KEY POINTS:
The need for speed is the prime motivation behind the rise and rise of New Zealand's top woman pursuit rider Alison Shanks.
Former netballer Shanks burst on to the national cycling scene three years ago by finishing third in the road nationals time trial at Palmerston North on three months' training.
This week, she knocked Athens Olympics golden girl Sarah Ulmer off the record books.
Shanks, 25, made up for her late start in the sport by breaking the national championships 3000m individual pursuit record twice in Invercargill. Shanks clocked 3m 36.405s to win the final.
That sliced 1s off the mark she set in morning qualifying, a time which broke the previous championships mark held by retired world record-holder Ulmer by 1.5s.
"Three years ago, I didn't really fathom that I would be trying to qualify for the Olympics now, so things have been moving very quickly," said Shanks.
She is spending two weeks training with the national track squad there before heading to France for more training and European acclimatisation before the world championships in Manchester.
"The pursuit is an event you have to keep trying to push the limits and see how fast you can go," she said. "To have gone under the New Zealand record time and to take it off someone such as Sarah Ulmer is pretty special," Shanks said.
However, she is under no illusions just what she will face in Beijing if she was to defend New Zealand's Athens gold medal, won by Ulmer with a spine-chilling ride.
"The world record [set by Ulmer in Athens] is [3min] 24 seconds isn't it?"
The fastest time in competition this year has been the 3m 35.40s by Briton Rebecca Romero, winning at the Los Angeles round of the World Cup last month.
At the various World Cups, Shanks was sixth fastest at 3m 38.48s at Copenhagen, ninth fastest in Beijing at 3m 41.91s and at Sydney sixth fastest at 3m 38.725s.
A year ago, she was travelling at a relatively sedate 3m 42s.
Shanks said to step up another level, she had to start breaking into the mid-30s, and the fact she has done so shows she was headed in the right direction and there was more to come from her.
"I think the times will drop into the low [3min] 30s, probably around the 30 mark to be competitive at the world championships in a month's time and I think I definitely have a few more seconds I can chop off in training."
Shanks attributed her growing ability in the pursuit to improvements in the technical aspects of her riding.
After injuring a shoulder in a crash in Beijing , she took time off to begin rebuilding.
"The strength and stuff is coming back - it is more that I am riding the race technically better, which I think has been behind the big gain in time.
"Technically I'm learning every day and physically, over the next month, I'll be building myself up - it's a great position to be in."
With world ranking points up for grabs at the national championships, Shanks has moved inside the top 10 in the world. She still a lot left to do to qualify for the Olympics, which accepts only the top 11.
The points are weighted toward world championships results, so a good ride in Manchester is needed to maintain her ranking and guarantee her ticket to Beijing. International rankings have Shanks placed 10th on 520 points. Lithuanian Vilija SereiKaite is No 1 at 1014 points.
Shanks' first attempt at the pursuit was a spur of the moment request by then national track coach Terry Gyde at the 2005 Oceania championships in Wanganui, where she was only down to race the road time-trial.
Plonked on a track bike Shanks, who had never stepped on to a velodrome before, promptly won the silver medal in a time of 3m 55.274s, after which she remarked she would not have done it if she knew how painful it was going to be.
While racing in the Olympics had come sooner than she had thought, Shanks has bitten by the pursuit bug and says she is not about to stop until she starts to go slower.
Given her progress, that's unlikely to happen soon.
CURRENT RANKINGS
1. Vilija Sereikaite (Lithuania) 1014 points
2. Sarah Hammer (US) 820
3. Rebecca Romero (Britain) 760
4. Lesya Kalitovska (Ukraine) 650
5. Lada Kozlikova (Czech Republic) 645
6. Maria Luisa Calle-Williams (Colombia) 640
7. Katie Mactier (Australia) 600
8. Verena Joos (Germany) 560
9. Karin Thurig (Switzerland) 540
10. Alison Shanks (New Zealand) 530
- NZPA
