Worlds 2010 Predictions – How did we do?

Before the Worlds we asked our Coaching columnist Lee Povey to predict the results of every event in the championships.

He didn’t get everything right, but we think he did pretty well.

Day 1

Women’s 500m Time Trial
Povey Predicted: Simona Krupeckaite LIT, Anna Meares AUS, Willy Kanis NED
Result : Anna Meares AUS, Simona Krupeckaite LIT, Olga Panarina BLR

Not a bad start. Meares was back on form and hard to beat, but Lee correctly predicted the top 2, just in the wrong order.

Men’s Points Race
Povey Predicted: Cameron Meyer AUS, Chris Newton GBR, Roger Kluge GER
Result: Cameron Meyer AUS, Peter Schep NED, Milan Kadlec CZE

Lee’s first correctly predicted Gold medallist. Yes, he was the hot favourite and utterly dominated the race, but the Points race is always a difficult one to predict.

Women’s Individual Pursuit
Povey Predicted: Wendy Houvenhagel GBR, Alison Shanks NZL, Sarah Hammer USA
Result: Sarah Hammer USA, Wendy Houvenaghel GBR, Vilija Serekaite LTU

Sarah Hammer’s comeback was even more impressive than we predicted – and after last year’s performance, Alison Shanks missing out on a medal was one we didn’t see coming. Houvenaghel second again was one we didn’t want to see.

Men’s Team Sprint
Povey Predicted:  Great Britain, France, Germany
Result: Germany, France, Great Britain

All three medalists correct, just reversed. Not bad going and after the German’s performance against the GB squad at Revolution 28 in Manchester a month ago, we knew they were looking good, but not that good!

Day 2

Men’s Scratch
Povey Predicted:  Zachary Bell CAN, Thomas Scully NZL, Chris Newton GBR
Result: Alex Rasmussen DEN, Juan Esteban Arango COL, Kazuhiro Mori JPN

You win some, you lose some…

Women’s Team Sprint
Povey Predicted: Australia, China, Lithuania
Result: Australia, China, Lithuania

…see? Spot on. OK, so this was probably one of the easier ones to get the right three – and the Gold was probably the easiest prediction of the week, but even so…

Men’s Individual Pursuit
Povey Predicted: Taylor Phinney USA, Jack Bobridge AUS, Jesse Sergent NZL
Result : Taylor Phinney USA, Jesse Sergent NZL, Jack Bobridge AUS

And so close on this one. All three medalists correct, with just Silver and Bronze the wrong way round.

Women’s Team Pursuit
Povey Predicted: Great Britain, New Zealand, Australia
Result: Australia, Great Britain, New Zealand

Another completely correctly predicted trio of medalists, in completely the wrong order.

Men’s Keirin
Povey Predicted: Chris Hoy GBR, Maximilian Levy GER, Matt Crampton GBR
Result: Chris Hoy GBR, Azizulhasni Awang MAS, Maximilian Levy GER

Two out of three’s not bad – and if Crampton hadn’t been shut out in the 2^nd round, who knows…?

Day 3

Men’s 1Km Time Trial
Povey Predicted: Stefan Nimke GER, David Daniell GBR, Michaël D’Almeida FRA
Result: Teun Mulder NED, Michaël D’Almeida FRA, François Pervis FRA

OK, just one correct out of the three here, but Nimke was 4^th…

Women’s Scratch
Povey Predicted: Anna Blyth GBR, Giorgia Bronzini ITA, Yumari Gonzalez CUB
Result: Pascale Jeuland FRA, Yumari Gonzalez CUB, Belinda Goss AUS

One out of three, again. There’s nothing like a couple of crashes to shake things up. Blyth was always a bit of a long shot for this one, though.

Men’s Team Pursuit
Povey Predicted: Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand
Result : Australia, Great Britain, New Zealand

Right three countries, first two in the wrong order. It was the right top 3 for qualifying…

Day 4

Men’s Madison
Povey Predicted: Demark, Germany, Australia
Result: Australia, France, Belgium

Meyer and Howard were dominant in this one. What can we say? Everyone expected more from the reigning champion Danes in front of their home crowd and the French and Belgians taking a lap early on caught out everyone but the Aussies.

Women’s Omnium
Povey Predicted: Elizabeth Armitstead GBR, Tara Whitten CAN, Josephine Tomic AUS
Result: Tara Whitten CAN, Elizabeth Armitstead GBR, Leire Olaberria ESP

Two out of three this time, with the first two places reversed. Tomic crashing out in the second event and withdrawing didn’t help the predictions.

Women’s Sprint
Povey Predicted: Victoria Pendleton GBR, Shuang Guo CHN, Willy Kanis NED
Result: Victoria Pendleton GBR, Shuang Guo CHN, Simona Krupeckaite LTU

So near and yet… Kanis, on her day, is capable. This wasn’t her day and Krupeckaite was on form all week.

Day 5

Women’s Points Race
Povey Predicted: Elizabeth Armitstead GBR, Giorgia Bronzini ITA, Yumari Gonzalez CUB
Result: Tara Whitten CAN, Lauren Ellis NZL, Tatsiana Sharakova BLR

Last year Whitten admitted to the Candian press that she didn’t really know what she was doing in the points race. We think she may have figured it out now. Ellis’ 3 lap sprint for Silver was one of the highlights of the week.

Men’s Omnium
Povey Predicted: Leigh Howard AUS, Tim Veldt NED, Taylor Phinney USA
Result: Ed Clancy GBR, Leigh Howard AUS, Taylor Phinney USA

Another two out of three result. What can we say? We’re big fans of Ed Clancy and glad to be wrong.

Women’s Keirin
Povey Predicted: Sandy Claire FRA, Shuang Guo CHN, Victoria Pendleton GBR
Result: Simona Krupeckaite LTU, Victoria Pendleton GBR, Olga Panarina BLR

Neither Claire or Guo made the final, but Pendleton did and, well, you know the rest.

Men’s Sprint
Povey Predicted: Chris Hoy GBR, Gregory Bauge FRA, Kévin Sireau FRA
Result: Gregory Bauge FRA, Shane Perkins AUS, Kévin Sireau FRA

This one’s better than it looks. Two out of three’s not bad, but Forstemann’s defeat of Hoy in Round 2 led to Hoy meeting Bauge in the Quarter Finals and Perkins meeting Forstemann in the Semi. But for a tactical error by Hoy and an outstanding ride by Forstemann, Lee would certainly have been right about the medalists. Whether he’d have been right about the order…