Alison Shanks (born 13 December 1982) is a retired New Zealand professional

racing cyclist Cycle sport is competitive physical activity using bicycles. There are several categories of bicycle racing including road bicycle racing, cyclo-cross, mountain bike racing, track cycling, BMX, and cycle speedway. Non-racing cyclin ...

, specialising in

individual pursuit The individual pursuit is a track cycling event where two cyclists begin the race from a stationary position on opposite sides of the track. It is held at over for men and for women. The riders start at the same time and set off to complete the ...

track cycling Track cycling is a bicycle racing sport usually held on specially built banked tracks or velodromes using purpose-designed track bicycles. History Track cycling has been around since at least 1870. When track cycling was in its infancy, it ...

and

individual time trial An individual time trial (ITT) is a road bicycle race in which cyclists race alone against the clock (in French: ''contre la montre'' – literally "against the watch", in Italian: ''tappa a cronometro'' " stopwatch stage"). There are also trac ...

road bicycle racing Road bicycle racing is the cycle sport discipline of road cycling, held primarily on paved roads. Road racing is the most popular professional form of bicycle racing, in terms of numbers of competitors, events and spectators. The two most common ...

. Prior to that she was an Otago Rebels netballer, the sport she played for more than five years before her cycling career.

Cycling career

Shanks began cycling in 2005, and soon enjoyed success. After more than five years competing for the Otago Rebels in the

National Bank Cup The National Bank Cup was the pre-eminent national netball competition in New Zealand between 1998 and 2007. From 2008, it was replaced by the ANZ Championship. Format In the rounds, each team played every other team once, then the top four teams ...

netball, she competed at the

2006 Commonwealth Games The 2006 Commonwealth Games, officially the XVIII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Melbourne 2006 ( Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm 2006'' or ''Naarm 2006''), was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth held ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a me ...

where she finished fourth in the pursuit. She placed eighth in the pursuit during her first appearance at the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

in 2006, and improved on this to finish seventh in

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto ...

. Shanks competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics in the

Individual Pursuit The individual pursuit is a track cycling event where two cyclists begin the race from a stationary position on opposite sides of the track. It is held at over for men and for women. The riders start at the same time and set off to complete the ...

, where she placed 4th overall after being defeated by Lesya Kalytovska of the

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian invas ...

in the bronze medal match. Prior to this, in defeating

Sarah Hammer Sarah (born Sarai) is a biblical matriarch and prophetess, a major figure in Abrahamic religions. While different Abrahamic faiths portray her differently, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all depict her character similarly, as that of a p ...

of the

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in her semifinal, she set a new personal best of 3:32.478 minutes. She began her 2009 season by competing in the 2008–2009 UCI Track Cycling World Cup Classics in Beijing, she lowered her personal best once more with a time of 3:30.685 to take the gold medal. Shanks also rode the team pursuit with

Kaytee Boyd Kaytee Boyd (born 8 February 1978) is a New Zealand track and road cyclist. Life Boyd was born in Hamilton, New Zealand in 1978. Her first sport was mountain biking. She was lured away from mountain biking to take up track cycling where she qu ...

and Lauren Ellis, in a time of 3:28.044, becoming the fastest qualifiers. They went on to take the gold medal in a time of 3:24.421, setting the second fastest time in the world behind the 3:22.425 world record set by

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

in 2008. Shanks then continued her great form by winning the 2009

UCI Track Cycling World Championships The UCI Track Cycling World Championships are the set of world championship events for the various disciplines and distances in track cycling. They are regulated by the Union Cycliste Internationale. Before 1900, they were administered by the UCI ...

Individual Pursuit in Pruskow,

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is divided into Voivodeships of Poland, sixteen voivodeships and is the fifth most populous member state of the European Union (EU), with over 38 mill ...

on 25 March in a time of 3:29.807 beating

Wendy Houvenaghel Wendy Louise Houvenaghel (née McLean; born 27 November 1974) is a Northern Irish former racing cyclist from Upperlands, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland, riding on both the road and track, but specialising in the latter. She has represente ...

. At the

2010 Commonwealth Games The 2010 Commonwealth Games (Hindi: 2010 राष्ट्रमण्डल खेल), officially known as the XIX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Delhi 2010, was an international multi-sport event that was held in Delhi, India, f ...

, Shanks won a gold medal for the Cycling Track 3000m Individual Pursuit Women. She just nudged out Wendy Houvenaghel of Northern Ireland with a time of 3:30.875. She is due to race in the Cycling Road 29 km Individual Time Trial Women on Wednesday 13 October. In 2012, she finished second at the individual pursuit at the Track Cycling World Cup in London. Then on 8 April 2012 Shanks won Gold in the Individual Pursuit at the

, Australia with a time of 3:30.199. At the 2012 Summer Olympics, she competed in the Women's team pursuit for the national team. Shanks retired from professional cycling early in 2014. She has since moved to

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge beca ...

Personal life

Born in

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...

, New Zealand, on 13 December 1982, Shanks graduated from the

University of Otago , image_name = University of Otago Registry Building2.jpg , image_size = , caption = University clock tower , motto = la, Sapere aude , mottoeng = Dare to be wise , established = 1869; 152 years ago , type = Public research collegiate u ...

in 2005 with a BCom(Hons) in marketing and a BSc in human nutrition.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Shanks, Alison 1982 births Living people New Zealand female cyclists Cyclists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Cyclists at the 2012 Summer Olympics Olympic cyclists of New Zealand University of Otago alumni UCI Track Cycling World Champions (women) Cyclists at the 2010 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games gold medallists for New Zealand Sportspeople from Dunedin Commonwealth Games medallists in cycling New Zealand track cyclists Otago Rebels players Medallists at the 2010 Commonwealth Games