The penultimate day of competition in Beijing saw the conclusion of the Men’s Omnium competition and the start of the Women’s Omnium as well as the Men’s Individual Pursuit, Men’s Keirin and Women’s Sprint competitions.
In the run up to the Beijing Olympics it looked as though the Chinese might dominate women’s sprinting for years to come, but it didn’t happen. They might just be back (and this time they might be bringing the men with them).
Men’s Individual Pursuit
Mitchell Mulhern of Australia leapt to the top of the leaderboard at the end of Heat 8 with a 4:28.268 – three quarters of a second up on his opponent Verly Kalkov of Russia who slotted in to second place.
In the following heat Kevin Labeque of France started slowly but built his pace over the 4km and finished just over half a second off Mulhern’s time to move above Kaykov into second place.
Nothing changed as the next four riders slotted in further down the order – including, at that point, a fifth place for Great Britain youngster Sam Harrison – but in the final heat Peter Latham of New Zealand booked himself in the Gold Medal Final – and give himself the psychological advantage of being fastest in qualification – taking over two seconds off Mulhern’s time with a 4:26.100.
1 Peter LATHAM NZL 4:26.100
2 Mitchell MULHERN AUS 4:28.268
3 Kevin LABEQUE FRA 4:28.897
4 Valery KAYKOV RUS 4:29.005
5 Sergey SHILOV LOK 4:29.019
6 Samuel HARRISON GBR 4:29.505
7 David MUNTANER JUANEDA ESP 4:29.708
8 Ingmar DE POORTERE BEL 4:32.136
9 Alexander CATAFORD CAN 4:33.099
10 Adam LEIBOVITZ USA 4:34.667
11 Arno VAN DER ZWET NED 4:35.849
12 Vitaliy SHCHEDOV UKR 4:36.863
13 Johannes KAHRA GER 4:37.162
14 Dias OMIRZAKOV KAZ 4:38.437
15 Nolan HOFFMAN RSA 4:38.694
16 Vladimir TUYCHIEV UZB 4:39.279
17 King Lok CHEUNG HKG 4:39.656
18 Chen Lu QIN CHN 4:40.283
19 Keonwoo PARK KOR 4:40.788
20 Dmitriy LUKYANOV TTA 4:49.014
21 Che Wei HU TPE 5:05.894
Marco FRAPPORTI ITA DSQ
Kilian MOSER SUI DSQ
Labeque was never challenged in the Bronze medal ride, steadily pulling out a two second advantage over Kaykov to finish on 4:28.519 – three tenths quicker than his qualifying time.
The situation in the final was rather different with Mulhern a second and a half up after the opening kilometre. By the halfway mark he’d lost a second to Latham but still lead. Even with four laps to go he was still up – but only by seven hundredths and the momentum was with the New Zealander. Latham eased passed his opponent – who took two seconds, give or take a thousandth, off his earlier qualifying time – to take the Gold with a 4:25.964.
World Record 4:10.534 Jack BOBRIDGE AUS Sydney 2 Feb 2011
GOLD Peter LATHAM NZL 4:25.964
SILVER Mitchell MULHERN AUS 4:26.267
BRONZE Kevin LABEQUE FRA 4:28.519
4 Valery KAYKOV RUS 4:29.325
Women’s Omnium
Mei YeiHsiao of Taipei fastest in the Women’s Omnium Flying Lap with 14.569 ahead of Li Huang of Giant Pro Cycling on 14.579 and Ausrine Trebaite of Lithuania who clocked 14.604. Three of the pre-race favourites Joanne Kiesanowski of New Zealand, Evgenia Romanyuta of Russia and Pascale Jeuland of France were there or thereabouts in fourth, fifth and sixth places.
