KEY POINTS:
After a scintillating performance at the national cycling championships, Hayden Roulston has chosen for the men's 4000m individual pursuit at the world track championships in Manchester.
National track coach Tim Carswell said yesterday Roulston and Marc Ryan, the world No 8, will carry New Zealand's hopes in the
event today.
Roulston smashed Ryan's national record by more than 4s in Invercargill last month with a time of 4m 21.281s in the heats, a time thought to be the fastest in the world so far this year.
Carswell said he was satisfied the riders were ready to perform in a "hugely competitive" event.
"We feel they are ready to go out and put some performances that will be capable of getting them in the top five of their respective events."
Times set in training had given Carswell optimism.
"If they have a really good ride and pump out some personal bests, certainly they have a chance of jumping on the podium - we just have to wait and see."
New Zealand are seeking to confirm Olympic spots in all the events they are contesting in Manchester.
Today also sees former world champion Greg Henderson racing the scratch race.
Tomorrow the men's team pursuit will be in action while Alison Shanks gets her chance to display her strength in the women's 3000m IP after setting a national record at last month's national championships.
Henderson will race the points race on Saturday and he will be back up the following day in the madison with Roulston. Also on Sunday, Hayden Godfrey begins the five-event omnium and Catherine Cheatley competes in the women's points race.
The final day on Monday sees Cheatley back up in the scratch race and Eddie Dawkins race the kilo time trial.
While leading nations such as Britain and Australia had shown their hands in naming their six-strong men's teams pursuit squads, Carswell said the New Zealand six was still under consideration because of the options available.
Besides Ryan and Roulston, riders such as Jason Allen, Westley Gough, Sam Bewley, Tim Gudsell and Jesse Sergent were vying for places in the teams pursuit.
Carswell who anticipates the freshly re-surfaced track at Manchester to be even faster than before when it was already among the quickest in the world, said "It's going to be a hugely competitive world meet because of the fact it is the final event where points are up for grabs to qualify for the Olympics. That just means that people will be absolutely desperate - some of them have to perform really well to get their rankings up to go through ... We feel our riders are up where they should be, so we're quite happy."
In the team pursuit, New Zealand will be chasing favourites Britain who have ridden close to the four-minute mark this season, and world record holders Australia (3m 56.610s set at the 2004 Athens Olympics). The NZ quartet of Bewley, Gough, Ryan and Gudsell hold the national record 4m 05.177s.
To top the podium, Shanks will have to overcome last year's silver medallist Rebecca Romero of Britain and defending champion Sarah Hammer of the United States.
- NZPA