World champion cyclist and Te Awamutu Sports Cycling Club alumna Ellesse Andrews had a taste of success at next year’s Olympic venue in the third round of the UCI Track Champions League in Paris last weekend.
The 23-year-old won the sprint and was third in the keirin to extend her overall lead in the exhibition league, on the third of five nights of competition, comprising a select invitation field in track events in Mallorca, Berlin, Paris and London.
The women’s sprint league leader takes a nine-point lead over rising German prospect Alessa-Catriona Propster with a distance back to British champion Emma Finucane going into the final two-night competition in London.
Andrews won her qualifying heat in the sprint, and went early in the three-day semifinal, holding on from the fast-finishing Colombian Martha Bayona to move through to the final.
The Kiwi was too strong for the Tokyo Olympic sprint gold medallist Kelsey Mitchell of Canada in the final.