Ararat’s Alice Culling has returned from Italy after strong performances at the UCI Junior Track Cycling World Championships.
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Culling competed in the team pursuit and the individual points race in an eventful week of racing.
She said there were some promising signs to build on early in the competition.
“In the team pursuit, we qualified in fifth position and progressed through to the semi-finals,” she said.
“We had a good race and beat the Australian junior record but was not able to overcome a strong French team and finished in fourth place overall.”
Culling was set to follow that up with a spot in the individual pursuit and points races in the remaining days but a scheduling change forced the talented cyclist to choose between the two events.
She said given she was the national champion in the points race, it was an easy decision to make.
It looked like it was the wrong decision early in the race after a Kazakhstan rider knocked her off the bike in the opening lap of the 80-lap race.
The race was then restarted with Culling going on to finish the final in eighth position.
Culling said she enjoyed the experience and learnt a lot during the trip.
"It was amazing, I had the best teammates who were really supportive of each other and it was great,” she said.
“Just competing at the world championships and representing the nation was such an honour.
“The Australian women's endurance coach was around and helped us figure out plans for the next couple of years of our careers which was helpful.” She will turn her attention to the track season in Australia.