This was a huge boost as it was a sea-level best for a New Zealand. We were firing. In the final, we raced against England. With only 8 seconds left on the starting clock, the English start rider dismounted and changed his bike's alignment.
This can rattle you if you aren't prepared. But these false start resets and hold ups are something our coaching team throw at us in training to keep us on our toes. We rallied together in the final ride and came home with the win - gold in 43.1 seconds, another record. Only later did we realise it was New Zealand's first gold of the Games.
At the World Championship, I was guilty of being too excited about winning the team sprint and it served as a distraction for the remainder of the championship. At these Games, I wasn't going to let that happen. With the team's sports psych, we developed a plan on the best way to enjoy the moment, acknowledge the achievement and then fall back into routine. This took a lot of controlling of my emotions.
In my sprint quarter finals I drew Azizul Awang, a short feisty Malaysian rider who likes to move around on the track. I was able to ride dominant and take advantage of faster qualifying time to conserve some energy to progress to the semifinal.
Big Eddie Dawkins was my opponent. A guy who I have travelled with, raced with and trained with for the last five years. It was always going to be a big show down as we both know each other's strengths and weaknesses. From video analysis I had done before arriving in Glasgow, I felt that if I took the race to him by riding from the front and pushing the pace it gave me statistically the best chance to win. So it proved. Now I was into the final, racing for Gold against Jason Kenny the reigning Olympic champion from England.
Jason hadn't qualified high in the flying 200 but from his lap splits in the team sprint, I knew it wasn't a fair representation of the condition he was in. One big card that I had to play was freshness. I won my semi 2-0, whereas he had battle with Peter Lewis in three rides. That cumulative fatigue was hitting him. In the first race, I was decisive and hit him hard and won comfortably. 1-0 up.
In the second ride, he was racing a tactic I had seen him use many times before, I felt I covered him well in the early stages of the sprint but in the front straight my legs faded and he timed his run at my wheel perfectly and pipped me on the 1-1. I had a thought that momentum was now on his side. I acknowledged that thought, but told myself that he was going to feel the burn a few seconds before me as he had done more rides. I was at peace with what I had to do; I had to ride my guts out.
It helped that I saw him vomiting before the third race. "I'm in a better place than him," I thought. The third ride was a ride I am extremely proud of as I was able to go out and execute my plan exactly as I'd hoped. My body wasn't too happy with that, I went to see my parent in the stands but I couldn't talk, I couldn't get my left foot out of my bike and eyes were jittering. Mum had a good laugh at the state I was in.
My final event was the keirin. It's a race I haven't ridden much in the last few years as I chose to specialise in the team sprint and sprint. Now, with a greater training age and a few more years professional development, I was here to race for gold. People had asked me if I was hoping to win three golds. All I would say is: "I'll race my first round heat the best I can and we'll go from there."
But secretly, I wanted to.
I had a great heat draw and won my first heat. The semifinal was a harder ordeal with both Eddie and I drawing the harder semi. I managed to race smart, keeping out of trouble early and finishing fast to win, with Eddie rolling through for second. Things were looking good.
Right on the line for the keirin final, the last event for track cycling in the Games, Chris, one of the Scottish riders ran across the track and into the crowd to propose to his now fiancée. This meant the race was delayed a few minutes while we were lined up ready to go.
The final was messy, everybody was getting stuck in going for the gold. I had what I felt was an ideal position coming into three laps to go. After some close-quarters racing, I was pushed back three positions and saw Eddie take a flyer. Alarm bells went off in my head. I was far too back to follow a wheel and save some juice for the last lap, I just had to go. I put my head down and coming into the bell lap, I was carrying amazing speed. My legs were screaming but I hadn't hit the wall quite yet. I came up to the shoulder of Glaetzer. We raced right to the line. Normally even in a close finish, one of the riders knows they've won.
Neither Matt or I had a clue. Matt walked away with the win by a slim margin. On one hand I was disappointed but I also felt I did the best ride I could after what had happened and that Matt had executed a solid and brave ride from the front.
It was a whirlwind week. I loved every moment of every race. It was very special to see, hear, read the amazing messages of support from everyone. The one moment that I was always remember was when Ethan, Eddie and I rode back to the village after doping control and went to the NZ team tent to sign back in.
The reception we received was overwhelming, everyone came out and congratulated us, looked at the medals and told us about how they watched the race. That's a truly amazing team culture to be a part of and definitely makes me proud to say I am a member of the New Zealand team.
Sam Webster is a track sprint cyclist.
Sam Webster is part of the Sky Next team. Sky Next supports talented Kiwis athletes.
