The 17-year-old University of Otago engineering student has added another couple of national titles to an increasingly eclectic collection of medals.
He smashed his personal best time in the 3000m individual pursuit to win the under-19 title at the national cycling championships in Invercargill recently.
He also won the points race on a countback from Southland’s Marshall Erwood, the same rider he beat in the final of individual pursuit.
The pair have a nice rivalry going. Erwood snapped up gold in the 1000m time trial and the scratch race, so he is another rider to watch.
But what makes Gardner’s effort so special is he is still very new to track racing.
He got his start on a mountain bike and is also an accomplished road cyclist — he won the New Zealand under-19 road race last year.
In December last year, he won the under-19 men’s omnium at the first round of the New Zealand track championships.
Have we mentioned he is nearly 2m tall and probably still growing?
That is a big frame to plonk on a bike and make it go fast, especially over hills. But he is making it work and he keeps getting faster.
He cut 8sec off his best time in the individual pursuit to record a time of 3min 18.1sec.
Not long after winning the final, he was back on the bike for the points race and showed off extraordinary fitness. He tried to snatch a lap up on the field late in the race and was about four cycle-lengths short. But the effort meant he won the last sprint, which was worth double points.
That left him level with Erwood on points, but he won the title courtesy of crossing the finish line first.
"It was my first track nationals, you could say.
"I’ve had success at the omnium nationals and that gave me a bit of confidence heading into this event," Gardner said.
"That was probably just my fifth time of actually doing [the individual pursuit] and I was just happy to put down a good time.
"I’m really green to all this track stuff.
Green, yes, but also good. Very good.
The performance in the individual pursuit should see him selected for the New Zealand team to contest the junior world championships in Colombia in August.
"I wouldn’t say I’ve made the transition from the road to track, but I’ve made the effort to explore what the racing is like. And I’m loving it so far. It has been so good."
The next event on his schedule is the Oceania championships in Brisbane later this month. He will complete in both track and road events.
But it is those junior world championships which remain the biggest focus this year.
