CYCLING
VIS para-cyclist Alistair Donohoe picked up the silver medal in the men’s C4-5 scratch race at the 2017 Para Track World Championships in Los Angeles.
The silver medal result comes off the back of a successful 2016 track season which saw Donohoe place 3rd in the same scratch race event at the 2016 Para-Cycling Track World Championships in Montichiari, Italy.
Over in Brisbane, the Australian Track National Championships took place 2-5 March with the Victorian cyclists representing the VIS bringing home a total of 13 medals.
In a golden weekend for the U19 VIS men, Godfrey Slattery and Isaac Buckell proved they are ones to watch with two gold medal performances. Slattery and Buckell took home the gold for the U19 Men’s Madison, defeating South Australia’s Braden O’Shea and Cooper Sayers in a stunning race.
Earlier in the competition, the duo teamed up with fellow VIS athlete Nathan Hart, as well as Jensen Plowright to take out the gold in the U19’s Men’s team sprint in an All Comers record time.
In the Men’s Elite category, combined efforts from Jacob Schmid, Braeden Dean, Conor Rowley and Kelland O’Brien brought home a total five silver medals over the four day event.
Schmid, Dean and Rowley brought home silver in the Men’s Team sprint, only 1/10th of a second behind the South Australian team featuring Olympians Matthew Glaetzer and Patrick Constable. Schmid continued to add to his silver medal tally with a strong performance in the Men’s team sprint where he battled it out against Patrick Constable for top spot.
Meanwhile Kelland O’Brien had a standout debut performance in the Men’s Elite at track nationals consistently finishing on the podium. O’Brien took home silver in the 1km time trial and the scratch race, and bronze in the Individual Pursuit.
Braeden Dean completed the Men’s Elite teams silver run with a medal in the Keirin.
Godfrey Slattery also won a gold in the Individual Pursuit. And Sam de Riter and Ruby Roseman-Gannon were part of the Elite Women's Team Pursuit that won silver.
Courtney Field finished second in the Elite Women’s sprint. In a tight contest, Field was only just edged out of the top spot by track star Stephanie Morton who took out the event in a new All Comers Record. She topped off her weekend with a bronze medal in the Women’s Keirin, finishing just behind fellow Victorian Madison Janssen in a dramatic event that saw Stephanie Morton crash out of the race with a lap to go.
