THE Namibia Cycling Federation has selected a strong women's team to compete at the Africa Cycling Championships in Accra, Ghana next week, where international ranking points and qualification for next year's Paris Olympic Games will be up for grabs.
After last weekend's Nedbank National Championships a four-member women's team was selected, consisting of Vera Looser, Melissa Hinz, Courtney Liebenberg and Anri Krugel, and NCF president Axel Theissen explained why they opted to send a women's team.
"The reason why we chose an all ladies team to represent Namibia at the moment is because we believe that they have a much better chance of qualifying for the 2024 Paris Olympics than our men. The Africa Road Race Championship is one of the biggest qualifying events for the Paris Olympics, and now we have a women's team of four cyclists, who can support each other, and make sure that our top rider can finish amongst the leaders," he said.
"Furthermore, most of our top men are unavailable at the moment - Alex Miller is riding professionally in South Africa, Tristan de Lange has retired from international racing and Drikus Coetzee said that he won't be available for the African Champs, so we decided to send a women's team, and we think they have a very good chance of qualifying," he added.
"Personally I think it's just right to do so, because at the Commonwealth Games last year we had a team representing five men and one woman in Vera Looser and we saw if we only have her on the starting grid then she cannot compete against other nations which have four or five riders because it's all about team dynamics and so on," he said.
According to team coach Hans du Toit there are two qualification avenues for the 2024 Olympics through country ranking or performances at the African Championship.
"The top 45 ranked countries in the world will qualify for the Olympics, with the top five women's performances contributing towards a country's total. Then the first two countries over the line at the African Championship Road Race will also qualify for Paris. South Africa is currently the top-ranked country in Africa in women's cycling and if they also finish amongst the top 45 in the world, which they definitely will, then the next two countries over the line in Accra will qualify, so basically we are chasing a podium spot in Ghana," he said.
Du Toit said that Namibia also had a good chance of qualifying via the top-45 route.
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"We definitely have a good chance to rank in the top 45. In 2019 we were ranked 47th and then we only had two women competing internationally so we have a much better chance now," he said.
"I'm very positive - we've got the strongest women's team we have ever had and they are all racing at a very high level. Our main goal is to qualify for the Olympics," he said.
Looser, who last weekend once again won the National Road Race title, has excelled in Africa and abroad over the past few years, despite mostly competing as a lone rider for Namibia at international competitions.
In 2016 she won two gold medals at the African Cycling Championships in both the road race and individual time trial; in 2021 she won two bronze medals at the ACC; and last year she finished fourth in the road race at the Commonwealth Games.
After once again winning the national road race title on Sunday, she said she was looking forward to competing as a team in Accra.
"I'm looking forward to it, I think we really have strong girls at the moment and its about time that we are sending a whole group of women, I'm tired of going it alone. I'm really excited that we will be a group and that we can race as a team there, I mean today we all raced our own race, but there it will be proper team work, so I'm looking forward to that."
The African Continental Championships start with the team time trial on Wednesday, 8 February; the individual time trial the next day; and the road race on Sunday, 12 February.
