Cadel Evans, Anna Meares, Annette who?

Cycling is enjoying an increase in popularity in Australia. Cadel Evans and Anna Meares are leading this surge in popularity; with Evans winning Australia’s maiden Tour de France (which is cycling’s premier competition) and Meares’ successful track career, cycling has been enjoying recent successes.

Australian cycling is currently going through a changing of the guard. With Evans retiring in February 2015 and Meares nearing the end of her career, many Australians are losing interest in the sport. Cycling has always been second fiddle to major sports such as cricket, AFL, and rugby. Recently with the increase of people riding to work or school and the success of Meares and Evans, cycling has become more popular. Cycling stands to lose this newfound fame unless another rider has similar achievements.

That rider may well be Annette Edmondson. Edmondson began cycling when she was identified by the South Australian Institute of Sport as a potential cyclist. Although Edmondson was already playing soccer, volleyball and basketball as well as swimming and participating in athletics, she decided to give cycling a go. After a year-long Talent Search programme Edmondson was hooked on the sport and eventually began to specialise in cycling.

After making the switch from sprint to track endurance Edmondson qualified for her first track World Championship in 2012. She won silver in the Team Pursuit and again in the Omnium. She was then selected on the back of these performances in the Australian Olympic Team. Despite a disappointing 4th in the team pursuit, Edmondson took home a bronze in the Omnium.  Following her success at the London Olympics, she signed a professional road racing contract with Orica-AIS in 2013. She won a bronze medal in the team time trial and won silver the following year. In 2014, she won the Commonwealth Games scratch race. It was her first victory at the elite level and was made all the more special because she was out there with two teammates.

After an elusive three years, Edmondson finally won the women’s Omnium world championship in 2015. She also won the Team Pursuit World Championship with teammates Melissa Hoskins, Amy Cure and Ashlee Ankudinoff. Not only did they win, but they also smashed the world record. Edmondson is now focusing on road season and is looking forward to racing with her new team Wiggle-Honda Pro Cycling. Annette Edmondson is definitely on her way to becoming the new face of Australian cycling.