Friday, March 6, 2009

New Zealand Paralympian breaks world record in cycling

From TVNZ:

Wellington Paralympic cyclist, Paula Tesoriero (pictured) has succeeded in breaking the world record at the national track championships in Invercargill making her a double world record holder in less than six months.

Tesoriero, 33, had to break the time of 15.208 seconds to take the world record for her classification in the Flying 200m time trial and managed to finish in a time of 14.911.

"We've been working hard on sprint events since Beijing and I'm delighted to have broken the world record on New Zealand soil in front of a large crowd. I gave it everything, there's nothing left in the tank," said Tesoriero after the race.

"This is now the first world record broken on the ILT Velodrome. It's a wonderful feeling to cement yourself in New Zealand's history books. This is particularly special since the ILT Velodrome is where I've done more training than any other velodrome in the world.

The triple medalist from the 2008 Beijing Paralympics has plenty more plans for success throughout this year with some extensive traveling around the world in a bid for more top results.

Tesoriero, who won gold in world record time in the 500m time trial in Beijing is aiming for gold again in this event at the World Champs in September in Spain. Before that she will be competing at the BT Paralympic World Cup in Manchester in May as a warm up for the World Champs.