Top sport achievements of the year: Sprint cyclists' feats deserve high praise

Sprint cyclists Sam Webster, Ethan Mitchell and Eddie Dawkins won gold and set a Commonwealth record in Glasgow. Photo / Greg Bowker

Nominees for Herald’s best sporting achievement of year with winner announced on Saturday.

In an ordinary sporting year, Ethan Mitchell, Sam Webster and Eddie Dawkins would be worthy winners of the Halberg Supreme Award.

But these aren't ordinary times. Still, their achievement in South America early this year was of the highest order.

The three young men qualified fastest for the team sprint at the world championship track cycling championships in Cali, Colombia. Their time of 43.065s was the quickest ever put up by a New Zealand trio.

That didn't guarantee gold, though.

In the final, they raced against a sharp German team.

Nominees so far

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Eric Murray and Hamish Bond (rowing)

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Anton Cooper and Sam Gaze (mountain biking)

Mitchell and Webster - Aucklanders who have trained together, and been rivals, since early high school days - had the lead wheel in the first two laps. Germany shaded them on the handover to their anchorman, Dawkins.

The big Southlander hurtled around the track and got the win, with a time of 42.84s, the first time any New Zealand team had dipped under 43s.

"It was a very tight race the whole way through," said Webster.

"There were only a couple of hundredths [between the two teams] the whole way and Eddie Dawkins brought it home for us. He was the one who really pulled the cat out of the bag. Power to the big fella. He was the one that won the race for us."

In 2012 the same three riders won bronze; last year they qualified fastest but were beaten in the decider, so this seemed a natural progression in a sense.

On top of that, Mitchell, Webster and Dawkins were getting accustomed to the voice and thinking of a new coach, Anthony Peden, who replaced Justin Grace.

"This has made it all worth it," Webster said at the time.

The trio went to Glasgow and, without the Germans pushing them and with the British challenge below its best, they rammed home their pre-eminence at the Commonwealth Games.

Cycling

What: Sprint riders Ethan Mitchell, Sam Webster and Eddie Dawkins won the world title in Cali, Colombia, in February, clocking 42.84s. They followed that with gold in the same event at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in July.