Courtney Field Interview Oceania Track Championships
	October 3rd 2014           At 17 Courtney Field's career is only stating. A first year junior (under 19) Field did what few first years and only one Australian before her had ever done. Won the sprint at the UCI Junior Track World Championships in Korea. In 2014 Field won three gold (sprint, keirin and 500m TT) at the National Championships in January. Gold and a rainbow jersey in the sprint and silver in keirin and 500m TT at the World Championships in August. Now her attention has turned to the Oceania Championships. Before racing starts Field discussed her experience at the World Champions and her hopes at Oceania Championships. PeotonWatch: It was a close finish in the sprint gold medal decider. When you saw your name come up as the winner what did it feel like? Courtney Field: It was so close and it was such a weight lifted off my shoulders and it is one of the most exciting moments of my life so far and I know that I will always remember it. It was the race that I had always dreamed of winning and had spent years training for and months studying riders that I needed to race. The race was also very special to me because I never thought after my Flying 200 (qualifying 6th) I could make it this far, especially since the Russian that got silver to me and had beaten me in the 500 TT had got very close to the world record with a time of 11.1. Just makes it even more special. PW: After winning the sprint. On the podium we saw the emotion. The tears in your eyes. Pulling on the rainbow jersey. Is this when it really sunk in? CF: After the race the feeling of the win sunk in, but when you get on the podium and they start playing the Australian National Anthem then you really feel it. It was the best feeling knowing that you could do it for your country and everything I had been through in the past year had really been worth it to win this. PW: You are only the second Australian to win the junior women's sprint and the first in 16 years. Did this make it more special? CF: It is a really great feeling, it makes it feel that little bit more special because it hasn’t been done that often. PW: As well as the sprint gold you claimed silver in the 500m TT and keirin. What did it feel like coming home with three medals as a first year under 19? CF: Placing in every individual event was the best thing, when you think about it, I am just sort of shocked sometimes and think to myself wow I really did that! It’s just such an amazing feeling knowing that you have worked so hard for so long and it finally payed off! It also gives me things that I need to work on for the 2015 world championships in Kazakhstan if I get selected. PW: You spent a week with the senior sprint team in Adelaide earlier in the year how important was this? CF: Yes I did. It was the second best experience iv had (second to worlds) I went over this year just to meet everyone and see what it will be like if I ever got moved into the High Performance Unit in Adelaide in the future to turn my hobby into my actual job! It was possibly the best thing ever. It just made me love my cycling even more and I loved every second of it there even though I was training really hard and exhausted at the end of each day. The support staff, coaches and technology are amazing, I just tried to take in everything I could. It also taught me a lot of skills, physical and mental that I ended up using when I went to worlds. It was a great week. PW: What has your preparation for Oceania Championships been like? CF: My preparation has been okay, only not that great because of the short time period I had left to train for a huge event like this. After worlds I had 3 weeks off and it left me only 4 and a half weeks left to train for this. I also got a new coach and he is fantastic. Oceania's is an event that I really wanted to do well at but with such a short time space for training it is making it hard to train for every event (team sprint, 500 TT, keirin and most of all sprint). Coming back from worlds makes it a hard turn over but I’m going to give it my best shot and also just hope that the weather is nice and warm! PW: Oceania's will be your first opportunity to show off the rainbow jersey you must be excited? CF: YES! I am so excited!!! It is such exciting thing! My skin suit is waiting for me over in Adelaide, so I haven’t actually seen it yet, let alone tried it on. It will be the best feeling when you first put it on and the biggest confidence booster. Even getting my nails done to match! But also with that skin suit comes a lot of pressure to perform but it will be great, can’t wait to rock it in the flying 200 and the match sprints! Awesome that the race that I actually won you get to wear it for more than 1 or 2 rounds! PW: What is your favourite thing about track sprinting? CF: My favourite thing is that you don't have to be the fastest person out on the track or in the field, you just need to be the smartest and that's what made me win at the world championships this year. One of the other things that I love is how many different people you get to race and its just one on one and you can have so many tactics and learn so many things from just one person. As well as the speed of it, only if I could go as fast by myself as I do behind the motorbike haha! You can read more on Courtney's World Championship success in a blog she did here.