New Zealand cyclist Bryony Botha has set a new world record at the UCI Oceania Track Cycling Championships in Brisbane
The 27-year-old Olympic silver medalist and multi Commonwealth Games medalist can now add world record holder to her list of achievements.
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Botha from Auckland was fastest qualifier in the women’s 4000m individual pursuit, timing 4:31:446 at the Anna Meares Velodrome, ahead of fellow Kiwi Emily Shearman (4:32.588) and Australian Maeve Plouffe (4:35.633).
It is the first year that women have moved up to 4000m for the individual pursuit, the same distance as the men, having previously raced this discipline over 3000m.
The New Zealand team has applied for official ratification.
Botha eventually won the title with Shearman second and Samantha Donnelly third in a New Zealand lockout on the podium. .
“It’s pretty cool. Doing my first ever 4km and being able to do a time like that I’m pretty stoked with that,” Botha said after pulling on the Oceania Champions jersey.
“I feel like with an event like that it’s very new and the records are going to be broken quite quickly I think so I’m stoked to be holding onto it for maybe a couple of weeks.
“But I think I’m really happy with the result and the time and the way I executed the first race and learnt from that and was able to produce a better time in the second race.
“It is definitely different. I think the pain is kind of different. For me as a rider I think it suits me better. I’m very much a slow twitch rider so the longer the better for me. I feel like the burn and the pain is just real slow and it doesn’t really hit as much as a 3km but it is just a different kind of pain. Like it is still sore it is just different.”
On the opening day of the event Botha and Shearman, won the team pursuit. Joined by Samantha Donnelly, Pru Fowler and Rylee McMullen, the squad mixed their combinations.
They clocked 4:18.844 to top qualifiers and lowered that to 4:15.226 in winning the final.
The Oceania Track Cycling Championships continue until the weekend.