Ellesse Andrews breaks world record by four seconds

Ellesse Andrews with her parents Angela and Jon, who is also her coach. Photo credit: St Peter's School.

​
St Peter’s School, Cambridge, Year 13 cyclist Ellesse Andrews is now a world record holder.
​
Competing at the 2017 UCI Junior World Track Cycling Championships in Montichiari, Italy, this past weekend, Ellesse won a world title for the second year running.

After winning gold in the Team Sprint (with Emma Cummings) and bronze in the 2km Individual Pursuit in Switzerland in 2016, Ellesse stepped it up another notch this year, smashing the 2km Individual Pursuit world record by four seconds.

---

Her superb performance in qualifying upset the local Italian facourite in an extremely close ride. Her winning time of 2:18.080 was comfortably inside the previous world record set recently on the same track at the European Championships.

In the final she pulled out more than half a second to beat Italian Letiza Paternoster to win the title, her fourth world championship medal.

New Zealand teammate Nicole Shields from Dunstan High School in Central Otago finished fourth.

Ellesse also competed in four rounds of the Keirin, an event that involves being paced by a motor bike on the velodrome for three laps before it pulls out for an all-out two-lap sprint off to the finish.

In a six-rider final, stacked with sprinters, Ellesse crossed the line in fifth place.
​
This rounds off a very successful week of racing for Ellesse, who along with team mates Nicole Shields, Katie Smith and Emily Sharman also won silver for New Zealand in the 4km Team Pursuit.

Read our previous interviews with Ellesse Andrews:

Wanaka cyclist Ellesse Andrews setting new standards on the track (March 2015)

Ellesse Andrews riding a wave of success (October 2016)