and won. While it has not been their best event, Brandie and Kerry were very keen to regain some pride after a disappointing time in the pursuit yesterday, in spite of moving up one placing from last year's championships.
In a smooth and powerful ride, starting 6th in a field of 12, the girls improved half a second on last year's time to record 1.12.740 and hold second place until the last two teams, McGlynn from Great Britain and the other Australian team of Steph and Flick.
Unfortunately for Brandie and Kerry, both the Brits and Steph and Flick pulled out blinders to take second and first respectively.
Huge congratulations to Steph and Flick, who burned up the track with a 1.08.714 to take the gold and set a new World Record (subject to ratification of course). This nicely complements the flying 200m World Record they set in December last year!
The team from the Netherlands separated Brandie and Kerry from the bronze medal, by half a second. No one would argue that 4th in the world is nothing to be sneezed at, but it's still disappointing to miss the podium, no matter how much you've improved!
Good rides also to other Australians David Nicholas, who qualified 1st in the Men's C3 pursuit by nearly 4 seconds, and Michael Gallagher, who qualified 2nd in the Men's C5 pursuit. Both will ride their finals later today.
In a smooth and powerful ride, starting 6th in a field of 12, the girls improved half a second on last year's time to record 1.12.740 and hold second place until the last two teams, McGlynn from Great Britain and the other Australian team of Steph and Flick.
Unfortunately for Brandie and Kerry, both the Brits and Steph and Flick pulled out blinders to take second and first respectively.
Huge congratulations to Steph and Flick, who burned up the track with a 1.08.714 to take the gold and set a new World Record (subject to ratification of course). This nicely complements the flying 200m World Record they set in December last year!
The team from the Netherlands separated Brandie and Kerry from the bronze medal, by half a second. No one would argue that 4th in the world is nothing to be sneezed at, but it's still disappointing to miss the podium, no matter how much you've improved!
Good rides also to other Australians David Nicholas, who qualified 1st in the Men's C3 pursuit by nearly 4 seconds, and Michael Gallagher, who qualified 2nd in the Men's C5 pursuit. Both will ride their finals later today.
Thursday, 9 February 2012
World Champions!
In the last event of the day, Bryce Lindores and Scott McPhee maintained Australia's dominance of the men's tandem pursuit event, running out winners over the Irish pairing, who couldn't maintain their form of this morning and faded to finish 3 seconds adrift of the flying Aussies.
Anyone who read this blog from the 2011 World Championships in Montichiari might be wondering whether I've made a mistake in the pairing on the Australian tandem so I should probably explain. Bryce's former pilot Sean Finning made the decision to return to single bike competition and Scott's stoker, Keiran Modra had an bike accident late last year that ruled him out of these championships, so conveniently for everyone Bryce and Scott were able to pair up very successfully.
That's it for today folks.
Anyone who read this blog from the 2011 World Championships in Montichiari might be wondering whether I've made a mistake in the pairing on the Australian tandem so I should probably explain. Bryce's former pilot Sean Finning made the decision to return to single bike competition and Scott's stoker, Keiran Modra had an bike accident late last year that ruled him out of these championships, so conveniently for everyone Bryce and Scott were able to pair up very successfully.
That's it for today folks.
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