Cycling: Sergent and Shanks on track for gold

Jesse Sergent. Photo / Brett Phibbs

New Zealand's world championship medallists Jesse Sergent and Alison Shanks set themselves up for another super-fast night on the second day of the Oceania Track Cycling Championships in Invercargill.

Shanks, the 2009 world champion and current individual pursuit silver medallist, clocked 3:31.954 which was 1.7secs outside her national record. She will be hoping for a warm environment at the ILT Velodrome again tonight to provide an ideal atmosphere for a fast time as she looks to her national record of 3:30.180 when she takes on fellow pursuit teammate Jaime Nielsen (3:38.503) in the gold medal ride.

Fellow BikeNZ pursuit team members Lauren Ellis (3:40.363) and Rushlee Buchanan (3:42.530) will fight it out for the bronze medal.

World silver medallist Sergent produced a superb sub-4:20 performance to be fastest in qualifying in the men's 4000m individual pursuit.

The Radioshack Nissan Trek rider clocked 4:18.634 to be less than two seconds outside his national record, and will meet compatriot Peter Latham in the gold medal ride tonight. Latham recorded a personal best 4:19.410 to win through to the final while teammate Sam Bewley (4:21.644) meets Australia's Edward Bissaker (4:27.204) for the bronze medal.

In other racing, time trial and team sprint champion Natasha Hansen (Southland) is through to the semifinals of the keirin along with compatriots Paige Paterson (Auckland), Katie Schofield (Otago), Kate Dunlevey (Auckland) and Vanessa Quinn (Auckland) along with a strong Australian contingent.

Auckland's Georgina Wilson went within a whisker of the track record in qualifying top in the 2000m individual pursuit. Wilson clocked 2:31.651 to beat the other six competitors, just 25/100ths of a second outside Gemma Dudley's track record and 4/10ths of a second outside her personal best, set in finishing eighth at the world junior championships.

She takes on Otago's Alysha Keith, second fastest on 2:36.079, in tonight's gold medal ride, while Australia's Stacey Riedel (2:36.124) meets compatriot Holly Takos (2:37.305) in the bronze medal ride.

World junior champion Caleb Ewan from Australia extended his lead in the under-19 omnium after winning the individual pursuit this morning, the fourth of the six-race event. He is on seven points, clear of fellow Australian Jack McCulloch on 17 with Tayla Harrison (Christchurch) and Kristoff Ford (Nelson) sharing third place on 19 points.