Leuta Qualifies For World Finals

(MENAFN- The Post) Home favourite Khothalang Leuta booked her spot at the 2024 UCI Pump Track World Championships later in the year after racing to glory at last Saturday's global qualifiers at the Sepheo pump-track in Motimposo.

The Sepheo qualifier was part of a series of 15 events that will be hosted around the world by the International Cycling Union (UCI) until September and will culminate in a World Championship final featuring the planet's best pump track racers.

Qualifier dates:
20 April – Genk, Belgium
27 April – Sepheo, Lesotho
4 May – Aigle, Switzerland
26 May – Ainsa, Spain
8 June – Sugarland, Texas, USA
15 June – Košice, Slovakia
14 July – Oktrovice, Czechia
27 July – Yantai, China
10 August – Hvidovre (Copenhagen) Denmark
24 August – Dungog, Australia
31 August – Havelock North, New Zealand
7 September – Sicamous (BC), Canada
14 September – Monthey, Switzerland
16 September – Suizhou, China
21 September – Erlangen, Germany

Leuta was sensational as she sealed her spot with a time of 19:59 minutes in the women's race to pip countrywomen Katleho Ralenono (19:62), 'Mampoka Popane (23:42) and Kabelo Mpharoane (31:51) to a place at the world finals

Leuta's performance means she will return for her second appearance after she competed at the championships in 2021 in Lisbon, Portugal and she will enjoy an all-expenses paid trip from UCI sponsors Velosolutions to represent Lesotho against the best riders in pump track around the globe.

The host of this year's UCI Pump Track World Championships is yet to be announced but Leuta is already looking forward to her trip.

Speaking to thepost after her win, Leuta said she is delighted to return to the World Championships and she will be more prepared than last time.

“I did not do well in 2021 but this year I'm willing to do better, I want be a champion or at least be in the top four,” she said

She pleaded with companies for sponsorship because cycling is an expensive sport with seemingly endless list of equipment to acquire

Without help,“It can take a toll on our families,” she said.

Despite the challenges, Leuta has become the country's elite woman in the discipline of pump track racing, which continues to go from strength to strength globally.

The bike sport, which sees riders compete through obstacles on a tight asphalt track, is now in the sixth year of organised competition spearheaded by the UCI Pump Track World Championships which were first held in 2018.

Lesotho didn't have the same joy in the men's qualifying race as Chile's Sebastian Mendez took first place in a time of 17:09 minutes to qualify for the world finals.

Mendez was followed by Doran Mathewson from South Africa who clocked 17:71 while two local riders, Pusetso Lekau and Khotso Mosala, suffered heartbreak despite completing their laps in fast times of 18:06 and 18:11 respectively

Unless, Lekau, Mosala and Kopano Makhetha, who also had hopes of qualifying, can find a way to make it to another of the global qualifiers, their dreams of competing at the world finals have been dashed for this year.

One of the organisers of the Sepheo qualifier, Tumelo Makhetha, said the event was special because it attracted riders from outside the continent. Makhetha said in the previous years the Lesotho qualifier has had only riders from South Africa and to have some competitors come from as far as South America is a big achievement.

Makhetha sang Leuta's praises as well.“The competition was high this year and we are looking forward to seeing how she will do in the World Championships,” he said.

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