Sarah Elizabeth Ulmer (born 14 March 1976) is a New Zealand former competitive cyclist. She is the first New Zealander to win an Olympic cycling gold medal, which she won in the 3km individual pursuit at the 2004 Athens Olympics setting a world record. After the 2004 Olympics, she held the Olympic, Commonwealth and World Championship Pursuit titles, and the records for those events.

Biography

Ulmer was born in

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

, where she studied at the Diocesan School for Girls. Her grandfather Ron Ulmer was a track cyclist for New Zealand at the 1938 British Empire Games. Her father Gary was a national road and track champion.

Individual pursuit races

In 1994, she won the World Junior Championship and placed second at the 1994 Commonwealth Games in Canada with a time of 3 minutes 51 seconds. At the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, she was seventh after qualifying 6th with 3m 43s. At the 1998 Commonwealth Games in

Kuala Lumpur Kuala Lumpur (KL), officially the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, is the capital city and a Federal Territories of Malaysia, federal territory of Malaysia. It is the largest city in the country, covering an area of with a census population ...

, she won the gold medal with 3m 41.7s."1998 Commonwealth Games Track Competition Malaysia, Women's 3000m Pursuit"
16–19 September 1998 cyclingnews.com At the 2000 Sydney Olympics, she qualified 4th with 3m 36.8s and came 4th after losing the ride off for third by 0.08 of a second. At the 2002 Manchester Commonwealth Games, she won the gold and set a games record of 3m 32.4s."Manchester 2002 Commonwealth Games Women's 3000m Individual Pursuit, Ulmer breaks Games record to win IP"
Gerry McManus, cyclingnews.com 2 August 2002 In May 2004, she won the

World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

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and set a world record of 3m 30.6s in qualifying."World Track Championships 2004 Melbourne Australia, Women's 3000m Individual Pursuit qualifying, Ulmer takes world record"
cyclingnews.com 27 May 2004 At the Athens 2004 Olympics she broke the world record in qualifying with 3m 26.4s and took almost two seconds off that time to win the gold in the final with 3m 24.5s. Ulmer reduced the world record by six seconds. The silver and bronze medalists, Katie Mactier from

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

and Leontien Ziljaard-van Moorsel from the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

, also went under the previous world record (3m 30.6s) in each of their three rides. They rode faster with each ride and rode 3m 27.6s and 3m 27.0s respectively in the finals. In May 2010 at Aguascalientes, Mexico at an altitude of , American Sarah Hammer broke Ulmer's world record with a time of 3m 22.269s. As of September 2014 nine current world cycling records for distances of 4 km or less have been set at Aguascalientes. The current world championship record of 3m 27.268s was set by fellow New Zealander, Alison Shanks in Melbourne in 2012.

Other races

Ulmer did well in points races, winning a junior world championship and placing 3rd and 4th at senior world championships. She placed 2nd and 5th (twice) at Commonwealth Games. After the 2004 Olympics she switched to road racing. The Cycling Archives website includes results for her competing in road races in the US, France, Australia, Belgium and Germany from 1999 to 2006.Sarah Ulmer profile
cyclingarchives.com

Other information

Ulmer trained at the velodrome in Te Awamutu. Her home town is

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

. Ulmer has two daughters. In the 2005 New Year Honours, Ulmer was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to cycling. Ulmer announced her retirement from cycling on 24 November 2007. She attended the 2008 Olympics as a mentor. In 2011, Ulmer signed up as an 'ambassador' for the New Zealand Cycle Trail.

