DELHI 2010: Paralympian Storey named in England cycling team

By Sportsbeat staff

PARALYMPIAN Sarah Storey has been named in England's Commonwealth Games track cycling team.

NEW GROUND: Sarah Storey is the first Paralympian to be selected for the England cycling team (Getty Images)

Experienced Storey, who recently defended her World Para-Cycling time trial title in Canada, will feature in an otherwise youthful squad in Delhi.

Storey, 32, won the first of her seven Paralympic titles as a swimmer in 1992 but claimed two golds in track cycling in Beijing and won two national track pursuit titles against able-bodied rivals in 2008 and 2009.

Star names from the Beijing Olympics, including Victoria Pendleton, will be absent as they prioritise the forthcoming European Championships, the first qualifying event for the London 2012 Olympics.

At 22 Ben Swift, who competed at the Beijing Olympics, is the oldest member of the men's track team which includes junior world champions David Daniell and Peter Mitchell.

However, the road team features Team Sky's Russell Downing and Jeremy Hunt, who was today named in Great Britain's World Championship squad and will fly straight to Delhi from that event in Melbourne.

The women's road race team will be fronted by national champion Emma Pooley, who will go head-to-head with Olympic champion Nicole Cooke, who will ride in Welsh colours and seek to regain the title she won in Manchester eight years ago.

Pooley, the silver medallist in the 2008 Olympic time trial, will be joined by under-23 national champion Lizzie Armitstead.

"We have selected a young track team for the Commonwealth Games to give England's rising cycling stars an opportunity to experience a large scale multi-event competition as they're preparing for their first Olympics," said head coach Shane Sutton.

"With a number of our top performers competing on the road, we are also in contention for medals in these events."

MEN'S TRACK TEAM

George Atkins, David Daniell, Pete Mitchell, Erick Rowsell, Ben Swift, Simon Yates 

WOMEN'S TRACK TEAM

Anna Blyth, Katie Colclough, Lucy Martin, Sarah Storey, Laura Trott  

MEN'S ROAD TEAM

Russell Downing, Alex Dowsett, Chris Froome, Jeremy Hunt, Ian Stannard, Ben Swift

WOMEN'S ROAD TEAM

Lizzie Armitstead, Katie Colclough, Sharon Laws, Lucy Martin, Emma Pooley, Emma Trott