New Zealand names cycling track worlds team

Paralympics New Zealand has entered five bikes in the 2016 UCI Para-Cycling Track World Championships, which begins Thursday (17 March) and runs until 23 March in Montichiari, Italy.

The New Zealand cyclists set to compete are:

- Emma Foy and Laura Thompson: 2015, 2014 world champion in the women’s B 3km pursuit

- Kate Horan: 2015 silver medallist in the women’s 500m time trial C4

- Fiona Southorn: London 2012 Paralympic Games bronze medallist in the women’s pursuit C5

- Byron Raubenheimer: C4 cyclist making his World Championships debut

- Amanda Cameron and Hannah van Kampen: B/VI tandem cyclists making their World Championships debut

New Zealand left the 2015 World Championships in Appeldoorn, the Netherlands, with three medals; Foy and Thompson claimed their country’s only gold.

The 2016 UCI Para-Cycling Track World Championships is the last occasion at which riders can stake a claim in the Paralympic selection process which ends on 27 March. Once the qualification procedure has been completed, the points gained by the nations will be counted up and each country allocated the appropriate number of places for the biggest sporting event taking place later in the year, the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games.

More information on the UCI Para-Cycling Track World Championships can be found on the UCI’s website. Also follow the event on Twitter @UCI_Paracycling with the hashtag #PARACYCLING2016, Facebook and Instagram: @UCI_cycling.