Former world BMX and track cycling world champion Jamie Staff (GB) is on excellent
form ahead of the UCI World Track Cycling Championships in Manchester –
26th to 30th March.

Jamie Staff

The track sprinter from Ashford in Kent has come along way since he won the
BMX world title in 1996 but the 34-year-old believes he is producing some of
his best form ever on the track this season.

“I didn’t know how to train in my early years,” explained
Staff: “There wasn’t a BMX coach years ago so you had to educate
yourself and that took years of experimentation. It was very much trial and
error. It is a little frustrating in some way that I was probably 28-years-old
before I had a really structured training programme. My results have been a
lot more consistent since then.”

“This year is probably one of the most structured years I have had,”
continued Staff: “I have been super dedicated. That young talent is creeping
through and I am trying to keep the lid shut until after the Olympics in Beijing.”

Staff has helped the GB team to win two gold medals in the three-man team sprint
event in Copenhagen in 2002 and Los Angeles in 2005. He won bronze in the team
sprint in Palma at last year’s championships but only thousandths of a
second separated the Kent man from winning another rainbow jersey. Staff has
also won gold in the tough Keirin event in Melbourne in 2004.

Staff is under no illusions that it will be tough to get a place in a British
spot for the team sprint. Young British sprinter Jason Kenny will be just 20-years-old
when the Manchester World Championships start in March but the multiple European
and World Championships junior gold medallist raised more eyebrows when he recorded
10.1 seconds in sprint competition last month. He is one of seven sprinters
in contention for team places in the explosive team sprint event.

“Jason is a great young kid and super talented,” said Staff: “He
has got a really bright future. We have good strength in depth in the team now.”

“I would like to ride in the Kilo time trial in Manchester but there
has been no decision yet. I expect to be in the team sprint in the Copenhagen
World Cup in February and I hope that puts me in the driving seat for a team
spot in Manchester. I am feeling confident because I am still doing personal
bests at the age of 34 at the gym and on the track so from that I have got to
remain pretty positive.”

Staff has been impressed with the Dutch team sprinters this season: “The
Dutch team pulled something out of the bag at the World Cup in Beijing,”
said Staff: “I didn’t expect them to win. They didn’t have
a particularly fast first man but third man Theun Mulder has definitely improved
a lot. They have lost races on the last man when they had been winning after
two laps. The French and Australians are up there too. Both countries have got
trade teams too and there are a lot of riders gaining experience in those camps
and we won’t really know which riders are going to be picked until we
get to Manchester. If everything goes to plan I think Britain can win the gold
medal.”

Website – www.worldtrackcycling.com