Palmarès

Source:An interview with Sarah Ulmer
cyclingnews.com. 2003 All pursuits are 3 km individual, apart from two 2 km junior pursuits. ;1993 :2nd Pursuit World Junior Championships (2km) ;1994 :1st Pursuit World Junior Championships (2km) :1st Points Race World Junior Championships :2nd Pursuit Commonwealth Games :5th Points Race Commonwealth Games ;1995 :1st Pursuit, National Championships :2nd Points Race, National Championships :3rd Sprint, National Championships :2nd Pursuit, Australia National Championships :1st Pursuit, Adelaide World Cup :3rd Points Race, Adelaide World Cup :1st Pursuit, Quito World Cup :1st Pursuit, Tokyo World Cup ;1996 :1st Pursuit, National Championships :2nd Points Race, National Championships :7th Pursuit Atlanta Olympics ;1998 :1st Pursuit Commonwealth Games :2nd Points Race Commonwealth Games :2nd Pursuit, National Championships :1st Points Race, National Championships ;1999 :3rd Points Race World Championships :6th Pursuit, World Championships :2nd Pursuit, Texas World Cup :2nd Pursuit, Cali World Cup ;2000 :4th Pursuit Sydney Olympics :8th Points Race Sydney Olympics :1st Pursuit, Cali World Cup :2nd Pursuit, Turin World Cup ;2001 :1st Pursuit, Mexico City World Cup :1st National Criterium Championships :1st Stage 8 Tour de l'Aude Cycliste Féminin :1st Stage 8 Tour de Snowy ;2002 :1st Pursuit National Championships :1st Points Race National Championships :1st National Criterium Championships :1st Pursuit, Sydney World Cup :1st Scratch Race, Sydney World Cup :3rd Points Race, Sydney World Cup :1st Pursuit Commonwealth Games :5th Points Race Commonwealth Games"Manchester 2002 Commonwealth Games Women's Points Race"
cyclingnews.com 30 July 2002 ;2003 :4th Pursuit World Championships :1st Pursuit, Mexico World Cup :1st Pursuit, Sydney World Cup :3rd Points Race, Sydney World Cup :3rd Scratch Race, Sydney World Cup :1st Pursuit, National Championships :1st Points Race, National Championships :3rd 500m Time Trial, National Championships ;2004 :1st Pursuit World Championships :4th Points Race World Championships :1st Pursuit, Mexico World Cup :3rd Scratch Race, Mexico World Cup :1st Pursuit, Sydney World Cup :1st Stage 4 Geelong Tour :3rd Points Race, Sydney World Cup :1st Pursuit Olympic Games :6th Points Race Olympic Games ;2005 :1st National Road Race Championships :1st National Time Trial Championships :1st Road Race Oceania Games :1st Time Trial Oceania Games ;2006 :1st Overall Tour of New ZealandTour of New Zealand 2006
cqranking.com. 4 March 2006 ::1st Stage 1 & 4 :1st World Cup Road Race Wellington
womenscycling.net. 5 March 2006 : 6th Overall Geelong Tour ;2007 :3rd National Road Race Championships

Photo gallery

File:Ulmer0106_365.jpg, 2001 Women's Challenge circuit race File:Ulmer0206_177.jpg, 2002 Women's Challenge – time trial File:Ulmer0206 393.jpg, 2002 Women's Challenge – stage 7

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ulmer, Sarah 1976 births Living people New Zealand female cyclists Olympic cyclists for New Zealand Cyclists at the 1996 Summer Olympics Cyclists at the 2000 Summer Olympics Cyclists at the 2004 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for New Zealand Cyclists at the 1994 Commonwealth Games Cyclists at the 1998 Commonwealth Games Cyclists at the 2002 Commonwealth Games Cyclists at the 2006 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games gold medallists for New Zealand Commonwealth Games silver medallists for New Zealand Officers of the New Zealand Order of Merit Olympic gold medalists in cycling Cyclists from Auckland Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics UCI Track Cycling World Champions (women) Sportspeople from Cambridge, New Zealand Cyclists from Waikato New Zealand track cyclists 20th-century New Zealand people 21st-century New Zealand people Medallists at the 1994 Commonwealth Games Medallists at the 1998 Commonwealth Games Medallists at the 2002 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games silver medallists in cycling Commonwealth Games gold medallists in cycling