Peeling out at the start of the teams sprint event can cost you fractions of a second and, ultimately, it robbed Dunedin cyclist Katie Schofield of a potential Olympic berth.
Schofield and her team-mate Natasha Hansen had hoped to qualify for Olympic selection in the teams sprint event at the world championships in Melbourne earlier this month. But Schofield made an error out of the start blocks and it proved costly.
"I had my weight too far forward when I put pressure on my pedal to drive forward," Schofield said.
"My back wheel wasn't on the boards as much as it should have been to get some traction and I just skipped my wheel.
"The door has been shut for the team sprint but we are still waiting for the Olympic selections to come out. There is one spot available for an individual women's sprinter but they are likely to go with Tash [Natasha Hansen].
"It was disappointing but I kind of need to get over it. Now it is a case of going back to the drawing board."
The 28-year-old linked up with Hansen only about four months ago and the pair's Olympic bid was always going to be a challenge. Schofield made a good recovery after her slip, and Hansen scorched around the track in the second lap to help record a time of 34.278sec.
"It was actually our second-fastest time but we were hoping to go a lot faster than that.
"We had to be at least four places ahead of Venezuela [to meet selection criteria]."
The Venezuelan team finished 11th, fractionally slower than the New Zealanders.
While Schofield was bitterly disappointed to miss out, her resolve has been strengthened.
The pair had been targeting the 2016 Olympics and they plan to stick with the event.
"We are still such a young team and we've only been together for four months, really. I guess people weren't really expecting that we would almost qualify."
"But we want to be at the very top by 2016. London would have just been another stepping stone towards that."
In their short time together it was a mighty effort to reach the cusp of selection and a slip like Schofield's can happen to anyone.
"It is just one of those unfortunate things and it had to happen at the world champs. I guess a good way to look at it was I didn't hold back. I had real good timing out of the gate, so I've got to be pleased with that.
"You could ask yourself so many questions and what ifs and all of that, but it is done.
"I'm more determined than ever now."
