<\/p>\n
\nDevon Briggs wins the MC3 10km scratch race at the para-cycling world championships in Rio de Janeiro.
\nPhoto: Simon Wilkinson\/SWpix.com\n<\/p>\n
New Zealand finally bagged their gold medal on the final day of the para-cycling world championships as Devon Biggs powered past his rivals in Rio de Janeiro.<\/p>\n
The Cambridge rider unleashed a sprint on the final lap to win the MC3 10km scratch race, lifting New Zealand’s tally to 13 medals at the four-day meet.<\/p>\n
They finished with eight silver and four bronze, with only Biggs climbing to the top step of the podium.<\/p>\n
It was second successive world championship track title for the 21-year-old after success at the same velodrome last year.<\/p>\n
Victory came as a relief to Biggs after injury ruined his hopes of competing at last year’s Paralympics.<\/p>\n
“Overall it has been an amazing week. For me it has been a week of highs and lows,” Briggs said.<\/p>\n
“Today I took expectation out of the race and went out and enjoyed the race and managed to race well and win.<\/p>\n
“I rode a good strong race and had a good sprint at the end. And I get to wear the rainbow jersey for another year.”<\/p>\n
The two other medals on the final day were both bronze in the same combined 10,000m race – to Waikato’s Nicole Murray in the C5 class and Rotorua’s Siobhan Terry in the C4 class.<\/p>\n
It was Murray’s fourth medal of the week and Terry’s third.<\/p>\n
New Zealand head coach Brendon Cameron was pleased with the results at a meet which featured several new events, including longer distance races and an elimination race.<\/p>\n
“It was a good four days with a new format and some new races in the UCI calendar with most of these to be raced at the 2028 Paralympic Games in Los Angeles,” Cameron said.<\/p>\n
“With the new events we altered our training, and raced at local able-bodied races at club and provincial level and worked more on our tactical and technical things.<\/p>\n
“The best takeaway from the four days here has been all the individual efforts timewise. Every athlete here had PBs – and most of them have been in the programme for a few years, so the results are really encouraging.”<\/p>\n