Pat Constable storms into contention for Aussie track cycling team at Rio Olympic Games

A FORMER surf life saver has emerged as a contender for Australia’s track cycling team for the Rio Olympics after finding form on the bike.

27/01/16 - Track cyclist Pat Constable, 20, is making a late charge at Rio and will race this week's national track titles in Adelaide. Pictured at the Adelaide Super-Drome in Gepps Cross. Photo Tom Huntley

A 20-YEAR-OLD former surf life saver has emerged as a contender for Australia’s track cycling team for the Rio Olympics after showing drastic improvements on the bike in the past year.

Adelaide sprinter Pat Constable is mounting a strong case to be selected for the world championships in London next month and possibly Rio in August after winning world cup gold in Hong Kong a fortnight ago.

With a spot in Australia’s three-man team sprint up for grabs, the 20-year-old gets his next chance to impress selectors when he lines up in the national track championships in Adelaide starting on Wednesday.

Powerfully built at 183cm and 95kg, Constable was only put on an AIS scholarship in October but he is already repaying coaches for their show of faith.

“Definitely in the past 12 months I’ve taken a big jump and it’s the faith they (coaches) put in you to get the results and keep improving,” Constable said.

“I’ve been in the senior ranks for a few years now and I was being coached by Jason Niblett at SASI and he put a lot of belief in me.

“And I guess it’s just built on that since I started training with the AIS (group).”

Constable was a surprise winner of the individual sprint in Hong Kong last month when he beat three-time Olympic gold medallist Jason Kenny from Great Britain in the semi-final and China’s Chao Xu in the final.

“It definitely came as a surprise but I don’t write myself off any time I race,” he said.

“I put it all on the line every race and eventually the outcome is there at the end.”

The former Sacred Heart College student grew up competing in surf life saving, athletics and playing football but was recruited to cycling in 2010 as part of the South Australian Sports Institute’s talent identification program.

This week he will line up in the team sprint alongside Matthew Glaezter and Jai Angsuthasawit for SA as well as racing the individual sprint at the Adelaide SuperDrome.

With Glaetzer and Nathan Hart the front-runners for Australia’s team sprint for the world titles, there is a spot still up for grabs but Constable isn’t looking further ahead than this week.

“I don’t know if you can think any further ahead at this time of year, you just take each meet at a time and keep putting your hand up,” he said.

“I just want to remain consistent over nationals and see how everything goes, you can’t really let the pressure get to you, you’ve just got to keep performing.

“Four years ago I didn’t think I would be ready for this Olympic cycle but I’m only young, if I’m good enough to get there that’s awesome but I’m sure I’ve still got another one in me.”

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Originally published as Pat Constable storms into contention for Aussie track cycling team at Rio Olympic Games