Arizona track cyclists head to nationals

Arizona track cyclists head to nationals

Todd WoodlanAugust 3, 2015

Some of Arizona’s fastest track cyclists will head to Los Angeles this week to attempt world records and bring home national championships at USA Cycling Elite and Juniors Track Nationals.

Dominic Suozzi, 18, and Kayla Hankins, 12, will look to defend their national titles from 2014. Gea Johnson, 47, a master’s world record holder and master’s national champion, hopes to post the fastest time of any elite woman in the 500-meter time trial.

Johnson recently broke her world record in the 500 meters in Colorado Springs, Colo. by posting 35.328, the fastest time of all U.S. elite women this year, she said.

A former Olympic bobsledder, international weightlifter and decathlete, Johnson is thankful to have the opportunity to compete, “especially at my age,” she said.

“I have no expectations other than to do my best and perform to the level of my capabilities,” Johnson said. “These are the best girls in the United States; I am humbled to to learn from the experience and to continue to develop my potential.”

Suozzi, who cleaned up in a number of events a year ago, will double up by competing both in his final year of juniors and in the elite category.

“Racing elites is a completely different experience than racing juniors,” he said. “You have men who are medalists at world cups and some of the best racers in the world and others who are just local-level racers, so it is fun to see who can compete against some of the best and it makes the elite field very diverse and can be surprising sometimes.”

Video by Cole Reece

The 12-year-old Hankins spent the better part of the past year recovering from a road nationals crash that left her jaw broken in three places. She took nine months off the bike to undergo surgeries and to recover, she said.

Hankins, who still managed to finish second at the state crit championship and third at Valley of the Sun this year, said her goals for nationals are to have fun, do well and get over the fear of crashing.

“I’m more afraid of regretting not going to the race than the race itself,” Hankins said. “I don’t want to look back at it in the future and wished that I should have done it and didn’t. Instead I want to overcome the fear by doing it; what better way would there be?”

Stay tuned to clippedin.bike and on Twitter @clippedin for live coverage of #TrackNats Aug. 3-8 from the Velo Sports Center in Los Angeles.

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