Kaarle McCulloch (born 20 January 1988) is an Australian former professional

track cyclist Track cycling is a bicycle racing sport usually held on specially built banked tracks or velodromes using purpose-designed track bicycles. History Track cycling has been around since at least 1870. When track cycling was in its infancy, it wa ...

and four time World Champion in the team sprint. She also won three golds at the

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the exce ...

and an Olympic bronze medal. She qualified for the

Tokyo 2020 Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the 1 ...

and rode in two events, the Women's Keirin where she came ninth, and the Women's Sprint where she came thirteenth.

Early years

McCulloch grew up in Gymea New South Wales. She was a promising middle-distance runner and won middle-distance championships in the 400 metres and 800 metres events when she was 14,15 and 16. When she was 17 her motivation in track and field waned and she turned to cycling to reinvigorate her Olympic dream. Her step-father Ken Bates introduced her to track cycling. She rose through the ranks quickly eventually competing at the UCI Junior Track World Championships. McCulloch honed her cycling skills at the St George Cycling Club where she was supported by her sporting family. Each of the McCulloch siblings pursued their own sporting dreams. Her younger sister, Abbey McCulloch, is a netball player. She captained

New South Wales Swifts New South Wales Swifts are an Australian netball team based in Sydney, New South Wales. Since 2017 they have represented Netball New South Wales in Suncorp Super Netball. Between 2008 and 2016, they played in the ANZ Championship. The team was ...

. Kaarle and Abbey both attended

Endeavour Sports High School Endeavour Sports High School (abbreviated as ESHS) is a government-funded co-educational comprehensive and specialist secondary day school, with speciality in sports, located in Caringbah, a southern suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australi ...

. Her younger brother Jack also rode for St George Cycling Club.

Achievements

McCulloch was part of the Australian sprint team that won bronze at the 2012 Summer Olympics. At the

2010 Commonwealth Games The 2010 Commonwealth Games (Hindi: 2010 राष्ट्रमण्डल खेल), officially known as the XIX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Delhi 2010, was an international multi-sport event that was held in Delhi, India, ...

she won a gold medal in the Team sprint and a silver medal in the 500m Time Trial. McCulloch took a break from cycling following the London Olympics due a knee injury, missing the 2014 Commonwealth Games. In 2016 she missed selection for the Rio Olympics due to a contentious decision to send former teammate Anna Meares. McCulloch returned for the 2018 Commonwealth Games winning Gold in the 500m Time Trial and Team Sprint and Silver in the Keiran and Bronze in the Sprint. She retired from competition in November 2021. She has a university degree in

Personal Development, Health and Physical Education PDHPE (''Personal Development, Health and Physical Education'') is a subject in the New South Wales school curriculum. It is a compulsory subject in the K-10 curriculum, and available as an elective in years 11 and 12 and for the HSC in year 12. ...

(PDHPE) teaching. In February 2022 she was appointed as Podium Women’s Sprint Coach for the

Great Britain Cycling Team British Cycling (formerly the British Cycling Federation) is the main national governing body for cycle sport in Great Britain. It administers most competitive cycling in Great Britain, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. It represents Bri ...

, replacing

Jan van Eijden Jan van Eijden (born 10 August 1976 in Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler, Rhineland-Palatinate) is a German track cyclist born in Bad Neuenahr. He is a double World Champion in sprint and team sprint. He also won one world cup classic and four German nat ...

, who left the role in November 2021.

Palmarès

;2006 :

Australian National Track Championships The Australian National Track Championships are held annually and are composed of competitions of various track cycling disciplines across various age, gender and disability categories. Men Senior Team Pursuit Team Sprint Madison Junior ...

– Juniors ::1st 500m Time Trial ::1st Sprint ::3rd Keirin :2nd Team Sprint,

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

– Elite :3rd Track World Championships,

Ghent Ghent ( nl, Gent ; french: Gand ; traditional English: Gaunt) is a city and a municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the East Flanders province, and the third largest in the country, exceeded i ...

– Juniors :Oceania Games ::3rd 500m Time Trial ::3rd Sprint, Oceania Games ;2007 :2nd Team Sprint,

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

::3rd 500m Time Trial ::2nd Team Sprint :Oceania Cycling Championships ::3rd Sprint ::1st Keirin ::1st Team Sprint :1st 500m Time Trial, European Championship :2nd Team Sprint,

Sydney ;2008 :3rd Team Sprint,

;2009 :1st Team Sprint (with Anna Meares), 2009–2010 UCI Track Cycling World Cup Classics,

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

:1st Team sprint,

2008–09 UCI Track Cycling World Ranking The 2008–09 UCI Track Cycling World Ranking is an overview of the UCI Track Cycling World Ranking, based upon the results in all UCI-sanctioned track cycling Track cycling is a bicycle racing sport usually held on specially built banked trac ...

;2010 :1st Team Sprint, Track World Championships :

::1st Team Sprint ::2nd 500m Time Trial ;2011 :1st Team Sprint (with Anna Meares), UCI Track World Championships ;2012 :3rd Team Sprint, Olympic Games :2nd Team Sprint (with Anna Meares), UCI Track World Championships ;2013 :2nd Sprint, Invercargill ;2014 :Oceania Track Championships ::1st OceaniaChampionJersey

Team Sprint (with Stephanie Morton) ::3rd Sprint ;2015 :Oceania Track Championships ::1st OceaniaChampionJersey

Sprint ::1st OceaniaChampionJersey

500m Time Trial :2nd Sprint, Super Drome Cup :Melbourne Cup on Wheels ::3rd Keirin ::3rd Sprint ;2016 : Oceania Track Championships ::1st OceaniaChampionJersey

Sprint ::1st OceaniaChampionJersey

500m time trial :ITS Melbourne DISC Grand Prix ::2nd Keirin ::3rd Sprint :3rd Sprint, ITS Melbourne Grand Prix ;2017 :Oceania Track Championships ::1st OceaniaChampionJersey

Team Sprint (with Stephanie Morton) ::2nd Sprint :2nd Team Sprint, UCI World Track Championships (with Stephanie Morton) :US Sprint GP ::2nd Keirin ::3rd Sprint :2nd Sprint, ITS Melbourne – DISC Grand Prix :ITS Melbourne – Hisense Grand Prix ::2nd Sprint ::2nd Keirin :Austral ::3rd Keirin ::3rd Sprint :3rd Keirin, Fastest Man on Wheels :3rd Sprint, Keirin Cup / Madison Cup ;2018 :

::1st Team Sprint (with Stephanie Morton) ::1st 500m Time Trial ::2nd Keirin ::3rd Sprint

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:McCulloch, Kaarle 1988 births Living people Australian female cyclists Sportswomen from New South Wales Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for Australia Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Australia Commonwealth Games silver medallists for Australia Cyclists at the 2010 Commonwealth Games UCI Track Cycling World Champions (women) Australian Institute of Sport cyclists Cyclists at the 2012 Summer Olympics Olympic cyclists of Australia Olympic medalists in cycling Olympic bronze medalists for Australia New South Wales Institute of Sport alumni Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics Cyclists from Sydney Commonwealth Games medallists in cycling People educated at Endeavour Sports High School Australian track cyclists Cyclists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Australian cycling coaches