Cycling Australia

The 2013 Cycling Australia Junior Track National Championships continued at the Adelaide Super-Drome on Wednesday with Victoria's Courtney Field firmly stamping herself as Australia’s next track sprint star after breaking an Australian record set before she was born. 

In the afternoon’s under 17 women’s sprint flying 200m qualifying session, Field, 15, covered the distance in 12.063 to eclipse Kerrie Meares' record of 12.160 set in Launceston in 1997.  

"I like to work towards records, and I saw this one when I moved into the under 17 category," said Field, who was born just four weeks after Meares set the original mark.

"It's an emotional achievement as I have always admired Kerrie Meares and I'm feeling quite humble."

Field progressed through to the evening’s sprint final unscathed, accounting for Queensland’s Kiara Dundas in the semi final.

The fifteen-year-old then collected her second gold medal of the Championships and her eighth career national junior track title when she defeated Bridget Mullany (NSW) in straight heats in the final.

In the bronze medal ride off, Tahlay Christie (WA) edged Dundas in three heats to find the podium.

Another of Australia’s bright young talents in Cameron Scott (NSW) claimed his second gold medal of the Championships with victory in the under 17 men’s sprint.

Scott, the fastest qualifier from the afternoon session with 11.299secs, made his way to the final without dropping a heat.

He was pushed to the limits in the final by South Australia’s Derek Radzikiewicz, with Scott adding to the time trial gold he claimed on the opening day with a thrilling three-heat victory.

In the first heat, Scott was awarded the win after Radzikiewicz was relegated for entering the sprinter's lane already possessed by Scott, which resulted in Scott hitting the deck.

Radzikiewicz edged Scott in the second, with the New South Wales rider showing his class to come back to win in three.

Victoria’s Ryan Schilt edged Christopher Bryan (NSW) for the bronze medal, with Bryan juggling a heavy session schedule filled with pursuit and sprint finals.

James Robinson secured Tasmania’s first gold medal of the Championships with victory in the under 17 men’s 2000m individual pursuit.

The fastest qualifier from the afternoon session, Robinson had plenty left in the tank in the evenings final against South Australia’s Rohan Wight.

The Tasmanian covered the eight laps in 2mins 21.893secs, a tenth of a second faster than his qualifying time and almost two seconds better than Wight (2:23.562).

West Australia’s Darcy Pirotta (2:23.800), who claimed gold in the team pursuit twenty four hours earlier, was far too good for Christopher Bryan (2:31.309) of New South Wales.

In the under 17 women’s 2000m individual pursuit, it was a great display of pursuiting from Natasha Mullany (NSW) and Sarah Tucknott (WA), with little separating the pair in qualifying and the final.

Mullany got the edge in qualifying by just one tenth of a second, with the duo contesting a close fought final which saw Mullany cross the line in 2mins 46.098secs to take the gold over Tucknott (2:46.376) by three tenths of a second.

In another edge of your seat final, Chloe Heffernan of New South Wales (2:48.804) claimed bronze after defeating Victoria’s Georgia Cummings (2:49.580).

Victoria’s Isaac Buckell secured Victoria’s second gold of the night following a strong victory in the under 15 men's 500m time trial final.

25 riders contested the final, with Buckell recording a time of 36.101secs for the two lap event to add to the sprint silver he collected on the opening day.

Tasmania’s Ronin Munro (36.861) and Victoria’s Godfrey Slattery (37.057) completed the podium.

The 2013 Cycling Australia Junior Track National Championships are being held from Wednesday 27 February to Saturday 2 March 2013 at the Superdrome, Gepps Cross, Adelaide.