The fifth and final day of competition at the Hisense Arena in Melbourne sees the awarding of four medals – two for the men, two for the women and two sprint and two endurance. And with Great Britain and Australia tied on Gold medals at 5 each, both have strong contenders in three of them. Hoy probably starts favourite for the Keirin – even against reigning World Champion Shane Perkins of Australia – and Jo Rowsell probably just has the edge in the Individual pursuit. In the Madison, Meyer and Howard have to be odds on favourites but Scratch Race Gold and Points Race Silver medalist – paired with Geraint Thomas – has to be a strong outside bet. Which leaves the 500m Time trial, where Anna Meares biggest threat will come from on-form Simona Krupeckaite of Lithuania. It’s going to be another intense day of competition…
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Women’s Individual Pursuit Finals
After her performance in London, Rowsell is probably the favourite for the Individual Pursuit but the event is wide open with strong challenges likely to come from team mate Wendy Houvenaghel, New Zealand’s Alison Shanks and Canada’s Whitten.
Houvenaghel has missed out so many times over the last few years and we think she’ll miss out again, but we do predict a medal – behind Rowsell and Shanks.
trackcycling predicition
GOLD Joanna Rowsell (GBR)
SILVER Alison Shanks (NZL)
BRONZE Wendy Houvenaghel (GBR)
Men’s Madison Final
The Men’s Madison sees a new GB pairing of Geraint Thomas and Ben Swift but in terms of medals, it’s hard to look beyond the Australian duo of Cameron Meyer and Leigh Howard. We do think Thomas and Swift are capable of a medal – especially after Swift’s performances over the last few days – but we think the Silver will go to the Czechs – who are always there or thereabouts.
trackcycling predicition
GOLD Australia
SILVER Czech Republic
BRONZE Great Britain
Women’s 500m Time Trial
Always a tough one to call – especially coming as it does after two days of Sprint competition and a day of Keirin. It will be all about who has the strongest powers of recovery – and Anna Meares of Australia looked pretty fresh after her Keirin victory yesterday and she has the momentum. Simona Krupeckaite of Lithuania looked good in the Sprint but disappointed in the Keirin and this is her last shot at a Gold. We think she’ll miss out, but not by much. Former 500m World Champion Lisandra Guerra hasn’t looked on top form this week, but this is her strongest discipline and we reckon she’s in with a shout. Jess Varnish and Dani King both go for Great Britain.
trackcycling predicition
GOLD Anna Meares (AUS)
SILVER Simona Krupeckaite (BLR)
BRONZE Lisandra Guerra (CUB)
Men’s Keirin
The new rules on the positioning between the derny and rider one this year clearly affected a couple of yesterday’s Women’s races, with the number two rider dropping off andd adopting the old Hoy tactic of making space to attack. Hoy hasn’t gone for a long one for a while, but he did shown Shane Perkins a clean pair of wheels yesterday and we just have a feeling this might be World Title number 11. Watch out for trackcycling’s old friend Azizul Awang of Malaysia, too. We had a chat with his team mate Josiah Ng the other day who says he’s back to something like his best. We hope he is. Josiah hopes he can beat him again – as he did at the Asian Champs in February. Only one of them can have the Olympic spot.
trackcycling predicition
GOLD Chris Hoy (GBR)
SILVER Shane Perkins (AUS)
BRONZE Azizul Awang (MAS)
