Olympic, World and Commonwealth Games cycling champion Anna Meares was tonight awarded the 2011 Australian Institute of Sport Athlete of the Year Award at a gala presentation in Canberra.

Meares was joined by other major Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) award winners including:

• Junior Athlete of the Year: Luke Durbridge (Cycling);

• Coach of the Year: Ben Wordsworth (Snowboard);

• Team of the Year: Anna Meares & Kaarle McCulloch (Track Cycling – Team Sprint); and

• Program of the Year: AIS Cycling program.

Minister for Sport Mark Arbib said the list of nominees this year was very impressive and congratulated the winners of all of the 2011 awards.

“As we warm up for London 2012 it is inspiring to see so many success stories and the continuing domination of world sport by Australian athletes,” Senator Arbib said.

“Cycling has had a fantastic year on the international stage and this was evident through winning Team of the Year, Program of the Year and the prestigious Athlete of the Year.

“This is a credit to the AIS cycling program for their drive and commitment working in partnership with Cycling Australia to enable athletes to succeed in reaching their goals.”

Senator Arbib said Meares rose above an impressive list of finalists for the top AIS award including Evan O’Hanlon (Paralympic track and field), Alex Pullin (snowboard cross), Holly Crawford (snowboard half pipe) and Nathan Johnstone (snowboard half pipe) to claim the prestigious honour.

“Anna’s award caps off an outstanding year which saw her claim three gold medals at the 2011 UCI World Championships in the Keirin, Sprint and Team Sprint events,” Senator Arbib said.

“To have an athlete of the stature of Anna winning this award highlights the importance of the AIS and all our institutes and academies working with national sporting organisations to develop our elite talent.

“In addition to Anna’s award tonight, she was recently inducted into the AIS ‘best of the best’, 30 athletes who are recognised as the greatest scholarship holders in the history of the AIS”

Senator Arbib said Meares was the 28th winner of the Institute’s top award, joining some of Australia’s best athletes including walker Kerry Saxby-Junna (1986-89), swimming greats Michael Klim (1998 and 1999) and Petria Thomas (2001 and 2002), gymnast Philippe Rizzo (2001 and 2006) and aerial skier Lydia Lassila (2010).