The afternoon session of the third day of competition only saw one medal decided, but there was no shortage of excitement in the first day of the Men’s Sprint and the Men’s Omnium. But all eyes were on the Women’s Team Pursuit and the four-way battle between Great Britain, the USA, Australia and Canada.
The first of the Women’s Team Pursuit First Round Heats saw the Netherlands and Germany racing for a chance of a shot at a Bronze. Unchanged from Qualifying, Kirsten Wild, Vera Koedooder and Ellen van Dijk lined up for the Netherlands, Judith Arndt, Charlotte Becker and Lisa Brennauer for Germany. The Netherlands were up four tenths up on Germany at 1km and six tenths up by 2km. It looked like the Netherlands were in the hunt for the Bronze ride but their time of 3:20.013 would rely on one of the seeded teams failing to recover from their qualifying rides. Three of the four of the ‘Pool A’ teams did three minute 19s yesterday… and the other one did a three minutes 15.
Next up were Lauren Ellis, Jaime Nielsen and Alison Shanks for New Zealand and Tatsiana Sharakova, Alena Dylko and Aksana Papko for Belarus. New Zealand were expected to be in the hunt for a medal, but they were six tenths down at 1km. The experienced Shanks rallied the troops with sol I me mammoth efforts and New Zealand were a second ahead at 2km. The comeback continued to the gun and they clocked 3:18.514 – faster than any team other than Great Britain over the two days of competition. That put them in genuine contention for a Bronze Medal ride.
And so to the first of the seeded Heats. Sarah Hammer, Dotsie Bausch and Jennie Reed for the US and Annette Edmondson, Melissa Hoskins and Josephine Tomic from Australia knew that the winner of this one would ride for Gold. A blistering opening kilo from Australia – 1.5 seconds up on the USA – was ahead of Great Britain’s World Record pace. In Qualifying the US had dug deep to claw back time and record an unlikely win, but the chances of doing it again against an Australian trio in this kind of form looked slim.
But it gradually became clear that, first, the Australians didn’t quite have the form their early pace suggested and, second, nobody had told the US squad that they were out of it. They held the gap at 2km with the Australians still a second inside World Record pace and then started clawing their way back in to it. They snatched it on the last lap with a time of 3:16.853 – just a second off World Record pace – and a tenth up on Australia. Their time of 3:16.935 guarantee them a Bronze Medal ride – the real question was whether Canada or New Zealand would join them.
There are no formalities at this level and Canada did run Great Britain close at the test event in the Pringle in February. But Dani King, Laura Trott and Jo Rowsell were clearly in a class of their own this week. Tara Whitten, Gillian Carelton and Jasmin Glaesser were determined to make a fight of it, but Great Britain were off and running on another World Record schedule.
Just six tenths up on Canada at 1km – but still on World Record pace – they started to crank up the pace. Almost two seconds up at 2km they were, as Australia had been at the same point, a second inside the WR schedule. The difference was that they were riding within themselves.
They flew into the Gold Medal ride with a new World Record of 3:14.682. They’d now set World Record in five consecutive competitive rides and would now face the USA for Gold, with Australia taking on Canada for Bronze.
Into the ranking rides and Belarus clocked 3:20.245 to claim 7th place overall, with Germany finishing 8th. The Kiwis were very disappointed to have missed out on the Bronze ride and they simply rode away from the Netherlands to take 5th overall, 4 seconds up.
The Bronze medal ride was between two of the pre-tournament favourites – Australia and Canada – and they lived up to that billing. They were so close that the timing system couldn’t separate them for most of the first 2km. With two laps to go, Canada were two tenths up and they held on to clinch the Bronze.
In the Gold Medal ride the USA swapped Lauren Tamayo in for Jennie Reed but made a terrible start – they were 0.7 seconds down after 250m. To the American’s credit, they held on from that point and Great Britain were just 0.8 seconds ahead at 1km – not as big a gap as Australia threw away against the US in the First Round.
It looked as though Great Britain were just doing enough to win the Gold, but they picked up the pace again and by 2km they were 2 seconds up and really flying. Great Britain took the Gold and yet another World Record – 3:14.051. That’s an incredible six World Records in six consecutive competitive rides!
GOLD Great Britain – Laura Trott, Dani King, Jo Rowsell
SILVER USA – Sarah Hammer, Dotsie Bausch, Lauren Tamayo
BRONZE Canada – Tara Whitten, Gillian Carleton, Jasmin Glaesser
Men’s Sprint
The first of the Round of 16 Repechages saw Hersony Canelon of Venezuela and Eddie Dawkins of New Zealand battling to take a place in the first round of match sprinting. It was a cagey affair with the Venezuelan taking to the front and holding off Dawkins when the charge began to go through.
Damian Zielinski of Poland and Seiichero Nakagawa of Japan was another cat-and-mouse affair. It looked like nobody was prepared to try a long one… Zielinski popped under Nakagawa to lead it out but was pipped on the line.
