The Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) will once again conduct the Australian Olympic Youth Festival (AYOF) at the Dunc Gray Velodrome, Sydney 14 to 18 January 2009.

Over 1800 athletes from over 20 countries will participate in the 22 sports on the Festival program. Again the Australian cycling team will compete against strong international competition from Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand and Chinese Taipei. The USA are also considering sending a team to compete.

Australian Team

For the 2009 Festival the AOC have limited the Australian team to only 20 cyclists. This is a significant decrease from past Festivals. As a result of this and reflecting the AOC’s desire to increase the status of this event on the international stage, Cycling Australia’s National Track Selectors will determine the team to represent Australia at the 2009 AYOF. Selection in the

Australian team will be based on the following criteria:

• 2008 World Junior Track Championship representatives who are still eligible to compete as U19 in 2009 will be automatic selections

• Results from the 2008 Australian U19 & U17 Track Championships

Additionally, the AYOF will now be included in the World Junior Track Championships selection criteria. Should a rider win an event and equal or better the qualifying time for that event as per the 2009 National Junior Selection Criteria they will be an automatic selection into the national junior squad.

It is anticipated the team will be announced in early October.

Also different from past years, as this will be a selected Australian team, cyclists will be issued with an Australian skinsuit for this competition.

The Organising Committee understands the importance of riders continued preparation for the Australian Track Championships, therefore this event will be used as a camp under the direction of National Junior Director, Gary Sutton, in the lead up to the Championships in consultation with State/personal coaches.

AYOF Competition Program

The competition program has been revised and the significant changes are the withdrawal of the criterium events on the final day and the introduction of a men’s team pursuit. Therefore competition will only be on the track from Thursday 15 to Saturday 17 January. Following are the events on the program: