Going from a boat to a bike

Standing on a victory dais is nothing new to former rower Jaime Nielsen, but this was the World Track Cycling Championships in Poland last month and she had only been in her new sport for a few months.

She had just won a silver medal as a member of the New Zealand trio in the women's team pursuit.

"It was pretty surreal. The gold would have been good, but it was amazing. I just couldn't believe that this was the world championship," Nielsen said.

The event was a new one at the world champs and Nielsen rode with Alison Shanks and Lauren Ellis. The Kiwis were the second fastest qualifiers and were narrowly beaten by a strong English team in the final.

How did a 23-year-old with very little experience end up at the world championships?

Her progress in the sport can only be described as meteoric. She competed in the national rowing championships in February, where she won four medals, then two weeks later she was on the track at the National Track Cycling Championships in Invercargill.

She teamed up with another former rower, Sonia Waddell, and experienced Waikato cyclist Rushlee Buchanan to win gold in the teams pursuit. She then lined up in the individual pursuit where she qualified second fastest. In the final she rode against Otago's Shanks and she had to be content with the silver medal. Shanks went on to win gold in that event at the world championships.

Nielsen's switch from rowing to cycling owes much to Bike NZ's special programme to identify cycling talent among top Kiwi sportswomen in other codes.

"I was having a season off rowing last winter when I found out about the Bike NZ Power the Podium programme through Brett Smith (Rowing NZ sports scientist).

"I was not rowing at the time and he thought that I would have the physiology to be a good track cyclist. I was shortlisted into the programme and completed the lab testing stage.

"I received a phone call in November inviting me to go to a camp in December at Invercargill to have a go on the track."

Nielsen still had to balance her rowing career with a chance at a new sport in which she had no real idea as to how she would go, or indeed if she would like it.

"At that stage I had started my rowing training for the summer with coach Mike Rodger. Mike was supportive of me giving cycling a go."

Rodger's son Shem is a promising young Waikato road cyclist.

"Mike gave me the freedom to do whatever I needed to do to give the track cycling opportunity a go."

At that stage the young rower's experience of cycling had been very limited. She had competed in a couple of duathlons while at Hillcrest High School and she had even had to borrow a bike to take part. Later, however, she began to use cycling as cross training for rowing.

The transition to cycling was made a lot easier by the support she received from friends.

"There were a few friends I had in rowing who basically knew what I am capable of and they just thought that cycling would be a great sport for me. I've got good leg strength. I guess I just crossed over to cycling easily," she said.

Another person who helped Nielsen into cycling was Waikato Cycling Academy administrator Errol Newlands.

Newlands believes that Nielsen has a big future in the cycling sport.

"I think that unquestionably she's got enormous potential," he said. "Given what she achieved after only one month I think that she's got the potential to be our greatest-ever track cyclist."

Nielsen is now being coached by top Waikato and New Zealand cycling coach Graham Bunn.

What of her immediate future?

"At the moment I'm just going to be working on my road skills in New Zealand," she said. "I guess that down the line opportunities may present themselves."

- © Fairfax NZ News