Twin finals for NZ
12/01/2011 03:51:19 AM
New Zealand has a golden chance of starting the UCI World Cup in Cali, Columbia on a high note after the men's and women's team pursuit teams advanced to the gold medal rides.
The women's trio of Aliosn Shanks, Jaime Nielsen and Lauren Ellis ran a superb 3:24.005 to top the heats of the 3000m team pursuit at a windy Cali Velodrome.
They will do battle with Britain, who qualified second with a ride of 3:24.849, well over a second ahead of the United States and Lithuania.
The men's quartet also qualified for the final by posting a time of 4:04.612, two seconds behind the world champion Australia group that included world pursuit champion Jack Bobridge and fellow world champions Rohan Dennis and Michael Hepburn.
New Zealand's lineup of Jesse Sergent, Sam Bewley, Marc Ryan and Aaron Gate ensured they reached New Zealand's second successive final comfortably ahead of Columbia and Denmark.
Results, World Cup, Cali:
Team pursuit qualifying, men: Australia 4:02.739, 1; New Zealand 4:04.612, 2; Colombia 4:06.118, 3; Denmark 4:06.794, 4.
Team pursuit qualifying, women: New Zealand 3:24.005, 1; Britain 3:24.849, 2; USA 3:26.027, 3; Lithuania 3:26.468, 4.