AusCycling announces athlete categorisations for 2022

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).

Athlete Categorisations – January 1, 2022 – December 31, 2022

Podium, Podium Ready and Podium Potential Athletes

Track – Women's Endurance

Podium Ready

Alex Manly SA

Ashlee Ankudinoff NSW
Chloe Moran SA
Georgia Baker TAS
Maeve Plouffe SA
Ruby Roseman-Gannon VIC

Sophie Edwards SA

Podium Potential

Alex Martin-Wallace QLD
Amber Pate SA
Alyssa Polites VIC

Lauren Perry TAS

Track – Men's Endurance

Podium

Alex Porter SA
Kelland O'Brien VIC

Lucas Plapp VIC
Sam Welsford WA

Podium Ready

Josh Duffy TAS
Conor Leahy WA

Cameron Meyer WA

Podium Potential

Graeme Frislie VIC
James Moriarty QLD
Jensen Plowright VIC

Patrick Eddy VIC

Track – Men's Sprint

Podium Ready

Matthew Richardson WA
Matthew Glaetzer SA

Nathan Hart ACT
Thomas Cornish NSW

Podium Potential

Carlos Carisimo SA
Daniel Barber NSW

James Brister SA
Leigh Hoffman SA

Track – Women's Sprint

Podium Ready

Kristina Clonan QLD

Podium Potential

Alessia McCaig VIC
Kalinda Robinson NSW

Road - Women

Podium Ready

Amanda Spratt NSW
Grace Brown VIC

Podium Potential

Sarah Gigante VIC
Chloe Hosking ACT

Road – Men

Podium

Rohan Dennis SA

Podium Ready

Caleb Ewan NSW

Michael Matthews ACT

Podium Potential

Jack Haig VIC
Lucas Hamilton VIC
Ben O'Connor WA

Harry Sweeny QLD
Carter Turnbull VIC
Jay Vine QLD

Para-Cycling

Podium

Amanda Reid NSW
Carol Cooke VIC
Emily Petricola VIC
Paige Greco SA
Meg Lemon SA

Alistair Donohoe VIC
Darren Hicks SA
David Nicholas QLD

Podium Ready

Emilie Miller NSW

Hannah Macdougall VIC
Gordon Allan NSW
Grant Allen SA
Michael Shippley QLD
Stuart Jones NSW

Podium Potential

Kaitlyn Schurmann SA
Kyle Willis QLD
Stuart Tripp VIC
Alex Welsh VIC

Mountain Bike XCO

Podium Ready

Rebecca McConnell ACT

Podium Potential

Cameron Wright QLD

Sam Fox TAS

BMX Racing

Podium Ready

Saya Sakakibara NSW
Lauren Reynolds WA

Izaac Kennedy QLD

Podium Potential

Josh Mclean QLD
Matt Krasevskis QLD
Max Cairns QLD

BMX Freestyle

Podium

Logan Martin QLD

Podium Ready

Natalya Diehm QLD

Brandon Loupos QLD
Josh Matthews QLD

Developing and Emerging Athletes - Track Endurance, Track Sprint, Road, BMX Freestyle, BMX Racing, MTB XCO and Para Tandem

Developing

Angus Miller Endurance SA
Ashlee Jones Endurance VIC
Alec Daneluti BMX Freestyle VIC
Beau Wootton Para Tandem SA
Bill Simpson Endurance VIC

Blake Quick Endurance QLD
Byron Davies Sprint QLD
Cameron Rogers Endurance ACT
Daniel Gandy Endurance NSW
Declan Trezise Endurance QLD

Devraj Grewal Endurance NSW
Domenic Paolilli MTB XCO VIC
Emily Watts Endurance NSW
Francesca Sewell Endurance QLD
Georgia Whitehouse Endurance NSW

Henry Dietze Endurance VIC
John Trovas Sprint NSW
Josh Dove BMX Freestyle QLD
Jordan Villani Endurance VIC
Josie Talbot Endurance NSW

Katarina Chung-Orr Endurance SA
Kurt Eather Endurance NSW
Kyle Hill BMX Racing QLD
Liam Walsh Endurance QLD
Liliana McLennan Endurance QLD

Lucinda Stewart Endurance VIC
Maxwell Liebeknecht Sprint SA
Matthew Dinham MTB XCO NSW
Michael Storer Road WA
Ned Pollard Sprint VIC

Oliver Bleddyn Endurance SA
Rohan Haydon-Smith Endurance NSW
Sam Gallagher Sprint VIC
Zac Marriage Endurance SA
Zoe Cuthbert MTB XCO ACT

Emerging

Alexander Jones Endurance VIC
Alli Anderson Endurance SA
Aston Freeth Endurance SA
Ben Anderson Endurance NSW
Blake Agnoletto Endurance VIC
Claudia Marcks Endurance ACT
Dalton Stretton Endurance TAS
Deneaka Blinco Sprint QLD
Des'ree Barnes Sprint QLD
Dylan Stanton Sprint SA
Dylan Eather Endurance NSW
Ella Sibley Sprint SA
Emma Stevens Sprint QLD
Hamish McKenzie Endurance TAS
Haylee Fuller Endurance NSW
Isabelle Carnes Endurance QLD
Isabella Flint MTB XCO TAS
Jack Menzies Endurance TAS
Jack Davis BMX Racing NSW
Jarrah Anderson Sprint ACT
Joel Dodds MTB XCO QLD
John Carter Endurance WA
Jordan Callum BMX Racing WA
Keegan Pryor BMX Freestyle QLD
Keira Will Endurance NSW
Lauren Bates Endurance ACT
Leo Zimmermann Endurance SA
Lily Stratford Sprint ACT
Matt Tidswell BMX Racing SA
Meg Marker Endurance SA
Noah Blannin Endurance QLD
Oliver Moran BMX Racing NSW
Oscar Chamberlain Endurance ACT
Ryan Elliott Sprint QLD
Sarah Cliff Endurance NSW
Sienna Pal BMX Racing NSW
Sophie Marr Endurance VIC
Teya Rufus BMX Racing QLD
Tommy Tucker BMX Racing QLD
Tyler Puzicha Sprint NSW
Will Holmes Endurance SA
Will Spedding BMX Freestyle NSW
William Eaves Endurance TAS