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Teen sensation Ally Wollaston to push established track stars for Tokyo Olympics berth

December 6, 2019

Teen sensation Ally Wollaston is headlining the new look women's team pursuit who won gold at the World Cup last weekend and is now pushing for a potential Tokyo Olympics call up.

At 18, Wollaston is the youngest in the New Zealand women's endurance cycling team, where she trains alongside legends such as Rushlee Buchanan

“I’m definitely coming in as the underdog for sure,” she admits from Cambridge, where the fourth leg of the World Cup is being held this weekend.

“It’s so cool to come into this amazing environment and see these girls who are world champs and have so many medals, to be able to just train with them is such a great opportunity.”

The Cambridge teen is fast becoming a force of her own, already a junior world champion in the individual pursuit and now stepping up into the elite world.

She and the development women's team pursuit became world cup champions last weekend.

It was a shock victory in Hong Kong for the ‘b’ team with an average age of just 20.

Their success is putting pressure on the ‘a’ team, made up of Commonwealth Games silver medallists Buchanan, Kirstie James and Bryony Botha.

“It's positive pressure and we’re seeing that as a real bonus and we'll see that to a certain degree in Cambridge as well,” Cycling NZ chief executive Jacques Landry told 1 NEWS.

The elite women will get a chance to claim their own title tonight in the fourth leg of the world cup.

It's not without a fight, though. Wollaston and her young brigade are vying for spots for next year's Tokyo Olympics.

“It will be a real push to break through that barrier but one that will I’m up for the challenge. I’d love to get amongst the team,” she said.

Whether it's next year or Paris 2024, Wollaston seems to be a rider set for Olympic success.

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