Smith to test nation’s elite following breakout season

REUBEN Smith is set to take on the pinnacle of Australian track cycling next week following a breakout season in the open age division. The Wangaratta cyclist will feature in the AusCycling Track Nationals in Brisbane from 25-30 March after bursting onto the scene with two months strong competition, including three state medals. The 18-year-old said he has blown away all of his expectations from the start of the season and would be heading to the sunshine state with plenty of confidence. “Once we finished last year as a junior we kind of expected to be behind for a few years, we weren’t expecting to make the state team or state medals,” he said. “It’s turned out a lot better than we thought so it’s a good feeling.” It wasn’t all smooth sailing for Smith as he went through an initial adjustment period in the open age, losing some speed as he focused on building strength to match his more senior competitors. “I started my year with a heavy strength block, and you lose a lot of speed when you do that,” Smith said. “In the first half of the year I was slower than a lot of the blokes I was faster than at nationals last year. “There was a lot of trusting the process, I put a lot of faith in my coach [Will Howard], he has done great things before and I was hoping he would be able to do it again.” As Smith started to see results in his strength and began turning his focus to speed training, the 18-year-old took home a bronze in the state keirin much to his surprise earlier in the year and hit his stride at the right time of the season. In the Victorian State Championships in early March, Smith claimed bronze in the men’s sprint and silver in the one kilometre time trial, as well as shaving an accumulative four tenths of a second off his 1km PB over his last two outings to sit at 1:04.2. “Being able to stand on the podium twice over that weekend was an awesome feeling… it was quite a shock to the system,” Smith said. This coming week will be Smith’s second straight year at the Anna Meares Velodrome after competing in the under 19s nationals last year. He took home three silver medals from four events, but it’ll be a whole new ball game in the open age division. Smith will be pedaling against Paris Olympic Games bronze medalist Leigh Hoffman and Commonwealth Games medalist Thomas Cornish among a host of proven cyclists on the world stage. Smith said it would be a huge jump in the standard of competition from last year, but he was prepared to give his all on the big stage. “You’re no longer racing people your age, you’re competing against Olympians, it’s a huge jump,” he said. “But that’s what you expect and you’ve got to put your head down and work hard for a few years if you want to get some medals. “I’m not expecting any medals, but you never know what happens, you never pull up before that finish line. “I’m going to keep putting faith in my coach, head in with a lot of confidence in my skills and at least do well for myself.” Smith will feature in the elite men’s sprint, 1km time trial, keiran and the team sprint. Every session of the 2025 AusCycling Track National Championships will be streamed live via the AusCycling YouTube channel or on SBS Sport/SBS On Demand.

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