THE man who coached Nicole Cooke to Olympic gold four years ago believes he has another star in the making on his hands.

High Wycombe Cycling Club president Gordon Wright guided Cooke to gold in the Women’s Road Race in Beijing in 2008, but now he’s spotted a similar talent emerging at his own club.

Karla Boddy has only been racing competitively for a year, but a handful of notable victories last summer in Wycombe colours shot her into the limelight and has convinced Wright there could be plenty more to come.

Wright said: “I worked with Nicole and I work with Karla and I know what they are both like as sprinters – to be honest there isn’t much between them.

“The difference at the moment is that Nicole is a hardened cyclist and her sprint is still intact after three hours of cycling.

“But Karla is fearless and could cause a major shock.

“She’s got a Mark Cavendish-like sprint. It’s a natural gift, it was there all the time and just needed bringing out.

“She’s only been racing a year so is still very new, but she could reach the heights of women’s racing in this country very, very quickly and might well get to the end of this year and think she’s got some very difficult decisions to make.

“With her it’s definitely watch this space...the Olympics in Brazil is not out of the question.”