Watch the 2022 UCI Track Cycling World Championships on SBS On Demand, with live coverage of the evening sessions, highlights and catch-up replays from each day of competition.
It’s a case of the road less taken being the one that has made all the difference for Kristina Clonan, who has completed an unusual transition from road cycling and track endurance to track sprinting. She’s now heading to the 2022 UCI Track Cycling World Championships as one of Australia’s top chances of a medal.
The difference between the two pursuits is one Clonan says is like being two completely different athletes in an interview with SBS Sport ahead of the track worlds.
“Yeah, it’s really different,” said Clonan. “It’s just completely different watt-worlds that we live in.
“It’s so funny, we’re in the same sport and it looks like we do the same thing, but the way I’ve defined it to people is that it’s like a shot-putter and a 1500-metre runner.”
Clonan was part of the women’s track endurance team aiming at the Tokyo Olympics, particularly focusing on the team pursuit, but she missed selection for the Games and found herself considering her options.
“I moved to Adelaide in 2018 to be with the AIS, there was a group of seven girls there in that squad,” said Clonan. “We were all training together leading into the Tokyo Olympics. I just missed out on the Tokyo Olympics and I was at a bit of a crossroads there.
“The leadership at the time kind of made it difficult to stay in the program, so I had to go back to Queensland and it was a bit of a reassessment time.”
A running joke and an impromptu training session personal best made Clonan realise that it was a possibility for her, but it was then years of hard work to complete the switch to the sprinting ranks.
“The lead sprint coach at the time, Nick Flyger, was always joking, ‘if you ever want to go to the dark side, we’ll take you’.
“I did show sprint attributes, my ‘accel’ was quite good, I lifted pretty well in the gym but in endurance you don’t really tap into that. I always took it as a joke, I don’t think he took it as a joke.
“I was racing Cat 1 point races in Europe and I was with the sprinters on their training camp, I was in the gym with them and ended up doing a PB because I was like ‘Oh, I’m with the big dogs here’. After missing out on the Olympics, I was lucky enough to jump straight into the academy (a level of the Australian Cycling Team performance progression) which isn’t standard process, I skipped a few hurdles.”
The Queenslander has made the most of her limited opportunities, building into her new status as a sprinter by sweeping the medals haul at the track national championships in 2020, then again in 2021 and 2022. After proving that she’s the top prospect of the local talents in the wake of the retirements of Anna Meares, Kaarle McCulloch and Stephanie Morton, 2022 was the year where she broke through to the international ranks.
She won Commonwealth gold in the 500-metre time trial, and also posted a world-class time of sub 33 seconds in the same event at the Milton Track World Cup. Her 32.911 is an Australian best in the event at sea level, Meares’ record of 32.836 being set in Aguascalientes back in 2013.
Now she’s got her sights set out on growing her experience at the world championships against the best in the world, with a good performance in the sprint also carrying the bonus of a spot in the Track Champions League.
I feel like I’ve been a benchwarmer for these past two years, so now it’s like ‘coach, put me in’. It’s very exciting to see where we sit in the scheme of things, a couple of year out from the Olympics now.
“I’m hopefully heading to Champs League, so more racing opportunities and I’ll be home for Christmas.
“I can’t hype it up enough. It’s really exciting, from where we are in Oceania, to have that big block of racing that where you can learn and cement the things that you’ve learned. You have to qualify for it, so my position at that is dependent on how I go at worlds.”
With world championships sprint events that span the keirin, sprint and 500m time trial (Australia didn’t send any other female sprinters for a women’s team sprint), Clonan has already shown that she will be a contender in the battle against the clock. She’s looking to build her competitive abilities in the other events, with significantly less experience than her rivals who’ve competed at world-class level for years.
“The 500 is an awesome opportunity,” said Clonan. “You go through things in training, and there’s very little room for what opponents are going to do and tactics which is what you see more in the sprints and the keirin.
“I’m pretty raw on the sprint scene, but I’ve got all the learnings from endurance and racing I’ve done in sprints, so I’m just going to put my best foot forward. I’m not really sure where I sit at the moment having not done worlds last year due to COVID, we’re just going to give it a red-hot crack.”
The difference between the competition in track sprinting is something else that has taken adjustment, the intense nature of the staredowns and watching each other during the one on one sprint events a new world for Clonan.
“It’s such a sprint thing! I feel like sprint cycling is absolutely renowned for it,” said Clonan. “I’m definitely still getting my race face on, I’ll learn a lot from my opponents. I find that the sprint is a lot of psychological.
“Everyone’s working hard, everyone’s showing up with intent and doing the right things, but when it comes down to race day, its who can handle the pressure the most and that psychological barrier. “
Clonan looks back on her time with the endurance team and on the road with fondness, and says that many of lessons from training and racing on that side of the sport have stood her in good stead in the sprinting ranks.
“I was lucky to come into the program with seven girls, good friends and it was the time of my life,” said Clonan. “I learned so much stuff and I feel that I’ve been able to jump into sprint with all of those learnings and being able to implement them in a different environment.”
Watch the 2022 UCI Track Cycling World Championships on SBS On Demand, with live coverage of the evening sessions, highlights and catch-up replays from each day of competition.
