There was a double golden start for New Zealand riders on the opening day of the UCI Para Cycling Track World Championships in the Netherlands today.
Experienced vision-impaired rider Emma Foy and pilot Jessie Hodges teamed up for the gold medal in the women’s WB 1000m time trial.
They were joined with an equally impressive performance from fellow Cambridge rider Devon Briggs, who claimed the victory in the final of the men’s C3 sprint in a confident display.
Rotorua’s Siobhan Terry added a silver medal to the first day haul for the Kiwis, with a well-judged finish to the WC4 10km Scratch race.
Foy and Hodges produced a high-quality performance in the tandem time trial final, going fastest after the opening 400m and then building superbly to clock 1:06.474, a fraction outside the national record that they set in qualifying.
“We were really happy with our qualifying which was a PB 1:06.1. To back-up our performance from the Comm Games was really awesome. The final was a little bit slower but stoked-as to come away with the win and the rainbow jersey”
The pair topped qualifying in 1:06.154, to set the New Zealand record, beating the mark of 1:06.360 they set in winning the Commonwealth Games final in Glasgow recently.
Briggs was in brilliant form to earn his rainbow jersey for sprint, displaying both exceptional speed and racing nous.
He qualified with an outstanding time of 10.740s, to break his own world record of 10.793 he set in Rio in 2025 world
In the three-up semifinal, Briggs followed the British leader Jacob Smith before coming over the top in the final straight to push through to the final.
He followed a similar approach in the final, biding his time until a withering burst on the final bend to claim the victory.
“It’s been an amazing day not only for me but for everyone,” said Devon Briggs. “For myself to come away with the rainbow jersey in the sprint was such an epic lot of racing, a world record in the flying 200m, a good semi and a good final. I am really exciting for the next few days of racing.”
Australian Tara Neylan grabbed a lap early and covered the field from that point to claim the victory in the WC4 10km Scratch race, with Terry biding her time.
The Rotorua rider covered the field and produced a strong final sprint to claim the silver medal, holding off China’s Li Xiaohui in a photo-finish.
Experienced Waikato rider Nicole Murray was pipped for a medal, finishing fourth in the C4 1000m time trial.
Murray built her ride, down on the leader by 1.4s after the first lap but timing her ride to clock 1:13.577, faster than her qualifying effort and only 0.3s outside her national record.
However, she was pipped by just 0.2s for the bronze medal, settling for fourth place after an excellent performance.
Earlier Christchurch rider Ieuan Edwards enjoyed his international debut, breaking the national record to qualify for the final of the men’s C5 1000m time trial. Edwards clocked 1:06.174 to break the national record by 1.6s, set by Southland’s Connor Douglas five years ago.
The New Zealander produced a strong 1:06.774 effort to finish sixth in the final, just outside his record-setting qualifying effort.
Emma Foy & Jessie Hodges on the way to their Tandem TT victory (Credit: SWpix)