The Clyde cyclist was part of a New Zealand team which caused an upset to win the 4000m women’s team pursuit during the third round of the UCI Cycling Track World Cup. Shields also won a silver in the madison.
The team pursuit squad, with an average age of just over 20, grabbed the gold medal after a brilliant burst gave it the lead for the first time three laps from the finish.
The team of Michaela Drummond, Emily Shearman, Shields and Ally Wollaston, who came in for Jessie Hodges, clocked 4min 19.653sec to win by 0.8sec over Belgium which is third on the World Cup standings.
The women’s pursuit team, who qualified fastest, produced an impressive performance to dominate Korea in the first round. The team was ahead by more than 3sec at the 2000m mark and was able to ease home over the final four laps to win in 4min 24.999sec by 2sec and book a place in the final.
The Alex Greenfield-coached team came up against a full-strength Belgium squad in the final, led by noted professional road rider Jolien D’Hoore, a former junior road champion and Olympic track medallist.
The Belgians, who had gone two seconds faster than New Zealand in their first round, put the heat on to open a 1sec lead at 1000m and stretched it to 1.3sec at the halfway mark. The youthful New Zealanders showed resilience, closing the gap to under a second at the 3000m mark, edging in front for the first time three laps from the finish.
The team scooted home under 1min 03sec for the final 1000m — the fastest km of the race — to win by nearly a second in 4min 19.653sec.
Shields then teamed up with Jesse Hodges, of Hamilton, to finish second behind Denmark in the madison.
The 30km event, which is scored like a points race but involves two riders, with one in play at all times via a hand-sling between them, has been added to next year's Olympic programme.
The New Zealand pair was sixth at the midway point.
Denmark won three of the opening six sprints.
The Kiwi duo showed strength to win the fourth-to-last sprint, place second in the penultimate sprint and then win the final double points dash to secure second placing.
Callum Saunders won gold in the keirin final while Campbell Stewart had a dominant win in the omnium.
The men's pursuit squad, which included Southland youngster Corbin Strong, earned the silver medal after it was caught just two laps from the finish by Germany in the final after leading throughout.
The men’s sprint team of Ethan Mitchell, Sam Webster and Eddie Dawkins finished fourth though it is experimenting with higher gearing.
Meanwhile in the first day of the Pioneer mountain bike race yesterday, Australians Brendon Johnston won the prologue around Moke Lake. Kate McIlroy and Amy Hollamby lead the women’s grade while Mark Williams and Kate Fluker lead the mixed grade.
