Prior to the 2020 Elite and Under 19s National Track Championships, Bathurst cyclist Daniel Googe had never won a state individual medal, let alone a national level.
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But competing in the under 19s men's keirin event at the Anna Meares Velodrome in the Brisbane suburb of Chandler last week, Googe finished in third to claim his first ever individual medal at either a national or state level.
Understandably, he was thrilled with the result.
"When I went to the podium for the bronze, I was thinking this is a new feeling for myself. It felt awesome," Googe said on his bronze medal.
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"Getting up there for the keirin, especially with the big stack in there, it was a totally different feeling. I'm still thinking, did I actually win that?"
Googe finished behind NSW cyclist Danny Barber and South Australia's Maxwell Liebeknecht in second and third respectively.
And it wasn't the only medal he won, claiming a silver competing alongside fellow statesmen Barber and Daniel Samuel in the under 19s men's team sprint.
"I was starting to look at the splits and after the first couple of ones, they were doing very low first laps," he said on the team sprint final.
"I was thinking if we do this and win, that'll be awesome. Danny [Barber], as our second wheel, he has a massive top speed, getting gold in everything, so having him was just awesome but being able to sit on his wheel and being able to produce that time, that felt awesome.
"Being able to secure a spot in the final and then being able to get the silver, it was awesome."
Googe hasn't been able to compete in any major events during the coronavirus lockdown, so understandably he's still recovering from his big ride.
And the training leading into the national track championships were disrupted due to the change of dates.
"There were still a lot of confusing about whether it was going ahead and all that," he said.
"There were a couple of date changes, so there were a couple of times when I false tapered then I had to get back into training, really hard training. Once we knew it was happening, I tapered in, smashed it."
Googe was one of several Bathurst-based cyclists that competed at the 2020 Elite and Under 19s National Track Championships in Queensland, with Tyler Puzicha, Kalinda Robinson and David Nicholas all featuring and winner medals.
For a wrap on the performance of the other three Bathurst cyclists at the championships, turn to page 14.
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