Gary Hunt
Australia’s traditional success against the clock continued on the first day of national events at the 2015 UCI Road World Championships in Richmond, Virginia. New South Wales’ Anna-Leeza Hull claimed bronze in the under 19 women’s time trial.
Hull, the reigning Australian national and Oceania junior time trial champion earned back-to-back bronze medals.
Using the technical second half of the course Hull, gained time on her rivals to jump up from a provisional seventh at the only intermediate time check to third at the finish. With only one rider still out on course, Hull only had a short wait to learn that her time of 22mins 34secs over the 15-kilometre course was good for bronze.
“Back-to-back bronze medals, two years in a row, I’m pretty happy with that,” said Hull. “It was definitely a hard race. The back half was always going to suit me much better. It’s the tougher half, and for me, the tougher the course, the better.”
The second-to-last rider to power down the start ramp, Hull contended with a stiff headwind in the opening kilometres.
“I didn’t think the wind was that strong before I started,” Hull noted. “It was a little bit of a shock. It was buffeting me a lot. I knew I had to try to get my cadence up as high as possible and push as hard as I could go.”
The 18-year-old hit the intermediate time check 30 seconds off the time set by American Chloe Dygert.
“I had a lot of time to make up, but I was confident that I could do that in the technical section and into the uphill,” explained Hull.
And she did. Hull tore through the technical sections and muscled her way up the steep hill en route to bronze behind the American duo of Dygert and Emma White.
“I’m really happy right now,” Hull said two-hours post-time trial. “I think when it sinks in, I’ll be even more proud.“
Hull now looks to Friday’s road race where she’ll join forces with Jessica Pratt (QLD).
“The road race course suits me, particularly the finish with the steep hill and the false flat,” said Hull. “I hope to do another solid effort up there into the finish.”
The Australian Commonwealth Games Association’s Gold Coast GOLD 2018 Team Preparation program will help to ensure that all cyclists receive the best access to training and competition opportunities, equipment and world-class athlete support services in the lead up to the Games.
Read our our interview with Anna-Leeza from issue 191 here.
