Australia on track

An early reading of the results coming out of the World Track CyclingChampionships in Poland will surely give the Australian track cyclingfraternity some cause for optimism.

An early reading of the results coming out of the World Track Cycling Championships in Poland will surely give the Australian track cycling fraternity some cause for optimism.

Ok, forget cautious optimism for a moment, it's high fives all around for everyone.

Sure it was an unexpected performance after a less than stellar Beijing Olympics but maybe that was an aberration and we are back on track to posting a great result in London 2012.

Lets face it, we've became accustomed to an assembly line of champions coming out of the track cycling program.

However, it's clearly not that easy to produce riders who can win the big ones year in year out - something the British have found out at this event.

And Cycling Australia's performance director Shayne Bannan is probably right to urge caution in interpreting these results.

"Overall there is still a lot of work to do and we're not getting carried away because we realise that to be competitive in London we really need to progress each year so that's the aim," he said.

"Certainly I didn't expect it (medal haul) and we, like a few of the other top nations, are concentrating on development and the emerging athlete as we lead into London.

Indeed, most of the top nations are in rebuild mode and two of our medals were in an event that does not have Olympic status, the Omnium.

Of course as Australians we all love seeing the British taken down a peg or two, especially after their recent domination on the boards.

This result appears to have come as a bit of a shock to Bannan's British counterpart Dave Brailsford.

"We knew we wouldn't see in Poland what we saw in Manchester last year or Palma two years ago," said Brailsford, referring to the last two world championships, which yielded nine and seven gold medals.

"Don't get me wrong, it hurts not to win. But it's great for us: it puts our feet back on the ground and reminds us we have to get back to work. Losing is not a nice feeling, it makes you uneasy, but that's when you come out fighting."

For Brailsford, world championships week was a long one as he watched Australia come out on top and a host of other nations claim the medals - some like Malaysia, for the very first time.

Obviously The competition and pressure to stay ahead is increasing as the sport becomes more global.

Sporting success is usually a cyclical thing and as these world championships have shown Australia well equipped with another group of high quality performers at the right time in the cycle.

Coming out on top in Poland shows that we're back on track.