Southland cyclist grabs his second world championship medal

Southland’s Josh Haggerty has earned a silver medal on the second day of the UCI Juniors Track Cycling World Championships in Scotland.

Haggerty controlled the final lap sprint in the men’s scratch race to claim the silver medal, after German Manuel Porzner had put a lap on the field early in the 10km race.

It is New Zealand’s second medal after the silver to the men’s team pursuit that included Haggerty, on the opening day.

Fellow Invercargill rider Jeremy Presbury finished 11th in the keirin after teammate Callum Saunders (Blenheim) was knocked out in the repechage, and Alex Hooper (Ashburton) finished a solid sixth place in the 3000m individual pursuit in 3:24.155.

Prozner controlled the scratch race when he caught the bunch unawares in an early escape to gain a lap on the field which changed the nature of the race.

“He already had half a lap just like that, so as soon as I saw him lap the field I had to re-focus on the final sprint and get what I could from that point,” Haggerty said.

While the Germany nestled safely on the back of the bunch, the New Zealand rider took the responsibility to bring back several breaks.

“I did probably a bit more than I should have but I had the energy so I guess it worked out alright.”

With the urging of his coach Ross Machejefski, Haggerty bridged up to a three-strong break with two laps remaining and controlled the sprint on the final lap to secure the silver medal.

“Ross and I have always known I have a good sprint. That was something we were relying on in the race, not to break away but to wait and use my sprint.

“As soon as Ross signalled to get across I waited and then hit it, and got the slingshot off the Russian on that first bend on the final lap so then I had some good speed into the next straight.

“I am pretty stoked about that. I would have liked to have won but second place in the world championships is pretty good.

“The atmosphere was loud. There’s a lot of Kiwi support and it was pretty cool to hear them calling out your name.”

Haggerty will look to recover after two day’s racing for his final event in the kilometre time trial tomorrow.

“I think my form is pretty good and I will give the kilo a good crack tomorrow.”

Tomorrow’s third day includes Haggerty and Alex Hooper (Ashburton) in the kilometre time trial, Regan Gough (Central Hawkes Bay) in the first day of the omnium and Liam Aitcheson (Alexandra) in the points race.

Results, day two:

Scratch Race, 10km: Manuel Porzner (GER) 1, Josh Haggerty (NZL) 1 lap, 2; Cristian Cornejo (CHI) 1 lap, 3.
3000m individual pursuit qualifying: Zachary Shaw (AUS) 3:19.293, 1; Callum Scotson (AUS) 3:20.831, 2; Pavel Churson (RUS) 3:21.598, 3. Also: Alex Hooper (NZL) 3:24.155, 6.
Keirin, first round, heat 2: Sergej Gorlov (RUS) 1, Jeremy Presbury (NZL) 2. Heat 5: Thomas Copponi (FRA) 1, Jiri Fanta (CZE) 2; Callum Saunders (NZL) 3.
Repechage 1: Presbury 1, Johannes Keuchel (GER) 2. Repechage 2: Aleksandr Dubchenko (RUS) 1, Saunders 2.

Semifinal 2:  Jaroslav Snasel (CZE) 1, Ben Gill (FRA) 2, Gorlov 3.
7th to 12th final: Jai Angsuthawawit (AUS) 7, Artsiom Zaitsau (BLR) 8, Svajunas Jonauskas (LTU) 3. Also: Presbury 11.

Final: Gorlov 1, Snasel 2, Dubchenko 3.

Details: www.bikenz.org.nz