Double Olympic gold medallist Ellesse Andrews is in Invercargill this week for the New Zealand track cycling championships, displaying the speed which lit up the Paris velodrome.
Andrews, who was the last baby born in New Zealand in the last millennium, at 11.45pm on December 31, 1999, in Christchurch, said that life since the Olympics had been ‘really busy but really great in a positive way".
"I’ve enjoyed some time off post games, which was really nice just having a bit of a refresh," she said.
"I came down south, into Wānaka and enjoyed a bit of skiing and outdoors and just some different activities that I don’t get to do all the time."
The last time the double Olympian had been to the Invercargill velodrome was in 2021 when she competed despite nursing an injury.
Returning to the national championships this week after making her debut as a 17-year-old triggered fond memories.
"I’d only been riding for a few months and I was riding for Southland at that time because I grew up in Wānaka, so those were my first nationals."
She had already won two titles before yesterday at the track in Invercargill, winning the sprint on Monday and the keirin on Tuesday.
Cracking the women’s elite 1000m record as she had hoped did not happen last night, Andrews crossing the line in 1min4.89sec, but as the double-Olympian has said "there’s always room for improvement".
Giving her best in her individual performance in the nationals was "just as important" as competing in the Olympics.
"It’s really important to just think about the process and what I can control," she said.
New Zealand’s cycling golden girl plans to "reset, rebuild and look at things from a different angle" this year.
"That’s the really positive thing about a post-Games year, is you can really step back and look at things from a different lens which is really important to make gains in all the areas that I know that I have room to improve."
Despite being a multi-medal winner and world record holder she still believed she had work to do.
"No-one is ever perfect and I think that’s really important to acknowledge.
"We’ve all got things we’re always going to be working on continuously so, it’s really cool to step back and acknowledge that."
Andrews is working towards the world track cycling championships, which take place in Argentina in October.
