Coach pledges greater emphasis on madison in buildup to 2012 Olympics

Look for the madison to become an increasingly important part of the New Zealand track team's rep ertoire as it looks ahead to the London Olympics in four years' time.

New Zealand track coach Tim Carswell said the two-man event would receive greater focus in the buildup to 2012, starting with an international carnival at the ILT Velodrome in Invercargill on Friday night.

"All the endurance events are (important) and the madison is one where we haven't put a lot of focus on it as yet but going into the next Olympics we want a pairing capable of doing well, hopefully medalling."

Hayden Roulston and Greg Henderson finished 10th in the event at the Beijing Olympics. "We will be thinking quite strategically about how we do that over the next four years," Carswell said. "We were talking to the riders about this yesterday — we are looking at the right riders doing the right events. The only one we've got question marks over is the madison."

With madison events on Friday and Saturday night, this weekend's carnival is a good chance for Carswell to try out some different pairings.

It's also an ideal opportunity for his squad to add some competitive elements to the training being done at the ILT Velodrome this week.

The New Zealand team is based in Invercargill as it builds towards the World Cup meet in Beijing next month.

"They are all kicking into it pretty hard and we've got some riders here who are in pretty good shape," Carswell said. "It's a predominantly power-based camp, but with a pretty strong emphasis on technique at race speeds as well.

"The other really important part is that we've got a lot of the riders at the level below the Olympic riders that we are try-ing to get exposure to training at the speeds and powers that the Olympic team is training at now."Both Friday and Saturday ILT Carnival sessions start at 7pm.

- © Fairfax NZ News