Rising star Tayte Ryan wins maiden elite national title in 1000m time trial

Two-time junior 1000m time trial world champion and current junior world record holder Tayte Ryan has lived up to the hype of his entry into the elite ranks, winning his maiden elite national title in his pet event at the 2025 AusCycling Track National Championships.

The 19-year-old South Australian sailed away to a comfortable win at Anna Meares Velodrome in the final, winning by 1.643 seconds ahead of Finn Carpenter (WA) and 2.233 seconds to John Carter (WA).

Australia's young sprinting phenom had a clear runway to don his maiden national champion jersey with gold sleeves following the withdrawal of two-time defending champion Byron Davies (QLD) from TrackNats due to a back injury and three-time champion Thomas Cornish (NSW) electing to miss this week's racing after a busy 12 months.

Nonetheless, Ryan needed to deliver on the day and deliver he did via two one-minute flat rides in qualifying and the final in sub-par conditions for fast times brought about by the drizzly wet weather conditions in Brisbane.

"It's pretty cool, the kilo is always a special one for me," Ryan said.

"Being junior world champ, I want to come out and show everyone why I'm junior world champ.

"This has always been a target for me coming into this. I was really hoping for a podium but the way things panned out this week has meant it worked out being the top step, so it's a pretty nice feeling.

"I was really hoping for a 59 today, any day you can go sub-minute is a good one, but really gave it a crack, but today just wasn't the day for the sub.

"We got pretty close though so I can hold my head high with that ... 59 or not, it's still a dub."

The result is all the more impressive after two heavy days on the legs for Ryan during the sprint competition, which ended with the teenager winning an impressive silver medal behind fellow South Australian Leigh Hoffman.

"It was a big day yesterday, I didn't expect that to happen at all," Ryan said.

"I just had to try and back that up as best as I could coming into today but I feel that backing up is one of my strong suits."

Feature picture: Mackenzie Sweetnam