A Queenstown cyclist’s scooped three golds at the national track champs in Invercargill at his first time in the elite ranks.
Oliver Watson-Palmer, 19, won the scratch race and the elimination and was in the winning four-man team pursuit combination.
He also took home a silver and two bronzes.
Oliver, who also rides for a road-racing team, MitoQ-NZ Cycling Project, says his best result remains his team pursuit bronze at the junior world champs in Tel Aviv, Israel, last year, however his Invercargill medals are ‘‘right up there’’.
‘‘I was pretty stoked.’’
He also won last year’s Junior Tour of Southland.
After going to Queenstown’s Remarkables Primary, Oliver attended St Peter’s School, near the Cambridge velodrome, taking up road racing in 2018 and track cycling the year after — he still rides for Te Awamutu Sports & Recreation Club.
He says he likes both road and track cycling for different reasons — the former ‘‘because you kind of go anywhere’’, and the latter for the
adrenalin buzz from going ‘‘super-fast’’.
As for his training regime, ‘‘it depends on what racing is coming up, but a lot of the time it will be 20-plus hours a week with a bit of gym in here as well’’.
Next on his agenda’s the Oceania track champs in Brisbane, Australia, from March 24.
Aiming to eventually become a pro road cyclist, he then joins his team for about two-and-a-half months of road cycling in the United States, from the start of July.
