Reuben rockets home in rose gold

REUBEN Smith has made his mark on the world stage, coming home with silverware from the Oceania Track Cycling Championships in New Zealand last weekend. The 17-year-old starred in his debut international meet, taking it up to the junior world champion to claim bronze in the junior keirin and coming just a second off the gold medal to take silver in Cambridge. Smith said it was an electrifying feeling to ride in such esteemed company. “They’re on a completely different level to anything I’ve ever raced against, it’s such a thrill to have a chance to compete with them and actually to press them a little bit in finals, it was exciting,” he said. “I wasn’t expecting an individual medal, but I gave it everything and I’m really happy with the third place.” Placing fourth in the keirin qualifying round, Smith went on to win his repecharge round and backed it up with a super ride in his semi-final to win and progress to the gold medal race. Smith was hanging on to second place for a majority of the six lap final before Australian Institute of Sport rider Xavier Bland came through to place Smith in third, just 0.5sec off the winner and junior one kilometre world champion Tayte Ryan. The Wangaratta track star had only just met his teammates for the junior team sprint in the days prior to the meet making it all the way to the final to go up against the finest products from AIS. The impromptu team pushed the champs to the limit, but fell a second short in the three lap burst to the finish. Smith said it was difficult to put a team together so close to the event, but he gelled well with South Australian Kai Arbery and Queenslander Mitch Louie. “We got to know each other really fast and we were confident in each other’s skills,” he said. “The day before we had a chance to practice our positioning as there was no sprint racing on day two and once we did all we could we gave everything we had, which turned out pretty well for us.” Smith wasted no time putting his bike in action when he arrived at the velodrome with his junior sprint qualifying lap being the first event on the five day program, which he admitted was a nervous experience. But the young star quickly settled into his groove to go on and win his round one sprint against eventual teammate Arbery. Smith would draw the short straw in the next round, going up against Ryan, who would go on to win gold in the event. “It was a good experience to race right next to him [Ryan], one on one,” Smith said. The speedster almost secured a third medal in the junior one kilometere time trial, taking one second off his personal best in the qualifying round and missing out on bronze by 0.3sec in the final. There will be no time for rest for Smith as he prepares to head north for the AusCycling National Track Championships at the Anna Meares Velodrome in Brisbane. The 17-year-old will also be making a quick stop in Melbourne to compete in the state keirin championships before knocking out the drive to Queensland with the family in a day. “I’ve got a lot more confidence now and I’m going to try and get a couple more medals up there,” Smith said.

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