ARA Australian Cycling Team named for 2024 UCI Track World Championships

A mix of world championship debutants and experienced ARA Australian Cycling Team campaigners have been selected to race for rainbow jerseys at the 2024 UCI Track World Championships in Ballerup, Denmark. 

Six of the 12-member squad raced or were part of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games squad and six young Australians have been handed an elite Track Worlds debut by the AusCycling National Selection Panel. 

The 2024 UCI Track World Championships will be held from October 16–20 at Ballerup Super Arena. 

Men 

Olympic team pursuit gold medallist Kelland O’Brien, 26, will lead the charge for the men’s endurance trio, who have been selected on the basis of an Olympic bunch racing event strategy. 

Ballerup will be O’Brien’s sixth Track Worlds appearance. 

He is joined by Track Worlds debutants Blake Agnoletto, 21,  and Liam Walsh, 23. 

Picture: Con Chronis

Agnoletto is a familiar face in ARA Australian Cycling colours after competing at four UCI Track Nations Cup events over the last two years. 

The Bendigo product has won two elimination race silver medals at the Nations Cup level and was part of the Australia A team pursuit squad at the Adelaide round in February. 

Walsh also competed at the Adelaide UCI Track Nations Cup round earlier this year, making his ARA Australian Cycling Team elite debut in the Australia B team pursuit squad. 

The current Australian scratch race champion has been a perennial threat in national championship bunch races since stepping into the elite ranks and has continued to develop on the boards over the past two years. 

2022 team sprint world champions Thomas Cornish and Leigh Hoffman will be joined by Track Worlds debutant Ryan Elliott as the men’s sprint trio. 

Picture: Will Palmer/SWpix.com

Both Cornish and Hoffman won team sprint silver last year in Glasgow, Scotland. 

Hoffman, 24, won Olympic team sprint bronze at Paris 2024 and finished tenth in the sprint after briefly holding a new flying 200m national record of 9.242. 

The South Australian has been the world’s fastest team sprint starter for the past two years but has shown he can move up the line after switching to man two in the Olympic bronze medal final. 

Cornish, 24, was the men’s sprint reserve in Paris and will now aim to cement his place as the anchor of the team sprint. 

He won a bronze medal in the 1000m time trial in Glasgow and finished eighth and tenth in the sprint and keirin respectively. 

Completing the sprint team is Elliott, 20, who hails from Brisbane. 

Elliott played a key role in Australia’s 2022 junior men’s team sprint world title and also won silver in the sprint in Tel Aviv, Israel. 

He made his elite ARA Australian Cycling Team debut at the Oceania Championships earlier this year. 

Women 

On the women’s side of the team, Australia will race in the team sprint for the first time since 2020, and for the first time since the event moved to teams of three women in 2021. 

Picture: Will Palmer/SWpix.com

The team sprint selection forms part of a targeted strategy towards the LA 2028 Olympic Games. 

Paris 2024 Olympian Kristina Clonan will be joined by two Track Worlds debutants, Alessia McCaig and Molly McGill. 

Clonan, 26, won her maiden Track Worlds medal in Glasgow via the 500m time trial, placing second, and continues to find speed in her legs, highlighted by her new flying 200m national record in Paris. 

Although only 21, McCaig has already represented Australia at a Commonwealth Games and is a five-time national champion in the past two years across the sprint, keirin and 500m time trial. 

McGill, 23, completes the exciting team sprint venture as the expected starter. The Queenslander filled the same role at the Adelaide UCI Track Nations Cup in February. 

In the endurance women’s events, ARA Australian Cycling Team stars Georgia Baker, 29, and Alexandra Manly, 28, will hunt Track Worlds medals together for the sixth consecutive year. 

Picture: Getty Images

The Madison duo won silver in Glasgow but were “disappointed” to finish ninth at Paris 2024. 

Baker will aim to also repeat or better her silver medal performance from the Glasgow points race.

She and Manly are joined by Track Worlds debutant Keira Will, 19, who made her elite ARA Australian Cycling debut at the Adelaide UCI Track Nations Cup in the Australia B team pursuit squad. 

The Sydney teenager was handed bunch race opportunities at the next round in Hong Kong and finished fifth in the elimination race. 

Will is in her first year out of the junior ranks and won a Madison silver and team pursuit bronze at the 2023 UCI Junior Track World Championships in Cali, Colombia. 

The women’s endurance team has been selected on a targeted bunch race strategy for Olympic events. 

Jesse Korf, convenor of the National Selection Panel and Executive General Manager, Performance, said team selection reflects that the Olympic Games were the primary focus for the year.  

“The upcoming Track World Championships, however, provide an exciting opportunity for a different approach that sees a blend of experienced campaigners and debutants and will mark the start of the journey towards the 2026 Commonwealth Games and 2028 Olympic Games,” Korf said. 

The ARA Australian Cycling Team’s participation at the 2024 UCI Track World Championships has been made possible by support from Commonwealth Games Australia's Green2Gold2Great funding. 

Commonwealth Games Australia’s Green2Gold2Great support has also enabled preparation camps to be held in Adelaide and Belgium. 

The team was selected according to AusCycling’s selection policies.

Men’s endurance 

• Blake Agnoletto (Bendigo & District CC, VIC) 
• Kelland O’Brien (St Kilda CC, VIC) 
• Liam Walsh (Balmoral CC, QLD) 

Men’s sprint 

• Thomas Cornish (Southern Cross CC, NSW) 
• Ryan Elliott (Balmoral CC, QLD) 
• Leigh Hoffman (Whyalla CC, SA) 

Women’s endurance 

• Georgia Baker (Northern Districts Cycling Club, TAS)
• Alexandra Manly (Central Districts CC, SA) 
• Keira Will (Lidcombe Auburn CC, NSW) 

Women’s sprint 

• Kristina Clonan (Sunshine Coast CC, QLD) 
• Alessia McCaig (Bendigo & District CC, VIC) 
• Molly McGill (Balmoral CC, QLD) 

Feature picture: Will Palmer/SWpix.com