By Mikayla van Loon, with AAP and AOC
In the space of 24 hours, Lilydale local Kelland O’Brien became both a world record holder and a gold medallist at the Paris Olympic Games.
As a member of Australia’s Men’s Team Pursuit, O’Brien, a decorated national cyclist who went to Lilydale High School and started his career at Lilydale BMX Club, helped bring the team closer to gold on Wednesday 7 August.
O’Brien, alongside his teammates Sam Welsford, Conor Leahy and Oliver Bleddyn, completed the pursuit race in an incredible three minutes and 42 seconds to claim gold over arch-rivals Great Britain.
Barely 0.2 of a second separated the two teams for almost the entire 4km before Australia broke their opponents on the final lap and won by over two seconds.
Having broken the world record the previous day with a time of 3:40.430, the Aussies were in a strong position ahead of the final and their slower time of 3:42.067 was enough to cross the line as champions.
O’Brien said the team had a plan and stuck to it, not putting too much pressure on themselves after the record ride on Tuesday.
“It was a heated battle as it always is, hats off to those guys they rode an amazing race, and we just stuck to our process and nailed it,” he said.
“I couldn’t be more proud of the boys and Tim (coach Tim Decker) for getting it done, we’ve said all along it’s going to be won on day three and it was.”
Returning to the world’s largest arena after an unfortunate incident of a handlebar malfunction at the Tokyo Olympic Games three years ago, that meant the team could only race for bronze, redemption was a huge motivator.
Welsford, a veteran of the sport who competed in Rio and Tokyo, said coming into the Wednesday final, it felt like the Aussie team were still the underdogs, something they wanted to prove wrong.
“I knew we were in a good spot, breaking the world record yesterday, and it was really nice to come here being a bit of the underdogs, I think a lot of people underestimated what we can do and we used that to our advantage,” he said.
Britain’s Daniel Bigham confirmed the surprise felt by his teammates Ethan Hayter, Charlie Tanfield and Oliver Wood.
“I genuinely feel we underestimated what the Aussies would bring to the party. They have lifted it a huge amount and that cannot be denied – that’s seriously impressive,” he said.
Coach Tim Decker never questioned the ability of his team, however, knowing full well their desire for gold particularly after Tokyo.
“People forget Tokyo and what happened. We were a very, very strong team there and we got a bronze medal and the resilience these boys showed and to move forward from that and come back and make this happen is high level history in track endurance cycling,” he said.
With two debutants in Leahy and Bleddyn, O’Brien and Welsford led the team with experience.
Speaking with Bicycling Australia, St Kilda Cycling Club president Tom Reynolds, where O’Brien is a member, said the 26-year-old showed his dedication and focus.
“That was a nerve-wracking ride for all of us, with Great Britain leading for the first few laps before the Aussies started to peg them back. Cool heads and experience prevailed,” he said.
“Kell is one of the young legends at St Kilda, and we are proud to see him succeed again on the international stage and have redemption for Tokyo.”
Reynolds said this was certainly going to be a highlight in an already exciting and successful cycling career for O’Brien.
“Winning a gold medal has been one of Kell’s dreams since he started his cycling career, and his success on the track and on the road inspires all of us.
“His gold medal is the highlight of an incredibly busy year for Kell. He’s raced in more than a dozen international stage and one-day races this year, with more to come.”
Australia’s pursuit gold is the first in the event for 20 years and comes after losing the gold medal ride to the British at London and Rio.
It is also Australia’s first gold medal in track cycling since Anna Meares, now the team chef de mission, beat her British rival Victoria Pendleton in the sprint final in 2012.
The pursuit cycling gold medal was one of four golds to be won by Australia on Wednesday, making it the country’s best performance at the Olympics, overtaking the previous best of 17 in Athens 2004.
The medal tally, as of Thursday 8 August, put Australia third with 18 gold, 12 silver and 11 bronze.