The last of the three heats was a tricky three-up affair between Hodei Mazquiaran of Spain, Bernard Esterhuizen of South Africa and Miao Zhang of China. Esterhuizen put himself on the front at the bell and stayed there – holding on to go through.
That earned him a ride against Great Britain’s Jason Kenny in the first of the 1/8 Heats and, perhaps conscious of Esterhuizen’s ability once unleashed,
Kenny took him buy surprise – riding round the South African at the top of the banking and cruising home. With 1/8 Repechages, that wasn’t the end of Esterhuizen’s Olympics and another trip to the Reps meant he was certainly getting his money’s worth from his trip to the velodrome.
Grégory Baugé of France of showed Nakagawa respect in Heat 2, tracking him round the track. But once he he went… it was all over. Not much stress for either of the top ranked riders.
Then it was Shane Perkins of Australia against Canelon. Perkins clearly had the pace, but Canelon had proved himself a feisty rider. And, indeed, after some pushing and shoving Canelon took the win on the track, but it did look as though he might be on for a second relegation. And he was, having come down on Perkins on the back straight on the closing lap.
Njisane Philip faced Robert Forstemann in the next heat. Trinidadian brawn vs… well, German brawn plus a little bit of extra experience. The experience counted for little though, and a cheeky flick followed an impressive turn of speed put Philip in to the next round and Forstemann in to the Reps.
In the penultimate Heat, Denis Dmitriev of Russia faced Azizulhasni Awang of Malaysia. The race started tactically but after one flick too many from Awang, Dmitriev shot in to the lead and the Malaysian couldn’t quite get back on terms. He’d have to settle for the Reps.
The last of the 1/8 Finals saw Pavel Kelemen of the Czech Republic line up against the impressive Jimmy Watkins of the USA. It was another tight, cagey heat until Watkins exploded and left Kelemen for dead.
In the first of the Reps Esterhuizen took a massive lead, but Forstemann powered past to go through. The second saw Canelon and Awang in the same heat with Nakagawa in the middle of it all… It looked like a recipe for fireworks, but in the end Awang eased ahead and wheelied across the line to take the final place in Day 4’s Quarter Finals.
His reward was a draw against Jason Kenny with Baugé taking on Forstemann, Perkins facing the impressive Watkins and the other sensation of the opening day, Philip taking on Dmitriev.
Men’s Omnium II – Points Race
With early leader Ed Clancy of Great Britain known to struggle in the bunch races, we were expecting to see a shake-up in the overall and it was clear from the way the field was strung out that the pace was high as they head towards the first sprint.
Lassee Norman Hansen of Denmark took the single point in Sprint 1 – behind Eloy Teruel of Spain, Bryan Coquard of France and Ki Ho Choi of Hong Kong, but then took a quarter of a lap lead. He took Sprint 2, with Martyn Irvine or Ireland 2nd, Zach Bell of Canada 3rd and Roger Kluge of Germay 4th.
Hansen sat up and Hosung Cho of Korea tried to get away, but he was hauled back. At the third Sprint, Bobby Lea of the USA took the 5 points, Glenn O’Shea 3, Carlos Daniel Linarez 2 and Hansen 1 – which kept him at the top of the leaderboard.
Clancy took Sprint 4 ahead of Walter Perez of Argentina, Juan Esteban Arango of Colombia and Elia Viviani of Italy. Clancy jumped to equal second but by the time Sprint 5 came around – with Kluge taking the 5, Hansen 3, Irvine 2 and O’Shea 1 there was a split in the field.
Teruel and Coquard were away with a group of five chasing – and, crucially, Omnium leader Clancy was stuck in the bunch. As the seven riders came together, Kluge took Sprint 6 from Gijs van Hoecke, Teruel and Coquard. Having held back to ensure they got the points, Kluge, van Hoecke, Teruel, Coquard, Irvine, O’Shea and Hansen then took the lap.
Kluge led from Hansen, Teruel, Irvine, O’Shea, Coquard and van Hoecke but Clancy wasn’t finished. He took Sprint 7 from Kluge, Archbold and O’Shea to move five points clear at the head of the lapped riders in 8th place. He took Sprint 8 as well from Hansen, Bell and Lea.
Then the field split again and Clancy had to work hard to close it down. Teruel and Coquard slipped off the front again and Kluge bridged to them. Sprint 9 went to Coquard from Teruel, Kluge and Viviani and kept Kluge ahead on 35 with Hansen on 33, Teruel 30, Coquard 29, O’Shea and Irvine 25, van Hoecke 23 and Clancy 15.
Teruel, Coquard, Kluge, Viviani and Cho took another lap in the closing stages with Teruel taking Sprint 10 ahead of Perez, Irvine and Hansen and Viviai taking the penultimate sprint. Kluge got the 3 points, Lea 2 and Archbold 1.
Kluge couldn’t be beaten, but early leader Hansen didn’t seem to know that, taking the final sprint with Clancy second, Coquard third and Choi fourth.
