Kiwi pro Sam Gaze admits he had given up ever becoming a factor on the international mountain bike stage again, but has rekindled his hopes with World Cup short track victory at Albstadt, Germany.
The reigning Commonwealth Games champion counted nine-time world champion Nino Schurter and Olympic champion Tom Pidcock among his victims in his third career sprint win, following success at Nove Mesto, Czech Republic, and Mont-Saint-Anne, Canada in 2018.
Since winning the gold medal at the Gold Coast that same year, Gaze, 26, has struggled with injury and is currently working his way back from knee surgery last month.
"A lot of people had given up on me, a lot of people thought I was done, even myself," he said. "I thought I was done."
But starting on the back row last week, he progressed through the tightly bunched field to finally hit the front over the last of nine laps in an intense 20-minute contest.
Gaze clocked 21m 29s to hold off Frenchman Jordan Sarrou and Swiss Schurter, with Pidcock slipping to eighth over the closing stages. The result earnt him a spot on the front row for the Olympic distance event, where he faded to 41st, five minutes behind Pidcock and Shurter.
The Kiwi won an U23 world championship in 2017 and World Cup Olympic course event in 2018, but somewhat tainted his Commonwealth Games success with accusations of bad sportsmanship against NZ teammate Anton Cooper.
The pair were leading in the final stages, when Cooper surged, as Gaze was forced into a pitstop for a tyre puncture. Enraged, Gaze set off after Cooper and elbowed past him for victory, later apologising for his outburst.
"It's taken a long time to get back here and I've learnt a lot about myself," he said last week. "I'm not the same guy going out in 2018.
"We didn't know what to expect coming here, but I'd like to think those years of crawling back through the trenches has helped me persevere through this one. This latest setback... I had an instruction sheet how to get through these things.
"To be back at this level is great, but we're still building - we came here to take some steps before the big goals in August and to be in this position now is a bonus."
Gaze credits his Alpecin-Fenix pro team for supporting him through his struggles and retaining their faith in him.
"These guys believed in me and to give it back to them at this point is really special, but I'm not finished yet."
