Kiwi teenage talent Campbell Stewart gave a hint of his prodigious future with a close fifth placing in the omnium on the penultimate day of the world track cycling championships in the Netherlands yesterday.
The 19-year-old from Palmerston North, a double junior world omnium champion, was having his first venture into the gruelling four-event omnium that comprises a scratch race, tempo sprint race, elimination race and points race.
He moved to fifth going into the 25km points race where he won the final double points sprint to retain that placing in an impressive debut for one of the youngest in the field.
"It was a pretty unreal experience with all the top guys there," said Stewart. "I was hoping to get a lap somewhere but it didn't quite work out so I picked a couple of sprints where I was able to push it and take out the final one to get back to fifth overall."
He was 13th in the scratch race and third in the tempo. He survived some aggressive riding in the exciting elimination to finish eighth to push him to fifth place going into the all-important points race. He rode prominently but could not get into a telling break to get a lap and 20 crucial bonus points but picked up the win in the final double points sprint.
