Birmingham Commonwealth Games: More gold for track cyclists, as pursuiters, sprinters double down at velodrome

Fresh from their team success on the opening day, New Zealand's track cyclists have followed up with individual honours at Birmingham, with pursuiters Bryony Botha and Aaron Gate snatching gold.

Just for good measure, Tom Sexton has secured silver in an all-Kiwi men's final at Lee Valley VeloPark.

No sooner had the black-clad pursuiters received their medals, sprinter Ellesse Andrews added to the celebrations, upsetting Olympic champion Kelsey Mitchell of Canada to for a third gold in quick succession.

The squad catapulted the Kiwis high up the medal table with their haul - including collective gold to the men pursuiters and women sprinters - on Saturday morning (NZ time) and have consolidated their standing on day two.

Botha dominated her opponents in the women's pursuit over 3000 metres, clocking a Games record 3m 19.836s - two seconds clear of her nearest challenger, Aussie Maeve Plouffe.

Tom Sexton and Aaron Gate celebrate their pursuit medals at Birmingham
Tom Sexton and Aaron Gate celebrate their pursuit medals at Birmingham. Photo credit: Getty

After anchoring the undermanned NZ team to silver the previous day, Botha showed her class in the individual final, catching Plouffe and using that motivation to take more than a second off her fresh Games mark, stopping the clock at 3m 18.456s.

"I honestly cannot believe it," she said. "I wasn't sure how my legs would feel.

"During the warm-up, I just thought, 'what will be, will be', but when I got out there, I felt awesome. When I looked up and saw the time I could not believe it.

"I didn't expect to catch her. Maeve's a strong rider and I thought we would be pretty even, but when I looked up and saw her there, I thought I just had to use the draft."

Birmingham Commonwealth Games: More gold for track cyclists, as pursuiters, sprinters double down at velodrome

New Zealand has a fine tradition in the women's individual pursuit, with Madonna Harris (Auckland 1990), Sarah Ulmer (Kuala Lumpur 1998 & Manchester 2002) and Alison Shanks (Delhi 2010) previous winners.

But the Kiwis have also enjoyed success in the men's event over the years, with Michael Richards (Edmonton 1978), Gary Anderson (Auckland 1990), with Gate adding to their legacy in fine style.

After the disappointment of crashing out of the Tokyo Olympics last year, Gate has rebounded to help New Zealand to gold in the team pursuit and now takes individual honours, with a Games record of 4m 07.129s in qualifying, finishing 1.5 seconds clear of teammate Sexton.

Sexton charged out of the blocks in the final and led at halfway, but could not sustain his effort, as Gate unleashed a 59.346s third kilo to assume control.

Andrews, who had anchored the NZ threesome to team gold and made up numbers for the understrength pursuit team, simply stunned Mitchell, coming from behind to steal the first two races of the best-of-three final series.

Dad Jon Andrews won bronze in the men's sprint and kilo time trial at Auckland 1990, and Ellesse's haul at Birmingham adds to the keirin silver medal she won at the Tokyo Olympics last year.

Ellesse Andrews was involved in some off-track controversy over her involvement in the pursuit final, where she rolled out of the start gate and pulled up soon after to concentrate on the team sprint.

While preparing for the sprint final, she missed the pursuit medal ceremony and was fined for her absence.

Two subsequent golds more than make up for that toll.