ARARAT’S Alice Culling believes she is on track to be the number-one ranked female in the individual pursuit at next year’s Cycling Australia Junior Track National Championships.
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Culling came away from this year’s championships with a gold medal – her first ever gold at national level.
She won the medal as part of Victoria’s under-17 girls team pursuit squad, which beat New South Wales by 1.68 seconds in Wednesday night’s final.
It was her second medal overall at nationals, after winning a bronze in the under-15 individual pursuit in 2014.
Following the Victorian team’s golden performance, Culling competed in the under-17 sprint and points races on Thursday night and the individual pursuit on Friday.
She was 10th overall in the sprint and finished 12th in the points race.
Despite being a bottom-age competitor in the under-17 division, Culling was considered a good chance to medal in her favoured event – the individual pursuit.
She posted the fourth-fastest qualifying time to advance to the bronze medal final against Tasmania’s Morgan Gillon.
Culling and Gillon were neck and neck for the duration of the 2000-metre race but Gillon just managed to pip Culling on the line by 0.53 seconds.
Despite missing out on another national medal by the slimmest of margins, Culling was upbeat about her performance.
‘‘I think it was a pretty good performance considering I was bottom-age this year,’’ she said.
‘‘Next year’s nationals are a long way away, but I will hopefully come into next year’s nationals sitting number one for IP.’’
Culling said the feeling of winning gold in the team pursuit was amazing.
‘‘I have been training with my teammates Georgia O’Rourke, Sarah Gigante and Alana Field and our coach Vanessa Bof for about 12 months in Melbourne,’’ she said.
‘‘It was 12 laps of absolute pain, but we got there in the end so it was good.
‘‘We’ve all worked so hard for it so it was a fantastic feeling.’’
Culling thanked the Ararat community and her family and coaches for helping her succeed at the national level.