Olympic silver medallist Bryony Botha (New Zealand) wrote her name into the record books with the fastest time in history in the women’s 4km individual pursuit on day two of the 2025 Oceania Track Championships in Brisbane.

Botha the three time defending Oceania Champion and a three-time world championship medallist over three kilometres wasted no time cementing herself at the top of the sport over the new four kilometre distance.

Having set the standard of 4mins 31.446secs in qualifying she would go even faster in the final lowering the world record by seven tenths of a second to 4mins 30.752secs.

“It’s pretty cool. Doing my first ever 4km and being able to do a time like that I’m pretty stoked with that,” Botha said after pulling on the Oceania Champions jersey.

“I feel like with an event like that it’s very new and the records are going to be broken quite quickly I think so I’m stoked to be holding onto it for maybe a couple of weeks.

“But I think I’m really happy with the result and the time and the way I executed the first race and learnt from that and was able to produce a better time in the second race.

“It is definitely different. I think the pain is kind of different. For me as a rider I think it suits me better. I’m very much a slow twitch rider so the longer the better for me. I feel like the burn and the pain is just real slow and it doesn’t really hit as much as a 3km but it is just a different kind of pain. Like it is still sore it is just different.”

With the endurance races against the clock complete, Botha who has been a medallist in the omnium, Madison, elimination, points and scratch races over the years now turns her attention to the bunch races.

“I’m not too sure to be honest,” she said of what to expect over the next three days.

“Bunch racing hasn’t really been the thing that I’ve been focusing on much, but it is really what I want to start working on this year and keep developing my ability to read the race, make moves and ride with more intent so that’s what I’m going to be working on for the next few races to come.”

It was an all New Zealand lockout on the podium with Botha joined by her team pursuit gold medal winning teammates Emily Shearman and Samantha Donnelly on the podium.

In the elite men’s individual pursuit, Tom Sexton (New Zealand) broke through for a maiden IP title, having been a regular on the podium across track and road championships. His time of 4mins 10.838secs was nearly two and a half seconds clear of teammate Keegan Hornblow. 2023 Champion James Moriarty completed the podium.

For 13-years only three men had won the Oceania sprint title. Olympic silver medallist Leigh Hoffman (Australia) changed that and started a new chapter of sprinting in Oceania in a tightly contest competition.

After qualifying fastest and breezing through the rounds he lost the first race in the gold medal ride before fighting back and taking the title over Daniel Barber. Thomas Cornish completed an all Australian podium.

Olympic Champion Ellesse Andrews (New Zealand) picked up title number two and her sixth in the last four years with a dominant display in the women’s sprint.

After setting a new Oceania Championship record in qualifying of 10.560secs she dispatched Sandra Stoy (Australia), Liliya Tatarinoff (Australia) and Sophie Watts (Australia) on route to the gold medal ride. There she was too strong for 2024 bronze medallist Alessia McCaig (Australia) to reclaim the title. Silver went to Shaane Fulton (New Zealand).

Amelie Sanders (Australia) was the star of the day in the under 19 category winning both the scratch and elimination races. Following her individual pursuit success on the opening day she took out the elimination in the afternoon ahead of Sophie Maxwell (Australia) and Caitlin Rose (Australia).

Just hours later in the scratch race, she timed her sprint perfectly to emerge on the front at the right time to win the sprint ahead of Shaylah Sayers (New Zealand) and Ava Schmidtke (Australia).

It was a similar result in the men’s scratch race with Alex Hewes (Australia) claiming gold, who like Sanders had won the individual pursuit on day one. Silver went to Hunter Dalton (New Zealand) and bronze Bailey MacDonald (Australia).

Lachlan Walters (Australia) claimed the scratch race ahead of Jonas Shelverton and Hewes in an Australian sweep of the podium.

Para cyclists tackled the individual pursuit with 2025 gold and titles going to Kyle Willis (Australia) men C3, Korey Boddington (Australia) men C4, Ieuan Edwards (New Zealand) men C5, Kyren Andrew and Nick Mulder (Pilot) (New Zealand) men tandem, Paige Greco (Australia) women C3, Sharon Boyd (Australia) women C4, Alana Forster (Australia) women C5 and Unity Collins and Aimee Firmin (Pilot) (New Zealand) women tandem.

Results – Full Results

Elite Women Individual Pursuit
Gold: Bryony Botha (New Zealand) – WR 4:30.752
Silver: Emily Shearman (New Zealand)
Bronze: Samantha Donnelly (New Zealand)

Elite Men Individual Pursuit
Gold: Thomas Sexton (New Zealand)
Silver: Keegan Hornblow (New Zealand)
Bronze: James Moriarty (Australia)

Elite Women Sprint
Gold: Ellesse Andrews (New Zealand)
Silver: Alessia McCaig (Australia)
Bronze: Shaane Fulton (New Zealand)

Elite Men Sprint
Gold: Leigh Hoffman (Australia)
Silver: Daniel Barber (Australia)
Bronze: Thomas Cornish (Australia)

Under 19 Men Elimination Race
Gold: Alexander Hewes (Australia)
Silver: Hunter Dalton (New Zealand)
Bronze: Bailey MacDonald (Australia)

Under 19 Women Elimination Race
Gold: Amelie Sanders (Australia)
Silver: Sophie Maxwell (Australia)
Bronze: Caitlin Rose (Australia)

Under 19 Men Scratch Race
Gold: Lachlan Walters (Australia)
Silver: Jonas Shelverton (Australia)
Bronze: Alexander Hewes (Australia)

Under 19 Women Scratch Race
Gold: Amelie Sanders (Australia)
Silver: Shaylah Sayers (New Zealand)
Bronze: Ava Schmidtke (Australia)

Para Individual Pursuit
Men C3: Kyle Willis (Australia)
Men C4: Korey Boddington (Australia)
Men C5: Ieuan Edwards (New Zealand)
Men B: Kyren Andrew and Nick Mulder (Pilot) (New Zealand)
Women C3: Paige Greco (Australia)
Women C4: Sharon Boyd (Australia)
Women C5: Alana Forster (Australia)
Women B: Unity Collins and Aimee Firmin (Pilot) (New Zealand)