That put Clancy 11th which wasn’t a disaster, but did mean that he needed a good finish in the Elimination – his least favourite discipline – to keep the Gold in sight.
Men’s Omnium II – Points Race
1 KLUGE Roger GER 79
2 HANSEN Lasse Norman DEN 59
3 TERUEL ROVIRA Eloy ESP 55
4 COQUARD Bryan FRA 51
5 VIVIANI Elia ITA 47
6 IRVINE Martyn IRE 47
7 PEREZ Walter Fernando ARG 26
8 O’SHEA Glenn AUS 25
9 van HOECKE Gijs BEL 23
10 CHO Hosung KOR 20
11 CLANCY Edward GBR 18
12 LEA Bobby USA 8
13 BELL Zachary CAN 4
14 CHOI Ki Ho HKG 3
15 ARCHBOLD Shane NZL 3
16 LINAREZ ZAMBRANO Carlos Daniel VEN -18
17 ARANGO CARVAJAL Juan Esteban COL -18
18 MANSILLA Luis CHI -40
Men’s Omnium Standings after 2 events
1 HANSEN Lasse Norman 6
2 COQUARD Bryan 9
3 O’SHEA Glenn 11
4 VIVIANI Elia 11
5 CLANCY Edward 12
6 KLUGE Roger 12
7 IRVINE Martyn 15
8 ARCHBOLD Shane 17
9 TERUEL ROVIRA Eloy 17
10 BELL Zachary 20
11 LEA Bobby 22
12 CHO Hosung 22
13 van HOECKE Gijs 22
14 PEREZ Walter Fernando 24
15 ARANGO CARVAJAL Juan Esteban 25
16 CHOI Ki Ho 29
17 LINAREZ ZAMBRANO Carlos Daniel 32
18 MANSILLA Luis 36
Men’s Omnium III – Elimination
The controversial Elimination race went off with very few problems – the teething problems with the handlebar stem mounted LED tell-tales mostly ironed out now. van Hoecke went out first, followed by Teruel – probably not the first two most people would have predicted.
Luis Mansilla of Chile went next and then Choi of Hong Kong. His was the only hiccup of the day – his LED didn’t go off and he stayed in. Irvine of Ireland was out next and then Arango of Colombia but Clancy was looking tired – and living dangerously.
Hansen lost out next – which would be a fantastic result for Ed Clancy – if he could stay in a bit longer. Then Choi of Hong Kong was out again – and this time the message got through. And Clancy hung in – Zach Bell was out, then Cho of Korea. Then Bobby Lea of the US and then Clancy… no – Kluge. Very close. Close again on the next lap but Clancy managed to ensure that Shane Archbold of New Zealand took the fall with a mighty charge from the back. It was all he had left and he was out with four more ahead of him.
That wasn’t a bad result in terms of the overall – but Coquard, Viviani and O’Shea were still in – with Walter Perez of Argentina, who was next to fall.
Three left… Would we see yet another Coquard-Viviani last lap sprint…? O’Shea was out – and the match sprint began. After half a lap of cat and mouse, Viviani feinted and that triggered Coquard’s sprint. He surged ahead to take the win! Nobody rides an Elimination Final Lap like Bryan!
Men’s Omnium III – Elimination
1 COQUARD Bryan FRA
2 VIVIANI Elia ITA
3 O’SHEA Glenn AUS
4 PEREZ Walter Fernando ARG
5 CLANCY Edward GBR
6 ARCHBOLD Shane NZL
7 KLUGE Roger GER
8 LEA Bobby USA
9 CHO Hosung KOR
10 BELL Zachary CAN
11 CHOI Ki Ho HKG
12 HANSEN Lasse Norman DEN
13 ARANGO CARVAJAL Juan Esteban DEN
14 LINAREZ ZAMBRANO Carlos Daniel VEN
15 IRVINE Martyn IRE
16 MANSILLA Luis CHI
17 TERUEL ROVIRA Eloy ESP
18 van HOECKE Gijs BEL
Overall Standings After 3 Events
1 COQUARD Bryan FRA 10
2 VIVIANI Elia ITA 13
3 O’SHEA Glenn AUS 14
4 CLANCY Edward GBR 17
5 HANSEN Lasse Norman DEN 18
6 KLUGE Roger GER 19
7 ARCHBOLD Shane NZL 23
8 PEREZ Walter Fernando ARG 28
9 BELL Zachary CAN 30
10 IRVINE Martyn IRE 30
11 LEA Bobby USA 30
12 CHO Hosung KOR 31
13 TERUEL ROVIRA Eloy ESP 34
14 ARANGO CARVAJAL Juan Esteban COL 38
15 van HOECKE Gijs BEL 40
16 CHOI Ki Ho HKG 40
17 LINAREZ ZAMBRANO Carlos Daniel VEN 46
18 MANSILLA Luis COL 52