Flying Lap
1 Mei Yu HSIAO TPE 14.569
2 Li HUANG GPC 14.576
3 Ausrine TREBAITE LTU 14.604
4 Joanne KIESANOWSKI NZL 14.826
5 Evgenia ROMANYUTA RVL 14.831
6 Pascale JEULAND FRA 14.845
7 Isabella KING AUS 14.896
8 Lisa BRENNAUER GER 14.897
9 Zhao Juan MENG HKG 14.924
10 Malgorzata WOJTYRA POL 14.994
11 Svitlana GALYUK UKR 15.067
12 Jutatip MANEEPHAN THA 15.082
13 Angie GONZALEZ VEN 15.140
14 Jolien D’HOORE BEL 15.158
15 Kanako KASE JPN 15.173
16 Jarmila MACHACOVA CZE 15.269
17 Valentina SCANDOLARA ITA 15.275
18 Sofia ARREOLA MEX 15.392
19 Serika GULUMA COL 16.533
20 Daniela GUAJARDO CHI 16.955
Isabella King of Australia took the first sprint in the Points Race ahead of Jeuland, Trebaite and Romanyuta. Svitlana Galyuk of the Ukraine won the second sprint with Jolien D’Hoore of Belgium second, Jarmila Machacova of the Czech Republic third and Lisa Brennauer of Germany fourth.
Huang took Sprint 3 from Romanyuta, Jeuland and Trebaite leaving King, Galyuk, Huang and Jeuland all tied for the lead on five points with Romanyuta on four and Trebaite and D’Hoore on three.
Angie Gonzalez of Venezuela won Sprint 4 from Valentina Scandolara of Italy, D’Hoore and Brennauer – which added Gonzalez and D’Hoore to the growing list of ride tied on 5 points.
Romanyuta took Sprint 5 and moved clear on 9 points. Galyuk takes second in the Sprint to take her total to eight, King took third to move on to 6 points and Hsiao took 4th. Just to spice things up, Wojtyra of Poland takes Sprint 6 from Machacova, Kase of Japan and Gonzalez.
Then the decisive move of the race saw Gonzalez, Wojtyra, Machacova and Kase take a lap. With Galyuk, D’Hoore, Huang and Jeuland taking the points from Sprint 7. With one sprint to go, Gonzalez lea with 26 points from Wojtyra and Machacova on 25 and Kase on 22.
Romanyuta seals her position as ‘best of the rest’, taking the final sprint from King, Kiewanowski and Huang. The win goes to Gonzalez wins from Machacova, Wojtyra and Kase.
Huang takes the overall Omnium lead – tied on 10 points with Romanyuta. Wojtyra is third and King fourth.
Points Race
1 Angie GONZALEZ VEN 26
2 Jarmila MACHACOVA CZE 25
3 Malgorzata WOJTYRA POL 25
4 Kanako KASE JPN 22
5 Evgenia ROMANYUTA RVL 14
6 Svitlana GALYUK UKR 13
7 Isabella KING AUS 9
8 Li HUANG GPC 8
9 Jolien D’HOORE BEL 8
10 Pascale JEULAND FRA 6
11 Valentina SCANDOLARA ITA 3
12 Ausrine TREBAITE LTU 3
13 Joanne KIESANOWSKI NZL 2
14 Mei Yu HSIAO TPE 2
15 Lisa BRENNAUER GER 2
16 Jutatip MANEEPHAN THA 0
17 Daniela GUAJARDO CHI 0
18 Sofia ARREOLA MEX 0
19 Zhao Juan MENG HKG 0
20 Serika GULUMA COL 0
Elimination Race
1 Evgenia ROMANYUTA RVL
2 Joanne KIESANOWSKI NZL
3 Jolien D’HOORE BEL
4 Mei Yu HSIAO TPE
5 Jutatip MANEEPHAN THA
6 Pascale JEULAND FRA
7 Sofia ARREOLA MEX
8 Jarmila MACHACOVA CZE
9 Isabella KING AUS
10 Li HUANG GPC
11 Ausrine TREBAITE LTU
12 Malgorzata WOJTYRA POL
13 Angie GONZALEZ VEN
14 Svitlana GALYUK UKR
15 Zhao Juan MENG HKG
16 Lisa BRENNAUER GER
17 Valentina SCANDOLARA ITA
18 Daniela GUAJARDO CHI
19 Kanako KASE JPN
20 Serika GULUMA COL
Huang took a relatively early exit from the Elimination race, picking up an unhelpful 10 points with King not helping her cause either, going out with 8 still to go. Hsaio kept herself in contention with a fourth place and Joanne Kiesanowski and Jolien D’Hoore moved into contention with second and third. Romanyuta moved clear though, taking the win and opening a comfortable eight point lead over Hsiao and Kiesanowski going in to Day 2.
Women’s Sprint
After 200m qualifying – and assuming you count the Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong – 6 of the top 11 qualifiers were Chinese. Shuang Guo was top of the pile with a 10.983 with Simona Krupeckaite of Lithuania (11.196) the only non Chinese interloper in the top six.
Great Britain’s Rebecca James & Victoria Williamson qualified 19th & 20th with 11.582 and 11.590 respectively – missing out on qualification for the latter stages by just three hundredths of a second.
World Record 10.793 Simona KRUPECKAITE LTU Moscow 29 May 2010
1 Shuang GUO CHN 10.983
2 Simona KRUPECKAITE LTU 11.196
3 Junho
ng LIN GPC 11.205
4 Wai Sze LEE HKG 11.212
5 Tianshi ZHONG GPC 11.258
6 Mu DI HKP 11.262
7 Hyejin LEE KOR 11.355
8 Natasha HANSEN NZL 11.397
9 Lisandra GUERRA RODRIGUEZ CUB 11.447
10 Yulei XU MSP 11.455
11 Jingjing SHI MSP 11.490
12 Daniela LARREAL VEN 11.492
13 Olga STRELTSOVA MTT 11.500
14 Gintare GAIVENYTE LTU 11.528
15 Virginie CUEFF FRA 11.528
16 Jinjie GONG CHN 11.545
17 Katie SCHOFIELD NZL 11.551
18 Monique SULLIVAN CAN 11.570
19 Rebecca JAMES GBR 11.582
20 Victoria WILLIAMSON GBR 11.590
21 Elena BREZHNIVA RUS 11.658
22 Olena TSOS UKR 11.706
23 Tania CALVO BARBERO ESP 11.779
24 Juliana GAVIRIA COL 11.793
25 Anastasiya VOYNOVA RUS 11.795
26 Eunji LEE KOR 11.795
27 Helena CASAS ROIGE ESP 11.911
28 Jennifer VALENTE USA 11.917
29 Elisa FRISONI ITA 12.019
30 Hiroko ISHII JPN 12.040
31 Ting Ying HUANG TPE 12.048
32 Daria SHMELEVA MTT 12.083
33 Maryia LOHVINAVA BLR 12.163
34 Tela CRANE USA 12.203
35 Daniela GAXIOLA MEX 12.208
36 Xiao Juan DIAO HKG 12.274
37 Sumaia RIBEIRO BRA 12.392
38 Mariesthela VILERA VEN 12.504
39 Fang Ju I TPE 12.529
402 Alena DYLKO BLR 12.588
41 Kayono MAEDA JPN 12.623
42 Marta TAGLIAFERRO FFA 13.254
Alba DIEZ CAT DNS
There were no real surprises in the 1/8 Finals with Guo, Krupeckaite, Junhong Lin, Wai Sze Lee of China, Daniela Larreal of Venezuela, Mu Di of China, Hyejin Lee of Korea and Lisandra Guerra going through to the Quarter Finals.
1/8th Finals
1 Shuang GUO CHN *
2 Jinjie GONG CHN
1 Simona KRUPECKAITE LTU *
2 Virginie CUEFF FRA
1 Junhong LIN GPC *
2 Gintare GAIVENYTE LTU
1 Wai Sze LEE HKG *
2 Olga STRELTSOVA MTT
1 Daniela LARREAL VEN *
2 Tianshi ZHONG GPC
1 Mu DI HKP *
2 Jingjing SHI MSP
1 Hyejin LEE KOR *
2 Yulei XU MSP
1 Lisandra GUERRA RODRIGUEZ CUB *
2 Natasha HANSEN NZL
The Quarter Finals went pretty much to form, to with all four matches concluded without the need for a decider. Guo beat Guerra, Krupeckaite eased past Lee of Korea, Lin while Lee of Hong Kong won her match with Larreal to complete the Semi Final lineup.
Quarter Finals
1 Shuang GUO CHN **
2 Lisandra GUERRA RODRIGUEZ CUB
1 Simona KRUPECKAITE LTU **
2 Hyejin LEE KOR
1 Junhong LIN GPC **
2 Mu DI HKP
1 Wai Sze LEE HKG **
2 Daniela LARREAL VEN
Guo had an easy time of it in the first of her Semi Final rides against Lee but was pushed harder in the second, which went to a photo finish. Guo progressed to the final without the need for a third ride – as did Krupeckaite. The Lithuanian was made to work for it, though with photos required in both races against Lin.
Semi Finals
1 Shuang GUO CHN **
2 Wai Sze LEE HKG
1 Simona KRUPECKAITE LTU **
2 Junhong LIN GPC
The Finals were even more evenly matched with the camera needed in all four rides. Despite that, Lin took the Bronze Medal in two with Guo doing the same in her match with Krupeckaite to take the Gold. Guerra won the 5th-8th Final ahead of Di, Larreal and Lee of Korea
GOLD Shuang GUO CHN **
SILVER Simona KRUPECKAITE LTU
BRONZE Junhong LIN GPC **
4 Wai Sze LEE HKG
5 Lisandra GUERRA RODRIGUEZ CUB
6 Mu DI HKP
7 Daniela LARREAL VEN
8 Hyejin LEE KOR
Men’s Keirin
The first heat saw Andrew Taylor of Australia take the only automatic spot in the next round but not before Won Gu Jun of Korea had been relegated for riding on the blue in the sprint and Hersony Canelon of Venezuela suffered the same fate for failing to holding his line.
Francois Pervis of France snatched a spot in round two from Giddeon Massie of the USA and regular World Cup and World Championship finalist Zaferis Volikakis of Greece in the second heat. Fabian Puerta of Colombia edged out Adrian Teklinski of Poland and Great Britain’s Callum Skinner in the third.
Heat 4 saw Miao Zhang of China go through with Matthijs Büchli of the Netherlands and Vladimir Khozov of Russia settling for the Reps while Andrii Vinokurov of the Ukraine took the spot in Round 2 ahead of Sergei Borisov of Moscow Track Team and Hodei Mazquiaran of Spain.
The final spot went to Kazunari Watanabe of Japan who beat on-form Philip Nijsane of Trinidad and Tobago and Shih Hsin Hsiao of Taipei to claim it.
Heat 1
1 Andrew TAYLOR AUS
2 Song GAO GPC
3 Juan PERALTA GASCON NAV
4 Seiichiro NAKAGAWA JPN
5 Hersony CANELON VEN REL
6 Won Gu JUN KOR REL
Heat 2
1 Francois PERVIS FRA
2 Giddeon MASSIE USA
3 Zafeiris VOLIKAKIS GRE
4 Flavio CIPRIANO BRA
5 Joy Lai CHEUNG HKG
6 Sergei ZHILSKII PHL
Heat 3
1 Fabian PUERTA COL
2 Adrian TEKLINSKI POL
3 Callum SKINNER GBR
4 Edward DAWKINS NZL
5 Travis SMITH CAN
6 Qiming WANG HKP
Heat 4
1 Miao ZHANG CHN
2 Matthijs BÜCHLI NED
3 Vladimir KHOZOV RUS
4 Muhammad Edrus MD YUNOS YSD
5 Raja AUDI LIB
6 Fabio MASOTTI FFA
Heat 5
1 Andrii VINOKUROV UKR
2 Sergei BORISOV MTT
3 Hodei MAZQUIARAN URIA ESP
4 Yong FENG HBC
5 Martin FEIFERLIK CZE
Itmar ESTEBAN HERRAIZ CAT DNS
Heat 6
1 Kazunari WATANABE CCT
2 Phillip NJISANE TRI
3 Shih Hsin HSIAO TPE
4 Qi TANG MSP
5 Francesco CECI ITA
6 Bernard ESTERHUIZEN RSA
7 Mohd Fattah Amri ZAID MAS
Reps
Yong Feng of the Holy Brother Cycling Team took the first of the Repechages routes to Round 2, followed by Mazquiaran, Eddie Dawkins of New Zealand, Büchli and Borisov. Jean Peralta of Spain took the final berth after Nijsane was relegated for sprinting on the côte d’azur.
Heat 1
1 Yong FENG HBC
2 Song GAO GPC
3 Sergei ZHILSKII PHL
4 Shih Hsin HSIAO TPE
5 Raja AUDI LIB
Heat 2
1 Hodei MAZQUIARAN URIA ESP
2 Giddeon MASSIE USA
3 Won Gu JUN KOR
4 Muhammad Edrus MD YUNOS YSD
5 Travis SMITH CAN
Heat 3
1 Edward DAWKINS NZL
2 Vladimir KHOZOV RUS
3 Joy Lai CHEUNG HKG
4 Adrian TEKLINSKI POL
5 Bernard ESTERHUIZEN RSA
Heat 4
1 Matthijs BÜCHLI NED
2 Flavio CIPRIANO BRA
3 Hersony CANELON VEN
4 Callum SKINNER GBR
5 Mohd Fattah Amri ZAID MAS
Heat 5
1 Sergei BORISOV MTT
2 Seiichiro NAKAGAWA JPN
3 Zafeiris VOLIKAKIS GRE
4 Francesco CECI ITA
5 Fabio MASOTTI FFA
Heat 6
1 Juan PERALTA GASCON NAV
2 Qi TANG MSP
3 Martin FEIFERLIK CZE
4 Qiming WANG HKP
5 Phillip NJISANE TRI REL
Round 2
Zhang, Borisov and Taylor took the first three places in the main Keirin Final with Pervis, Peralta and Puerta joining them from Heat 2.
Heat 1
1 Miao ZHANG CHN
2 Sergei BORISOV MTT
3 Andrew TAYLOR AUS
4 Kazunari WATANABE CCT
5 Hodei MAZQUIARAN URIA ESP
6 Edward DAWKINS NZL
Heat 2
1 Francois PERVIS FRA
2 Juan PERALTA GASCON NAV
3 Fabian PUERTA COL
4 Matthijs BÜCHLI NED
5 Andrii VINOKUROV UKR
6 Yong FENG HBC
Finals
Pervis took Gold for France with Borisov taking the Silver and Taylor the Bronze. Peralta came home fourth with Zhang fifth and Puerta sixth.
Vinokurov won the 7th to 8th ride off from Watanabe and Büchli.
Final 1-6
1 Francois PERVIS FRA
2 Sergei BORISOV MTT
3 Andrew TAYLOR AUS
4 Juan PERALTA GASCON NAV
5 Miao ZHANG CHN
6 Fabian PUERTA COL
Final 7-12
7 Andrii VINOKUROV UKR
8 Kazunari WATANABE CCT
9 Matthijs BÜCHLI NED
10 Edward DAWKINS NZL
11 Yong FENG HBC
12 Hodei MAZQUIARAN URIA ESP
Men’s O
mnium
Omar Bertazzo of Italy set the early lead in the Men’s Omnium Individual Pursuit a 4:42.829. That time was smashed by Sunjae Jang of Korea who went quickest with a 4:32.373. Lasse Hansen took another big chunk out of that time to record 4:28.294 and move above at the half way stage. Martin Blaha of the Czech Republic clocked 4:29.370 to go second with Martyn Irvine of Ireland slotting him behind him in third with a 4:30.341.
Niklas Arndt of Germany popped in a 4:27 to move ahead of Hansen with just Bryan Coquard of France and Glenn O’Shea of Australia to go.
The Pursuit isn’t Coquard’s strongest event and it showed. He could only manage 10th fastest but O’Shea’s 4:25.860 was good enough to take the win.
O’Shea now led overall on 12 points with Coquard on 18 and Arndt closing in on the Frenchman with 20.
