Eighteen year old Australian Taylah Jennings grabbed her fifth title in two years on the penultimate night of finals at the UCI Juniors Track Cycling Championships in Invercargill, New Zealand tonight.
Jennings, from Rockhampton in Queensland, took out the women’s omnium in impressive fashion, winning all six disciplines over the two-day competition.
This adds to the gold medals she won in the team sprint and team pursuit earlier in the week, along with two titles won in Moscow last year.
It was a thoroughly impressive performance from the young Australian who is coached by the legendary Ken Tucker, former coach of world and Olympic champion Anna Meares.
“I’m pretty ecstatic; I really wanted to win all six rounds again. I won it last year so I’m really happy with my result,” said Jennings.
“It’s pretty good motivation doing it last year, I didn’t really want to go backwards from there so I’m really happy. All my times have improved as well so it’s really good.”
Russian Daira Shmeleva continued her winning form by powering off the front to collect her third gold medal this week in the women’s keirin.
Shmeleva was followed closely by teammate Lidia Pluzhnikova to make a Russian 1-2 in the action-packed race, with American Jennifer Valente third.
Tom Bohli gave Switzerland their first gold medal of the week when he win the men’s individual pursuit.
Bohli, the top qualifier this morning, secured the championship after beating New Zealand’s Dylan Kennett in a head-to-head cycling dual to finish the 3000m in a time of 3:16:261. Kennett’s time was 3:18:095.
The bronze medal went to Alexander Morgan (AUS) who beat Jon Dibben (GBR) in the third and fourth race.
The international mature of the night continued with Hong Kong’s Chun Wing Leung lapping the field twice to dominate an exciting men’s points race.
He finished clear of Russia’s Aydar Zakarin who claimed the silver on 37 points with Chile’s Cristian Cornejo Aliste the bronze medal on 35 points.
Australia continued as the leading nation at the championships with they finished with a trifecta in the men’s sprint with the gold going to Jacob Schmid over Emerson Harwood 2-1 in an all-Australian final while compatriot Zachary Shaw claimed the bronze.
Day 4 results:
Women’s Omnium: Flying lap: Taylah Jennings (AUS) 14.302, 1; Valentina Paniagua Areiza (COL) 15.058, 2; Elinor Barker (GBR) 15.165, 3. Points Race: Jennings 15 points, 1; Racquel Sheath (NZL) 6, 2; Guin Badykova (RUS) 6, 3. Elimination: Jennings 1, Barker 2, Badykova 3. Individual Pursuit: Jennings 2:25.270, 1; Barker 2:26.370, 2; Sheath 2:28.579, 3. Scratch Race: Jennings 1, Sheath 2, Barker. 500m Time Trial: Jennings 35.447, 1; Barker 37.007, 2; Valentina Paniagua Areiza (COL) 37.162, 3. Final Standings: Jennings 6 points, 1; Barker 16, 2; Sheath 22, 3.
Women’s Keirin qualifying, Heat 1: Jennifer Valente (USA) 1, Allee Proud (AUS) 2, Kate Dunlevey (NZL) 3. Heat 2: Daria Shmeleva (RUS) 1, Martha Bayona Pineda (COL) 2, Aline Tamez Vela (MEX) 3. Heat 3: Caitlin Ward (AUS) 1, Paige Paterson (NZL) 2, Lidia Pluzhnikova (RUS) 3. Repechage, Heat 1: Lidia Pluzhnikova (RUS) 1, Kate Dunlevey (NZL) 2, Ummi Mohamad (MAS) 3. Heat 2: Elis Ligtlee (NED) 1, Shana Dalving (BEL) 2, Chloe Chepigin (USA) 3. Second round, Heat 1: Dunlevey 1, Ward 2, Valente 3. Heat 2: Schmeleva 1, Pluzhnikova 2, Paterson 3. Seventh-12th: Proud 5, Pineda 6, Dalving 7. Final: Schmeleva 1, Pluzhnikova 2, Jennings 3.
Men’s 3000m individual pursuit qualifying: Tom Bohli (SUI) 3:16.139, 1; Dylan Kennett (NZL) 3:16.467, 2; Alexander Morgan (AUS) 3:16.718, 3; Jon Dibben (GBR) 3:18.312, 4. Bronze medal ride: Morgan 3:18.292, 3; Dibben 3:20.926, 4. Gold medal ride: Bohli 3:16.261, 1; Kennett 3:18.095, 2.
Men’s Points Race, 25km: Chun Wing Leung (HKG) 50 points, 1; Aydar Zakarin (RUS) 37, 2; Cristian Cornejo Aliste (CHI) 35, 3.
Men’s Sprint, semifinal 1: Jacob Schmid (AUS) bt Zachary Shaw (AUS) 2-0; Semifinal 2: Emerson Harwood (AUS) bt Santiago Ramirez Morales (COL) 2-0. Bronze medal ride: Shaw bt Ramirez Morales 2-0. Gold medal ride: Schmid bt Harwood 2-1.