New Zealand's double world champion and Commonwealth Games gold medallist Alison Shanks has announced she is to retire from cycling.
The 31-year-old from Dunedin, who has battled back from injury and hip surgery over the past two years, has decided the time is right to finish her competitive cycling career.
Shanks, who managed her injury throughout her 2012 Olympic campaign, had surgery last year with the intent of returning for the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow this year and the Olympics in Rio in 2016.
However she says that she can no longer manage the physical and mental demands to get back to the top of her sport.