AusCycling announces athlete categorisations for 2022

15 Dec 2021 | 03:14 PMBy: AusCycling

AusCycling is pleased to confirm the athletes categorised as Podium, Podium Ready, Podium Potential, Developing or Emerging in the disciplines of track endurance (a combination of both road and track), track sprint, road, BMX racing, BMX freestyle, mountain bike XCO and para-cycling for 2022. 

The categorisation framework contains 77 Podium, Podium Ready and Podium Potential categorised athletes, 43 Emerging athletes and 35 Developing athletes from all state and territory institutes and academies of sport which form the AusCycling High-Performance Network (HPN).  

Australian Cycling Team Interim Performance Director Jesse Korf congratulated all categorised athletes and wished them well for the coming year.

Korf explained the categorisation process and framework as a process not unique to cycling.

"It is a process, or a tool if you will, that is instituted by the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS), and it's essentially a framework with a couple of different tiers," he said.

"There are several different steps towards reaching the podium and the Emerging categorisation level is the first one of those.

“Effectively it's a process where we look at performances and performance trends to get an understanding of where somebody is in their journey towards the podium and whether or not individuals have evidence for a bridgeable gap towards a future podium performance.

"Anybody who is categorised is eligible (for support) no matter which discipline – although, because this is an AIS system – the only disciplines in which we do categorisation are those which are Olympic sports.

"This means that athletes can gain access to, or receive a scholarship from state institutes; allowing support in aspects such as strength and conditioning, physiology, nutrition and sports psychology.

"There might be a financial support component which is tied to the tiers. So, the further up you go in that framework, the more financial support is available.

"It's important to note categorisation does not mean national team selection – the two are separate."

The key objective of the HPN is to develop and prepare the athletes for a successful progression into the Australian Cycling Team's Podium Potential, Podium Ready and Podium categories. Whether that is residential programs or professional careers.

This process is based on the AIS National Athlete Categorisation Framework (NACF).

The NACF has been developed to provide a consistent basis, both within and across sports to:

Identify the athletes with the greatest potential to contribute to Australia consistently winning medals at major international events;
Inform the prioritisation of support to these athletes; and
Track their performance over time.

By the numbers

10 athletes from the disciplines of track endurance, track sprint, BMX racing, BMX freestyle and para-cycling have been elevated from podium potential to podium ready in 2022.
19 new faces categorised as emerging or developing athletes in BMX freestyle, BMX racing, mountain XCO, road and para-cycling in November 2021.
19 additions to the podium potential level of categorisation from track endurance, track sprint, BMX racing, para-cycling and mountain bike XCO.
77 athletes in total across podium, podium ready and podium potential categorisation.
5 retiring athletes (Annette Edmondson, Kaarle McCulloch, Lucy Kennedy, Leigh Howard and Anthony Dean).