Cycling New Zealand has announced the addition of a new coach to its high performance sprint group.
Former Canterbury road and track cyclist, Fionn Cullinane is the new assistant sprint coach under head coach Rene Wolff based at the Cycling New Zealand headquarters in Cambridge.
Cullinane competed both on the road and track for seven years, representing Canterbury at the Oceania Championships in 2014.
He is completing his Masters degree in Sports Science majoring in strength conditioning at the University of Canterbury and recently undertook an internship with the Crusaders Super Rugby club.
“We are excited to have Fionn join us. We are blessed to have a head sprint coach with the international experience that Rene possesses. This has given us the opportunity to attract an assistant with the academic credentials and background in the sport but with the chance to learn from one of the world’s best coaches,” said High Performance Director Martin Barras.
“We are focused on performance within an Olympic cycle but at the same time we have a responsibility to also develop our coaching capability for the longer term. We believe Fionn has real potential in this respect.”
Cullinane has been with the group since August and has adjusted quickly to the high performance cycling environment.
“The Avantidrome is a world class performance centre with the staff to match. Coming from a cycling background, I’ve got a good understanding of what a rider is experiencing which will enable me to deliver a better coaching experience for our riders,” he said.
With a big twelve months coming up, this is an exciting time for the Cantabrian to come into the fold.
“I’ve come from the Crusaders environment which has a hugely successful history and strong culture, and it’s exciting to be able to bring those skills and that knowledge through to this programme.”
“The opportunity to work with Olympic athletes in high performance sport is why I pursued this career path so I’m just really looking forward to gaining more experience working with these top level athletes, and learning from an accomplished coach like Rene.”
This completes the high performance coaching unit 12 months out from the Tokyo Olympics.