SOME might call it beginner's luck while Luke Meier Smith prefers to call it the result of hard work.
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The Comboyne teenager claimed his first national title in Victoria when he became Australia's newest junior champion on March 15.
"It's pretty exciting because I wanted to be national champion for quite a while; it's been one of my goals," he said.
Meier Smith registered wins in both the Down Hill and Pump Track divisions after transitioning from the BMX world to mountain-biking two years ago.
"My run was pretty good, but the track got loose after a few days because so many people were riding it," he said.
"I put a smooth run down and had one qualifying run then I pedalled hard straight to the finish line and managed to take the win.
"I trained pretty hard and have been taking it seriously for the last few years; I've got lots of hills up and around Comboyne and got a bit of a track in the backyard."
The focus was then meant to be on qualifying for World Cup events throughout the year, but that has now been put on the backburner.
It would prove to be the 17-year-old's last ride before COVID-19 put an end to most sports around the world.
The teenager was due to race again on May 2 and 3, but that event had to be postponed.
"It's pretty hard knowing how much you have to train and when to train because you don't know when the next race is going to be," Meier Smith said.
"But I have changed my training; I was doing lots of sprints but have changed that to being a bit more about building a base fitness and not having too many hard interval sections."
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