Cycling: UCI Junior Track World Championships 2024 see Cambridge cyclists head to China

Cambridge’s Jodie Blackwood and Alex Schuler are part of the New Zealand team of 10 who will compete in the UCI Track Cycling Junior World Championships in China.

It is the first time the championships, set to take place in Luoyang, southwest of Beijing, from August 21-25, will be staged in China.

For the competition, the New Zealand team will call on the experience of five riders returning from last year’s junior world championships in South America.

Three of the four female riders competed in Cali, Colombia, last year – Southland’s Caitlin Kelly, Canterbury’s Meg Baker and Cambridge-based Jodie Blackwood. They are joined by Southland’s Riley Faulkner.

Kelly was the sole medallist in Cali in the keirin, which was the first junior world championship medal in sprint since 2015.

While the female quartet is sprint-discipline focused, the males are endurance-based in the main.

Schuler is the sole sprinter, and the current junior sprint and 500m time trial national champion.

Christchurch rider Matthew Davidson and Southland’s Magnus Jamieson form the returning talent for the 2024 world championship campaign, with Davidson runner-up in the points race at the Oceania Championships, and Jamieson the winner of the elimination race.

They are joined by Oceania Points winner Daniel Morton, who joined with Bernard Pawson to win the Oceania madison title, while a third Auckland rider is talented former BMX Racing international Lucas Bhimy.

The riders will compete in the upcoming National Track Series and a development competition in Malaysia.

The velodrome in Luoyang is part of an impressive modern sports precinct in this historic city of seven million, which is regarded as the cradle of Chinese civilisation and was the eastern terminus of the famed Silk Road.

NZ UCI Junior Track World Championships team

Female

Meg Baker (Christchurch), Jodie Blackwood (Cambridge), Riley Faulkner (Invercargill), Caitlin Kelly (Invercargill).

Male

Lucas Bhimy (Auckland), Matthew Davidson (Christchurch), Magnus Jamieson (Invercargill), Daniel Morton (Auckland), Bernard Pawson (Auckland), Alex Schuler (Cambridge).