World Champions of 2014: Emma Foy and Laura Fairweather

Emma Foy (rear) training with sighted partner Laura Fairweather.

Sport: Para-cycling. Winning gold and setting a world record in the Women's B 3km pursuit at the 2014 UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships.

New Zealand cyclists Emma Foy, who has a visual impairment, and pilot Laura Fairweather smashed the world record on the way to winning gold in the Women's B 3km pursuit at the para-cycling track world championships in Mexico.

In very hot conditions in Aguascalientes - the outdoor temperatures approached 40C and the heat was just as intense in the indoor velodrome - Foy and Fairweather smashed the previous world record by eight seconds. The previous holders, Phillipa Gray, and Kylie Young, finished with the silver medal.

Foy and Fairweather are chasing qualification points for the Rio Paralympics, with one potential barrier to their partnership the fact that they are based at opposite ends of the country. Foy is in Cambridge and Fairweather owns and runs a cafe in the remote Catlins area, southeast of Invercargill.

However, the pair say their partnership works well. They meet for training sessions once a month.

Foy rides at the back of the tandem in a position known as the "stoker".

She is a full-time athlete and will often train with coaches Jono Hailstone or Brendon Cameron riding in the pilot position.

In a recent blog, Foy wrote: "My training differs depending on the time of year, but I've just gone through an endurance phase, so I would be out on the tandem for 8.30-9am for a three to four-hour endurance ride typically anywhere between 90 and 120km.

"All pilots have a slightly different approach - some start off on a different leg, some may have a faster or slower cadence while some riders might always stand up from the saddle when climbing. I can usually quickly adapt to any differences. And I can tell how fit they are at the front, although I'm sure they can tell how fit I am, too."

- Patrick McKendry