Clyde’s Nicole Shields was named in the 16-strong New Zealand track and road cycling team to heading to the Paris Olympic Games on Wednesday.

The former Clyde School student is part of the women’s endurance quartet of Bryony Botha, Ally Wollaston and Emily Shearman. 

They are the top ranked women’s team pursuit, second on Olympic rankings in the two-rider madison and third in the omnium.

The team also set a new national record in the team pursuit this year.

Dunstan Arm Rowing Club coach Simon Smith used to coach Nicole as a younger athlete.

“It’s phenomenal she’s off to Paris and in the kiwi Olympic team,” he said. 

Cycling New Zealand high performance director Ryan Hollows said his organisation was excited with the group to represent us on the track and road at the Paris games.

“The women’s endurance track group has been developing splendidly since Tokyo and is probably the deepest in terms of talent that we have ever produced. Coach Paul Manning has allowed this group to take the lead on how they operate, and they have formed a closely-knit and hard-working combination.

“[We] believe this is amongst our strongest track and road teams and, accordingly, the depth of talent has [made it] a challenging job for our selectors. 

“While we congratulate our selected riders, we also want to acknowledge the world-class talent that we just could not fit into our tight quotas.”

Nicole initially focussed on road cycling, before being included in a training group in Southland Velodrome, that led winning medals in the team pursuit at the junior world championships in 2016 (Aigle, Switzerland and 2017 Montichiari, Italy).

She gained experience in the professional road scene, racing for DNA Road Cycling from 2020-22, but returned to the national programme with success in the team pursuit in the Nations Cup in 2024.

Wānaka’s Ellesse Andrews heads to her second Olympics. She is the world champion in the keirin, and currently second on Olympic rankings and fourth in individual sprint. 

In July and August 2024, New Zealand will take on the world at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

About 180 New Zealand Team athletes will compete at the games, with Paris set to host 10,500 athletes from 206 nations.

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