Cycling Southland's Liam Aitcheson finished strongly to claim his second silver medal of the World Junior Championships this morning in the Men's Points race.
After not scoring in the first three sprints, Aitcheson finished second and fourth in the next two, before taking a lap on the main field as part of a seven strong break midway through the race.
He added a point to his tally in the eighth sprint and entered the final dash to the line in fifth overall. Then in the final drive to the line, Aitcheson crossed the line third, but with the second-placed Argentinian relegated for entering the sprinters lane when his opponent was already there, Liam snared three points in the final sprint to finish on 28 and claim silver. Benjamin Thomas from France took gold on 40 points and Ivo Oliveira from Portugal on 27 finished third.
There was drama in his qualifying heat earlier in the day. The Alexandra rider won Sprint One, before crashing with 28 laps to go. He rejoined the race and with 9 laps to go attacked and lapped the field to seal second place in the heat to easily qualify.
Meanwhile Josh Haggerty recorded 1:05.651 in the Men's Kilo final to finish ninth in the 30-strong competition and end a brilliant World Championship campaign. New Zealand team mate Alex Hooper recorded a 1:05.163 to finish seventh.