Ally Wollaston cycles alongside Poland's Daria Pikulik, left, towards the finish line in the women's omnium points race. Photo: AFP/EMMANUEL DUNAND
Cyclist Ally Wollaston has come from behind to win a bronze medal in the women's omnium - the last race of the Paris Olympics.
Her win came just hours after fellow cyclist Ellesse Andrews bagged the gold in the women's team sprints - her second gold and third medal of the Games.
Wollaston, who already held a silver from the women's team pursuit earlier in the week, finished fifth in the scratch race - the first of the omnium's four races.
However, a lacklustre performance in the tempo and elimination races saw her drop to seventh.
During the points race - the final race of the night - she briefly dropped again, to eighth, after being lapped.
However, she fought back and onto the podium, lapping the field twice to rack up an extra 40 points, then holding on for dear life over the last 10 laps of the 20km race.
She finished in third, behind Jennifer Valente of the United States and Daria Pikulik of Poland.
Valente had 144 points, Pikulik 131 and Wollaston 125.
Afterward, Wollaston said she was proud of how she managed to turn the race around after a less-than-ideal start.
Ally Wollaston with her bronze medal. Photo: AFP/EMMANUEL DUNAND
"If you want to win the omnium, the key is consistency and I was lacking that today. I had a good start in the scratch race, I was in the mix, and then it kind of went downhill from that," she said.
"I went into today racing for gold and straight away your goals change as the omnium goes on.
"I was really happy with how I managed to turn it around for the points race. It wasn't going my way, but to reflect, reset, have a really clear plan going into the points race was the key for me and I'm really proud of how I executed it."
She said she felt she was "lacking a bit of presence" during the tempo race, and was not quite "alert and assertive enough".
"Maybe that was a lack of confidence or having a race plan that was too rigid and wasn't quite flowing with the race. And then I kind of carried that feeling into the elimination.
"I had a bit of a reset after the elimination and my coach said 'it's not over, it's very far from being over and you can win a lot of points in the points race'. So yeah, I had to know I had the power in my legs and just be really smart with the way that I raced."
She said she knew she needed to steal two laps to get onto the podium - and she knew there were maybe three or four other riders looking to do the same thing.
"I needed to get one-up on them as well. It was a big ask, but at the end of the day I had nothing to lose. I didn't want to finish in seventh place, so any result I got higher than that would have been better than where I started."
Wollaston said she felt like she had a gold medal, instead of a bronze, around her neck, as she had exceeded all of her expectations.
"To be a part of New Zealand's best campaign on the track is amazing, and it was New Zealand's first medal in the women's omnium, so I'm really proud of that. I'm so proud to be part of this wider team."
New Zealand had its strongest-ever performance at an Olympic velodrome, finishing second on the medal table in the cycling with five medals - just behind the Netherlands, which also had five but secured three golds.
