Year 12 student Maddie Park has won gold as part of the New Zealand women’s team pursuit at the Junior World Track Cycling Championships in Kazakhstan! The Kiwis defeated Australia in the final by nearly 6 seconds in a new world record time of 4 minutes 31.966 seconds over the 4000m.

Maddie says the massive feat is still to sink in. ‘It is pretty surreal feeling to come to my first world championships and my first race and coming out a world champion. It was an awesome ride from start to finish. Everyone did exactly to plan. It’s an added bonus to come out with a world record as well.’

It is only the second gold medal for Kiwi female riders at the Junior World Champs, following in the footsteps of Sarah Ulmer from 1994. Earlier this year, Maddie broke Ulmer's New Zealand record for the under-19 women's individual pursuit with a time of 2m 26.395s for the 2000m event. 

Well done Maddie! 

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