Australia came out on top winning three of four elite titles on offer on the opening day of the 2026 Oceania Track Championships in Cambridge, New Zealand.

In her first race back from injury Olympian Kristina Clonan led Australia to gold in the women’s team sprint with Australia also claiming the men’s title.

New Zealand was too strong in the men’s team pursuit taking gold with Australia taking the women’s crown

Under 19 and Para-cycling titles were also decided on the opening day.

Team Sprint

Seven-time Oceania Champion Kristina Clonan returned Australia back to the top step of the women’s team sprint podium combining with Molly McGill and Alessia McCaig to stop the clock in 47.145 seconds ahead of defending Champions New Zealand. Ellesse Andrews, Olivia King and Riley Faulkner took silver in 47.720secs with Australia the bronze through Kristina Perkins, Liliya Tatarinoff and Sophie Watts with Deneaka Blinco riding the rounds.

“I can’t even explain to you how stoked I am to be back on the bike healthy and being able to ride and represent and ride with friends in the team,” said a delighted Clonan after the presentations.

“I haven’t been to New Zealand for a couple of years now and the tracks good, the vibes good and yeah I had a lot of fun.”

“We had a team sprint last year; I wasn’t in it because I hurt my back. So, this for me was probably the first hit out in pretty much since the Olympics to be honest, so vital for us to learn the team and a huge year coming and that will really set us up for LA in a couple years time.

It was a 1-2 finish for Australia in the men’s as they claimed a fifth consecutive men’s team sprint title. Maxwell Liebeknecht, Tayte Ryan and James Brister combined in 43.674 seconds to snare gold in the final over Xavier Bland, Daniel Barber and Ryan Elliott in 43.714 as Leigh Hoffman riding in the rounds, with three of the four the 2025 champions. Bronze went to New Zealand’s Jaxson Russell, Liam Cavanagh and Alex Schuler in 44.067 with Luke Blackwood also riding in the rounds.

Team Pursuit

In the final Australia took the early lead at the opening kilometre before the more experienced New Zealand team unleashed establishing a convincing lead only to be related for obstructing the Australian team, with Sophie Edwards, Claudia Marcks, Nicole Duncan and Maeve Plouffe and Kiera Will taking the win. It was Australia’s first gold in the event since 2023 when Edwards and Marcks were also part of the team.

Silver went to New Zealand’s Samantha Donnelly, Bryony Botha, Prudence Fowler and Ally Wollaston with New Zealand Composite Red team rounding out the podium.

New Zealand were back on top in the men’s with former winners Keegan Hornblow, George Jackson and Nicholas Kergozou combining with Marshall Erwood to stop the clock in 3mins 51.993secs, a second and a half clear of the Australian team of Rohan Haydon-Smith, Thomas Cornish, Joshua Duffy and Blake Quick in 3mins and 53.468secs. Bronze went to New Zealand 2 in 3mins 58.481secs.

Under 19

In under 19 events Neve McKenzie (New Zealand) set a new National Record of 3mins 39.008secs in the under 19 women’s individual pursuit, while Oliver Ward (Australia) took the men’s in 3mins 11.041secs.

Cooper Nilsson (New Zealand) claimed the men’s sprint gold ahead of Angus Withington (Australia) with Luca Pyatt (Australia) rounding out the podium places. In the women’s Emily Watch led an Australian 1-2 ahead of April Kat as Lily Cameron (New Zealand) won the bronze final to find the final spot on the podium.

Para-cycling

It was an all-Australian affair in the Para-cycling team sprint with Erin Normoyle, Michael Shippley and Korey Boddington taking gold in the C1-C5 in 49.684 seconds with Gordon Allan riding in qualifying. While in the tandem former World Champion Jessica Gallagher and Jacqui Mengler-Mohr combined with Kane Perris and Luka Zaccaria to take gold in 49.013 seconds.

Results

Elite Men Team Pursuit
Gold: New Zealand (Hornblow, Erwood, Jackson & Kergozou) 3:51.993
Silver: Australia: (Haydon-Smith, Cornish, Duffy & Quick) 3:53.468
Bronze: New Zealand (Sexton, Watson-Palmer, Morton & Murphy) 3:58.481

Elite Women Team Pursuit
Gold: Australia (Edwards, Marcks, Duncan and Plouffe and Will)
Silver: New Zealand (Donnelly, Botha, Fowler and Wollaston) REL
Bronze: New Zealand (Reeve, Sykes, Wolfenden, Maxwell)

Elite Men Team Sprint
Gold: Australia (Liebeknecht, Ryan and Brister) 43.674
Silver: Australia (Bland, Barber and Elliott and Hoffman) 43.714
Bronze: New Zealand (Russell, Cavanagh and Schuler and Blackwood) 44.607

Elite Women Team Sprint
Gold: Australia (Clonan, McGill and McCaig) 47.145
Silver: New Zealand (Faulkner, King and Andrews) 47.720
Bronze: Australia (Perkins, Tatarinoff and Watts and Blinco) 48.197

U19 Men Individual Pursuit
Gold: Oliver Ward (Australia) 3:11.041
Silver: Samuel Hilditch (Australia) 3:12.585
Bronze: William Brown (Australia) 3:13.549

U19 Women Individual Pursuit
Gold: Neve McKenzie (New Zealand) 3:39.008
Silver: Megan Moore (Australia) 3:40.902
Bronze: Shaylah Sayers (New Zealand) 3:46.935

U19 Men Sprint
Gold: Cooper Nilsson (New Zealand)
Silver: Angus Withington (Australia)
Bronze: Luca Pyatt (Australia)

U19 Women Sprint
Gold: Emily Watch (Australia)
Silver: April Kat (Australia)
Bronze: Lily Cameron (New Zealand)

Para-cycling Team Sprint C1-C5
Gold: Australia (Normoyle, Shippley and Boddington and Allan) 49.684
Silver: New Zealand (Terry, Murray and Briggs) 53.944

Para-cycling Team Sprint B
Gold: Australia (Gallagher & Mengler-Mohr and Perris & Zaccaria) 49.013
Silver: Australia (Wootton & Davies and Reder & Perry) 52.368