Culling qualified for the team after a strong season on the track and will now have the championships to look ahead to in Brisbane during the first week of February.

Culling said she was confident she would be selected after her recent form.

“I had the state pursuit recently and I reached the qualifying time, so it did not really come as a shock that I was selected,” she said. “In the bunch races I did not go as well as I hoped I would, so I will continue working on that.”

It is a busy time for the 17-year-old, as she prepares for the Austral Wheelrace at Melbourne’s Hisense Arena this weekend. Culling said she was excited about the upcoming event to see how much she has progressed.

“This week I have six days of competing, there are 14 world champions competing here across all the sections which will provide strong competition for me,” she said. “I still get the butterflies the morning of the competition, I get nervous but I use them for good.”

While the Austral is an important race, the training loads have been tailored so Culling does not reach her absolute peak just yet. Culling said the national championships were the bigger priority and training was aimed at being at her best for that event.

“We want to work so we peak for the national championships in February,” she said. “So we have some good form at the moment but we do not want to peak too much before Brisbane.”