Meares hoping for worlds payday

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Anna Meares is feeling confident heading into this month’s International Cycling Union (UCI) Track World Championships in Copenhagen, Denmark. Meares won the sprint at Revolution 6 in Melbourne, Australia on Saturday evening, her first track race since the UCI World Cup round in Beijing, China.

"I'm confident, excited and a little nervous," Meares said. "I know the form is going to be good but you just want it to go perfectly. All that hard work - the money's in the bank and I just hope the bank is open on the right day so I can make a withdrawal.

"I felt really good and I'm really pleased where I'm at, at the moment," Meares added.

Besides her women’s sprint win at Darebin International Sports Centre at the weekend, Meares also competed in two mixed events. First she won a sprint against under 19 men’s champion Nathan Corrigan-Martella, before finishing second in a mixed keirin against Aaron Cooper.

Meares said the mixed races have helped test her form ahead of Denmark. "I really enjoyed that, it was hard and intense and they weren't given me anything. That's what we need,” she said. "11.3 seconds for the sprint and 11.5 seconds for the keirin is the sort of level we need to get at regularly.

"Australia is too far from the other countries so we need to think outside the box to find ways to challenge ourselves,” she added. “So by the time we get to international competition we've got it sorted,” added Meares.

Meares skipped the Australian Track Championships in Adelaide, South Australia in early February. Blood work taken before Beijing had shown Meares was suffering from fatigue after a heavy training block, so she opted to skip the national titles event to aid her recovery.