Kristina Clonan to lead stacked #TrackNats22 Queensland squad

A full-strength elite, para, and under-19 Queensland squad has been named for the 2022 AusCycling Track National Championships, with Australian Cycling Team athletes Kristina Clonan, Alexandra Martin-Wallace, and James Moriarty all primed to don the maroon on their home boards.

Clonan, the back-to-back national sprint, 500m time trial, and keirin champion, has risen to the top of Australia’s sprinting ranks over the past two years after making the switch from being an endurance rider.

The Sunshine Coast product has a big year ahead of her, with the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham looming and the prospect of competing internationally for the first time since 2020 becoming a closer reality.

Fellow Sunshine Coast talent Martin-Wallace will be raring to go at Anna Meares Velodrome from March 26-30 in the hope of defending her national scratch race championship.

The 21-year-old continues to progress on the track and road with ARA Pro Racing Sunshine Coast and will be eager to extend her green and gold reach across other events throughout the week at #TrackNats22.

Moriarty threw down a considerable individual pursuit challenge to eventual national champion Conor Leahy (Western Australia) at #TrackNats21 and will be hunting down the opportunity to flip that result in 2022.

The InForm TMX Make rider also forms part of a lethal young Queensland endurance men’s core containing Declan Trezise and Liam Walsh.

Queensland also returns to the ever-unpredictable elite men's team sprint national championship contest for the first time in several years, spearheaded by 22-year-old Byron Davies.

With just several hours of track time between them, Gold Coast power duo Kane Richards and Danielle De Francesco opened a few eyes at the recent 2022 AusCycling Track State Championships – Queensland, with De Francesco claiming the women’s individual pursuit title and Richards narrowly missing out on the men’s equivalent in a tussle against 2017 world champion Jordan Kerby.

The allure of what the ARA Pro Racing Sunshine Coast couple can achieve with a month of track fine-tuning is fascinating but what is most beneficial is the added firepower they bring to the Queensland team pursuit squads.

Another wildcard to highlight is AusCycling Fast Track program athlete Molly McGill.

The former BMX rider has competed at BMX World Championships as a junior and showed plenty of raw power at her first track race outing in February.

The para side of the Queensland squad will be led by Paralympic gold medallist Paige Greco, who has relocated to Brisbane in 2022.

Greco is joined by Australian Cycling Team podium ready athlete Michael Shippley, Sport Australia Hall of Fame 2022 Scholarship holder Kyle Willis, and Michael Glarvey.

The hometown under-19 charge will be led by Queensland Academy of Sport trio Ryan Elliott, Emma Stevens, and Noah Blannin, as well as ARA Pro Racing Sunshine Coast talents Isabelle Carnes and Tyler Tomkinson.

Queensland squad - #TrackNats22

Elite:

• Claire Battle (Balmoral Cycling Club)
• Deneaka Blinco (Balmoral Cycling Club)
• Kristina Clonan (Sunshine Coast Cycling Club)
• Danielle De Francesco (Gold Coast Cycling Club)
• Hayley Jones (Balmoral Cycling Club)
• Molly McGill (Balmoral Cycling Club)
• Jacqui Mengler-Mohr (Balmoral Cycling Club)
• Alexandra Martin-Wallace (Sunshine Coast Cycling Club)
• Maddison Taylor (University of Queensland Cycling Club)
• Byron Davies (Balmoral Cycling Club)
• Brycen Fletcher (University of Queensland Cycling Club)
• Haddon Kilmartin (Ipswich Cycling Club)
• James Moriarty (Balmoral Cycling Club)
• Kane Richards (Gold Coast Cycling Club)
• Declan Trezise (Darling Downs Cycling Club)
• Finn Walsh (Balmoral Cycling Club)
• Liam Walsh (Balmoral Cycling Club)
• David Watling (University of Queensland Cycling Club)

U19:

• Isabelle Carnes (Balmoral Cycling Club)
• Keeley Henderson (Balmoral Cycling Club)
• Emma Stevens (Balmoral Cycling Club)
• Noah Blannin (Gold Coast Cycling Club)
• Ryan Elliott (Balmoral Cycling Club)
• Ricky Groth (Cairns Cycling Club)
• Ephraim Martenson (Balmoral Cycling Club)
• Tyler Tomkinson (Balmoral Cycling Club)
• Jarlath Whittaker (Balmoral Cycling Club)

Para:

• Paige Greco (Port Adelaide Cycling Club)
• Kyle Willis (Moreton Bay Cycling Club)
• Michael Shippley (Balmoral Cycling Club)
• Nathan Glarvey (Balmoral Cycling Club)

#TrackNats22

Pictures: Richard Morton, Fame and Spear (Andy Rogers), and Lana Adams