New Zealand track cyclist Aaron Gate will cap a remarkable comeback after crashing out at the Tokyo Olympics.
The 30-year-old will line up as one of four New Zealanders at the Track Cycling World Championships on Friday.
Gate broke his collarbone when he clipped a wheel in the team pursuit's bronze medal race in Tokyo, but he's now back on the bike following two surgeries.
The memories of the crash that derailed Gate's Olympics are still raw. But he's determined not to let a broken collarbone spoil the rest of his season.
"I did my biggest ever training week two weeks after the operation," Gate tells Newshub. "So I was back to being hungry to be motivated for the rest of the season."
And to end 2021, he'll switch back from the road to the track as part of a four-strong Kiwi contingent for this weekend's Track Cycling World Champs in France.
Gate already has his eyes fixed on making amends for his Tokyo blunder.
"It really sparked a strong desire to go back for redemption in Paris," he adds.
"I think I'm more motivated than I've ever been for another Olympics."
Partnering Gate in the madison and competing himself in the omnium is 20-year old Corbin Strong.
He too still feels the pain of falling so painfully short of an Olympic medal, three months ago. And the road since for him has not been easy.
"The build-up to an Olympics definitely takes its toll, and I was pretty burnt out," he says.
While this weekend's World Champs may be the start of redemption for Gate and Strong, for Ally Woollaston - it's personal. Overlooked for the Olympics, Wollaston has been riding on the road in Europe ever since.
She's out to prove she can form a core part of the women's endurance team on the track over the next few years.
"I think Paris will roll around a lot sooner than a lot of people think," Wollaston says.
"That's a really good opportunity for me to get out there on the world stage and show what I'm capable of."
World Championship medals are the perfect stepping stone for that.
