Cycling: Sprinting ahead

Soon after the qualifying races in the team's sprint at last week's World Cup event in Melbourne, a rival coach sidled up to Justin Grace and said: "Look out, the Kiwis are coming".

The New Zealand track cycling team is famous for their individual and team pursuit riders, not sprinters. Riders like Hayden Roulston, Alison Shanks, Jesse Sergent, Sarah Ulmer and even Gary Anderson before them have forged a terrific reputation.

But for the first time, this country is producing a bike rack of sprinters capable of not only competing, but also beating the best in the world. Other countries have noticed.

At the recent Oceania championships in Invercargill, New Zealand beat the highly-rated Australians in the team sprint for the first time at elite level. On Thursday, the top team finished fifth at the World Cup meet in Melbourne in a New Zealand record time.

Perhaps most exciting of all, though, is the emergence of Sam Webster. The 18-year-old schoolboy won three junior world titles in Moscow this year (team sprint, individual sprint, keirin) and was a beaten finalist in the individual sprint at the Oceania championships in his first ride at elite level.

"Every now and then, someone or something special comes along," says Grace, New Zealand's recently-appointed sprint coach. "Some of them disappear but others flourish and turn into champions. Sam has the potential to be a world and Olympic champion."

The key word is "potential" and BikeNZ have been quick to talk about "baby steps" and his development being a "five-year plan". They will take sprinters to London in 2012 but haven't attached lofty goals. Yet.

If ever there was an 18-year-old willing to be patient, it's Webster. The Auckland Grammar student displays maturity beyond his years.

"I have to be realistic," Webster says from Melbourne. "There are many guys I am competing against who are multiple world champions and I can't expect too much too soon. It's like a new game, with new tactics [riding at elite level]."

Webster knew from a young age he excelled on a bike. He competed at school events and, while he did well in endurance races, found he had a talent as a sprinter. He won four under-17 national titles and set three national records at his first go and found his times were comparable with some of the best around the world for his age. In his first junior world championships, in 2008, he claimed three top-10 finishes.

"I could see that I could do well, so the goal was three world titles [the following year]," he says.

Incredibly, it's just what he did in Moscow in August. It forced BikeNZ to seriously consider the way they tackled their sprint programme, which had been limited up until then. It became even more important when the International Cycling Union (UCI) proposed major changes to the Olympic track programme, with more onus put on sprinting at the expense of endurance events.

BikeNZ appointed Grace national sprint coach to look after a team of about six riders and efforts were made to source more funding for a discipline that had rarely been considered before.

Webster is not alone in having potential. Ethan Mitchell, who was also on the junior world championship-winning team, Andrew Williams, Cameron Karwowski, Eddie Dawkins, Simon Van Velthooven and Adam Stewart are the distance of only a couple of spokes behind.

"We could become a dominant country [in sprinting] in the future," Webster says without a hint of self-consciousness.

What is striking about the young Aucklander is his size. In the past, sprinters were usually the muscle-bound heavyweights of the track because of the need for speed and explosiveness.

Webster is just 1.83cm and 79kg, making him the lightest person on the New Zealand sprint team. But he can accelerate like a finely-tuned Porsche and has the tactical awareness of a champion chess player.

Webster knows where he wants to go with cycling but also in life. He will sit his Year 13 exams this week and has applied for a Prime Minister's Scholarship to study university extra-murally next year.

"I want to give cycling the best nudge I can, but I don't want to get to my expiry date and not be able to get a job," he says.

Both Webster and Grace hope that isn't for some time yet.