1 Glenn O’SHEA AUS 4:25.860
2 Nikias ARNDT GER 4:27.207
3 Lasse Norman HANSEN DEN 4:28.294
4 Martin BLAHA CZE 4:29.370
5 Martyn IRVINE IRL 4:30.341
6 Kenny DE KETELE BEL 4:30.459
7 Bobby LEA USA 4:30.914
8 Sunjae JANG KOR 4:32.373
9 Unai ELORRIAGA ZUBIAUR EUS 4:33.014
10 Bryan COQUARD FRA 4:33.849
11 Hao LIU MSP 4:35.359
12 Alexey LYALKO KAZ 4:36.517
13 Ki Ho CHOI HKG 4:36.681
14 Taiji NISHITANI JPN 4:36.880
15 Recep ÜNALAN TUR 4:38.010
16 Walter PEREZ ARG 4:38.697
17 Vladimir TUYCHIEV UZB 4:41.210
18 Po Hung WU TPE 4:42.086
19 Omar BERTAZZO ITA 4:42.829
20 Gael SUTER SUI 4:46.515
21 JeanMichel LACHANCE CAN 4:46.639
22 Hossein NATEGHI IRI 4:52.298
23 Manuel RODAS GUA 4:55.917
Scratch
Bertazzo got in among the front runners in the overall, taking a lap to win the Scratch race. Irvine was the highest placed of the front runners in second place with Coquard fourth and O’Shea down in sixth.
That still left O’Shea four points clear of Coquard – the clear favourite for the final Kilometre Time Trial.
1 Omar BERTAZZO ITA
2 Martyn IRVINE IRL -1
3 Unai ELORRIAGA ZUBIAUR EUS -1
4 Bryan COQUARD FRA -1
5 Sunjae JANG KOR -1
6 Glenn O’SHEA AUS -1
7 Nikias ARNDT GER -1
8 Kenny DE KETELE BEL -1
9 Walter PEREZ ARG -1
10 Bobby LEA USA -1
11 Martin BLAHA CZE -1
12 Gael SUTER SUI -1
13 Hossein NATEGHI IRI -1
14 Po Hung WU TPE -1
15 Hao LIU MSP -1
16 Recep ÜNALAN TUR -1
17 Taiji NISHITANI JPN -1
18 Ki Ho CHOI HKG -1
19 Vladimir TUYCHIEV UZB -1
20 JeanMichel LACHANCE CAN -1
21 Alexey LYALKO KAZ -1
22 Lasse Norman HANSEN DEN -1
23 Manuel RODAS GUA -2
Time Trial
By the time the two leaders took to the track, Hansen was fastest with a 1:04.252 with nearest challengers Arndt third, de Ketele fourth and Irvine fifth. Coquard needed to win the Time Trial and hope O’Shea finished no higher than fifth to snatch the Gold.
He did what he needed to do – completing the four laps in 1:03.507 – but O’Shea’s 1:04.208 was a fraction quicker than Hansen and gave him second in the final event and the Gold Medal overall. Coquard finished 3 points behind with Arndt taking the Silver medal. De Ketele was fourth and Martyn Irvine fifth.
1 Bryan COQUARD FRA 1:03.507
2 Glenn O’SHEA AUS 1:04.208
3 Lasse Norman HANSEN DEN 1:04.252
4 Hao LIU MSP 1:04.336
5 Nikias ARNDT GER 1:04.906
6 Kenny DE KETELE BEL 1:05.039
7 Martyn IRVINE IRL 1:05.219
8 Gael SUTER SUI 1:05.298
9 Po Hung WU TPE 1:05.403
10 Recep ÜNALAN TUR 1:05.567
11 Bobby LEA USA 1:05.676
12 Sunjae JANG KOR 1:05.906
13 Ki Ho CHOI HKG 1:06.203
14 Unai ELORRIAGA ZUBIAUR EUS 1:06.390
15 Taiji NISHITANI JPN 1:06.532
16 Martin BLAHA CZE 1:06.590
17 Alexey LYALKO KAZ 1:06.807
18 Hossein NATEGHI IRI 1:07.737
19 Omar BERTAZZO ITA 1:08.487
20 Vladimir TUYCHIEV UZB 1:08.583
21 Walter PEREZ ARG 1:08.969
22 JeanMichel LACHANCE CAN 1:09.909
23 Manuel RODAS GUA 1:16.585
