South Australia will make another attempt at a sub-four minute ride after qualifying fastest in the 4000m team pursuit at the Australian track cycling championships in Adelaide.
World champions Jack Bobridge and Rohan Dennis teamed with Glenn O’Shea and Alex Edmondson to post the fastest time in qualifying on Friday of four minutes 2.567 seconds.
SA are aiming to become the first state team to go under four minutes.
A sub-four minute ride, with O’Shea doing a big amount of work, would also further improve his Australian selection hopes.
SA looked on schedule until just after 2000m when Dennis showed the effects of his heavy road schedule this month.
He dropped off the pace and Bobridge had to perform a massive turn of speed to keep the remaining three riders in formation.
Bobridge fiercely protects his record of never having been dropped in a team pursuit.
It was an outstanding performance from Bobridge, who has not raced on the track or road since hurting his hand earlier this month in a crash at the Australian road titles.
Dennis finished fifth overall at the Tour Down Under and also won the national under-23 road race and time trial at the road championships.
SA coach Tim Decker will now change the order of the quartet for the final and aim to protect Dennis as much as possible.
They will ride off for the gold medal against Queensland, who clocked 4:07.250.
Queensland riders Mitchell Mulhearn and Nicholas Schultz crashed when their wheels touched a few metres after crossing the finish line but neither was hurt seriously.
Also on Friday, South Australian Annette Edmondson broke the national all-comers’ record when she qualified fastest in the women’s 3000m individual pursuit.
The 20-year-old smashed her personal best time by about seven seconds and will ride against NSW rider Ashlee Ankudinoff in Friday night’s final after clocking an impressive three minutes 30.586 seconds.
It beat the 3:30.604 that New Zealand legend Sarah Ulmer rode at the 2004 Melbourne world championships to break the then world record.
Edmondson is among six members of the women’s track endurance squad who are in contention for the London Olympics, where they will ride the team pursuit and omnium.
She was the latest addition to the squad, joining them in September, and has made impressive progress.
Edmondson is now a certainty to go to London next month for the pre-Olympic World Cup round.
Ankudinoff and WA’s bronze medal ride-off opponents Josie Tomic and Melissa Hoskins are also in the track endurance group.
Meanwhile, world champion Anna Meares (SA) qualified fastest for the sprint in 11.133s.
Kaarle McCulloch (NSW) was next in 11.219.
Rising star Matthew Glaetzer (SA) qualified fastest among the men in 10.1, ahead of NSW rider Andrew Taylor’s 10.123 and world keirin champion Shane Perkins from Victoria (10.158).
Queensland’s Taylah Jennings won the under-19 women’s 500m time trial in 35.403 seconds.
