AusCycling announces Emerging and Developing athlete categorisations for 2025/26

AusCycling is pleased to announce the athletes categorised as Emerging and Developing in the disciplines of track, road, BMX racing, BMX freestyle and mountain bike XCO for 2025/26. 

The AusCycling Emerging and Developing categorisation lists contain 101 athletes for the forthcoming 12 months.

Those riders join a further 88 Podium-level categorised athletes in the AusCycling performance pathway network.

The current crop of talent at the Developing categorisation contains three junior world champions in Tayte Ryan, Nicole Duncan and Joshua Jolly. 2024 UCI Junior Track World Championships medallists Lilyth Jones and Alex Hewes are also among the exciting talents in the 101-strong list. 

Developing categorised road cyclists Fergus Browning, Zac Marriage, Talia Appleton and Lauren Bates all received UCI WorldTour opportunities during the Australian summer of cycling earlier this year with the ARA Australian Cycling Team.

On the BMX freestyle park, Emerging and Developing categorised riders Mylee Toohey, Xavier Gilbee, Keegan Pryor and Will Spedding are set to gain more valuable UCI BMX Freestyle World Cup experience in Montpellier, France for the second consecutive year later this month.

That opportunity is one of four discipline-specific (road, XCO MTB, track and BMX freestyle) international development camps and pathways projects facilitated by AusCycling that has already or will soon take place in May.

AusCycling Director of Performance Pathways Donna Rae-Szalinski said she is continuously excited to observe new talent and see established names develop every year in the AusCycling performance pathway network.

“There are 32 newly categorised athletes at the Emerging and Developing level, which is an outstanding outcome,” Rae-Szalinski said. 

“13 of those are linked to the Queensland Academy of Sport, which is a tremendous achievement in Queensland.”

Athlete categorisation is used to identify, track, and prioritise athletes at each stage of the performance pathway, developing a pipeline of athletes to support the national team in consistently winning medals at major international events: namely Olympic Games, Paralympic Games, world championships and Commonwealth Games.

Developing and Emerging categorisations: April 2025 – May 2026 

Developing 

BMX FREESTYLE

• Xavier Gilbee – VIC 
• Keegan Pryor – QLD 
• Will Spedding – QLD 

BMX RACING

• Jack Davis – NSW 
• Noah Elton – NSW 
• Joel Marsh – SA 
• Joshua Jolly – VIC 
• Isabella Schramm – QLD 

 TRACK (SPRINT)

• Deneaka Blinco – QLD 
• Finn Carpenter – WA 
• Maxwell Liebeknecht – SA 
• Lauren Perry – TAS 
• Tayte Ryan – SA 
• Emma Stevens – QLD 
• Liliya Tatarinoff – NSW

 TRACK (ENDURANCE) 

• Caleb Antill – ACT 
• Noah Blannin – QLD 
• Isla Carr – WA 
• Jack Dohler – WA 
• Nicole Duncan – NSW 
• Kurt Eather – NSW 
• Rohan Haydon-Smith – QLD 
• Lilyth Jones – VIC 
• Odette Lynch – SA 
• Sophie Marr – VIC 
• Tyler Tomkinson – QLD 
• Leo Zimmermann – SA 

 ROAD

• Talia Appleton – VIC 
• Lauren Bates – ACT 
• Julian Baudry – VIC 
• Fergus Browning – VIC 
• Isabelle Carnes – QLD 
• Mackenzie Coupland – WA 
• Joshua Cranage – SA 
• Zac Marriage – SA 
• Jackson Medway – QLD 
• Katelyn Nicholson – SA
• Cameron Rogers – ACT
• Lucinda Stewart – VIC 

MOUNTAIN BIKE (XCO)

• Harry Doye – VIC 
• Izzy Flint – TAS 
• Ella Menigoz – QLD 
• Reuben Page-Brown – TAS 
• Jack Ward – VIC

Emerging 

BMX FREESTYLE

• Koby Carroll – QLD 
• Brodie Quick – VIC 
• Mylee Toohey – QLD 

 BMX RACING

• Aaron (AJ) Donald – NSW 
• Cameron Gatt – VIC 
• Charlotte Guy – QLD 
• Imogen Healy – SA 
• Preston Murray – SA 
• Samuel O’Grady – VIC 
• Bailey Seckold – QLD 

 TRACK (SPRINT)

• Xavier Bland – NSW 
• Maya Dillon – NSW 
• April Kat – SA 
• Ella Liang – QLD 
• Mitchell Louie – QLD 
• Noah Mason – NSW 
• Patrick Maye – NSW 
• Natasha Sitsky – ACT 
• Sebastian Topping – QLD 
• Emily Watch – ACT 
• Angus Withington – ACT 
• Olivia Wright – QLD 

 TRACK (ENDURANCE)

• William Brown – SA 
• Oscar Gallagher – VIC 
• Alec Guglielmucci – SA 
• Alex Hewes – QLD 
• Samuel Hilditch – QLD 
• Ollie Jirovec – VIC 
• Toby Jones – QLD 
• Bailey Macdonald – ACT 
• Edward Marcks – ACT 
• Megan Moore – QLD 
• Amelie Sanders – QLD 
• Ava Schmidtke – SA 
• Jonas Shelverton – TAS 
• Hayden Stevens – ACT 
• Leani van der Berg – SA 
• Thomas Waites – QLD 
• Lachlan Walters – QLD 
• Oliver Ward – SA 
• Sam Washington – WA 

 ROAD

• Jack Clark – SA 
• Anna Dubier – NSW 
• Alex Eaves – TAS 
• Max Goold – VIC 
• Will Heath – QLD 
• Toby Inglis – NSW 
• Cohen Jessen – VIC 
• Vinnie Manion – TAS 
• Finlay McRobbie – WA 
• Fletcher Medway – QLD 
• Jeremy Smith – WA 
• Lucas Stevenson – NSW 

MOUNTAIN BIKE (XCO)

• Amelie Burrell – ACT
• Eddie Mungoven – ACT
• Ruby Taylor – VIC
• Connor Wright – WA

The next round of Emerging and Developing categorisations will take place in April 2026. 

The next round of Podium-level categorisations will take place in late 2025.