Team Perko - Shane Perkins - World Champhion Track Cyclist

Shane speaks to Brig and Lehmo

smg — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 07:18:15 +0000

The interest from the media is heating up leading up to the Olympics and already Shane is in high demand.

Shane was recently interviewed by Brig and Lehmo from Gold 104.3

Have a listen to the link below for the whole interview.

Melbourne was special, but all eyes are on London

perko — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 03:16:25 +0000

After a year of build up, the Melbourne Track World Championships have come and gone, and it offered up a world title for me personally in the team sprint, and some terrific learning experiences in the Keirin and the Sprint.

I think we can’t lose site of the Olympics being the main goal. Obviously, I wanted to win a world title on home soil and that was fantastic.

My preparation for Melbourne was a little bit different with the new event for me, the Team Sprint, so it was always going to be a bit of a challenge.

In the Team Sprint we had to fight to the very end, winning by a fraction of a second. But to come away with a gold medal with the boys — Matthew Glaetzer and Scott Sunderland — was absolutely amazing and to be able to share that with them was incredible. It’s also huge because it’s only the second time in history Australia has won it.

The Sprint saw me do a 9.9 in the flying 200m which was close to a personal best. That said, running fourth and missing out on a medal hurts but we raced well, the legs were there and things are looking up for London in terms of the Sprint.

So what about the Keirin I here you ask. Being the reigning World Champ I obviously wanted to defend it but things didn’t really go as planned. I just didn’t have the legs on the last day after a couple of days in the sprints.

We’re definitely going to be doing some things differently in the lead up to the Olympics to counter that.

Ultimately Melbourne has been a great opportunity for us to assess where we’re at and what strengths and weaknesses we have, and the same goes for our opponents.

You can see guys coming in who are really hot, obviously Frenchman Gregory Bauge was. He was too strong for me in the semi-final, so you’d expect in the lead up to the Olympics he might be around the same form or slightly better whereas a couple of the guys have improvement in them.

My goal remains to win an Olympic gold medal. You’ve got milestones along the way and Melbourne was a big one. To walk away with a world title given the week that had — which has included getting hit by a car — it’s all positive.

The World Champs were special, especially from a team perspective. Having the event in Melbourne in an Olympic year and seeing all the medals and records that were broken is awesome. To think that we’re right up there at the forefront of the sport is something to be very proud of and to be excited about.

Bring on London!

Perko Feature

perko — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 10:09:05 +0000

Make sure you Click Here to view the special on Perko that appeared on SBS Cycling Central. It’s sure to give you goose bumps!

Perko celebrates his Team Sprint win with his kids

perko — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 02:04:17 +0000

Check out a couple of photos of Perko as he celebrates his Team Sprint World Championship win with his kids!

Hungry Beast feature from 2011

perko — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 22:54:34 +0000

Just in case you missed it last year check out this special that appeared on the ABC’s Hungry Beast program last year. See what it takes to become a World Champion. Click here to see the video.

Next Stop London

perko — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 22:18:52 +0000

The UCI Track Cycling World Championships came to a close last night in Melbourne. Although Perko was unable to defend his Keirin World Championship title he still walked away from the event as a World Champion in the Team Sprint and showed he will be a force to be reckoned with in London after finishing 4th in the Individual Sprint. Perko will now turn his focus to training hard over the next 4 months to prepare for the biggest moment of his career as he goes for gold in London.

Finished 4th in the Sprint

perko — Sat, 07 Apr 2012 13:54:44 +0000

Perko gave it everything tonight but finished just outside the medals. A strong showing and great signs for things to come at the Olympic Games in London where Perko hopes to go for gold. Perko now turns his focus to defending his World Championship Keirin title on Sunday.

Through to Sprint Semi Finals!

perko — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 14:16:20 +0000

Perko goes through to the men’s Semi’s against Bauge (FRA) after Brougain (FRA) was DQ’d in the 3rd heat of the Quarter Finals!

Perko is back in action tomorrow night.

The Age – Front Page!

perko — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 05:29:38 +0000

Woke up to see the front page of The Age with my beautiful son! What a moment to share with him and a great memory to keep for life!

It’s one of those moments in life that you cherish and to share it with my son and daughter is beautiful. A Dream!

World Champion!

perko — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 13:09:06 +0000

Australia caused a huge upset by beating France to the men’s team sprint gold, the host nation’s first world title in the event since 1996. Click here to see the race.

The Australian team of Shane Perkins, Scott Sunderland and former pole vaulter Matthew Glaetzer edged ahead of France with Glaetzer making the slightest of gains against Michael D’Almeida on the final lap to clock a time of 43.266, a win by just 0.001.

Perkins celebrated by doing several laps of the track with his son, Aidan.

“All of us cut a tenth [of a second] off our time from qualifying!”he said.

“Then Matty [Glaetzer] with his last lap brought it home for us. It’s fantastic. It just worked really well as a team.

“I’ve definitely got to be happy with that. Especially the home crowd, a lot of pressure, home championships – and with the kind of week I’ve had,” Perkins added, having been clipped by a car while training on the road last Sunday.

“I couldn’t ask for anything better.”

More to come!