ARA Australian Cycling Team selected for 2025 UCI Junior Track World Championships

Fifteen under-19 cyclists will represent the ARA Australian Cycling Team at the 2025 UCI Junior Track World Championships in Apeldoorn, Netherlands. 

The squad, announced by the AusCycling National Selection Panel today, will travel to Omnisport Apeldoorn and race for rainbow jerseys from August 20–24. 

The 2025 squad is the largest ARA Australian Cycling Team selected for the UCI Junior Track World Championships since 2013.

Alex Hewes, Toby Jones, Sam Washington and Leani van der Berg will be competing at their second junior track worlds. 

Hewes won omnium bronze in Luoyang, China last year, while his three returning teammates all recorded top-10 results as first-year juniors. 

Hewes, Jones and Washington will be joined by Jonas Shelverton and Ollie Jirovec in the men’s endurance squad. 

A junior women’s team pursuit squad will be formed via Anna Dubier, Amelie Sanders and Ava Schmidtke joining van der Berg in the junior women’s endurance team. 

A junior women’s team sprint trio will take to the boards for the first time since the 2022 edition of the event through Ella Liang, Ebony Robinson and Olivia Wright’s selections. 

Robinson won the junior sprint and keirin double at the 2025 AusCycling Track National Championships in March and her new Australian teammate Liang set the current junior women’s 1000m time trial world record on the final day of TrackNats. 

Completing representation in all four team events is the selection of Mitchell Louie, Patrick Maye and Angus Withington to the junior men’s sprint squad. 

Louie was the top junior men’s sprinter at TrackNats after winning the sprint, keirin and team sprint titles. 

Both junior sprint squads will compete with a specific focus on their respective team sprints in Apeldoorn. 

AusCycling Director of Pathways – Performance Donna Rae-Szalinski said the squad looms as a promising group of talent. 

“This year’s UCI Junior Track World Championships in Apeldoorn is a great opportunity for these 15 performance pathway athletes to gain valuable exposure to international competition and lifestyle,” she said.

ARA Australian Cycling Team – 2025 UCI Junior Track World Championships 

Endurance Men 

• Alex Hewes (Gold Coast Cycling Club/QLD) 
• Ollie Jirovec (Brunswick Cycling Club/VIC) 
• Toby Jones (Balmoral Cycling Club/QLD) 
• Jonas Shelverton (Hobart Wheelers Dirt Devils Cycling Club/TAS) 
• Sam Washington (X-Speed Australia Cycle Club/WA) 

Endurance Women 

• Anna Dubier (Lidcombe Auburn Cycling Club/NSW) 
• Amelie Sanders (Gold Coast Cycling Club/QLD) 
• Ava Schmidtke (South Coast Cycling Club/SA) 
• Leani van der Berg (Norwood Cycling Club/SA) 

Sprint Men

• Mitchell Louie (Balmoral Cycling Club/QLD) 
• Patrick Maye (Lidcombe Auburn Cycling Club/NSW) 
• Angus Withington (Canberra Cycling Club/ACT) 

Sprint Women

• Ella Liang (Balmoral Cycling Club/QLD) 
• Ebony Robinson (Bathurst Cycling Club/NSW) 
• Olivia Wright (Balmoral Cycling Club/QLD)

Feature picture: Leani van der Berg racing at the 2024 UCI Junior Track World Championships in Luoyang, China (UCI)