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Personal information | |
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Full name | Alison Shanks |
Born |
Dunedin, New Zealand |
13 December 1982
Height | 1.71 m (5 ft 7 in) |
Weight | 63 kg (139 lb; 9.9 st) |
Team information | |
Discipline | Track & Road |
Role | Rider |
Rider type | Pursuit/Time-trial |
Professional team(s) | |
2007-2008 | Jazz Apple Cycling Team |
Medal record
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Alison Shanks (born 13 December 1982) is a retired New Zealand professional racing cyclist, specialising in individual pursuit in track cycling and individual time trial in road bicycle racing. Prior to that she was an Otago Rebels netballer, the sport she played for more than five years before her cycling career.
Born in Dunedin, New Zealand. Shanks graduated from the University of Otago in 2005 with a BCom Marketing (Hons) and a BSc in Human Nutrition.
Shanks began cycling in 2005, and soon enjoyed success. After more than five years competing for the Otago Rebels in the National Bank Cup netball, she competed at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne where she finished fourth in the pursuit. She placed eighth in the pursuit during her first appearance at the World Championships in 2006, and improved on this to finish seventh in 2007.
Shanks competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics in the Individual Pursuit, where she placed 4th overall after being defeated by Lesya Kalytovska of the Ukraine in the bronze medal match. Prior to this, in defeating Sarah Hammer of the United States in her semifinal, she set a new personal best of 3:32.478 minutes.