Day 3 kicked off with qualifying for the Women’s Sprint competition and progressed through to the Quarter Finals with the conclusion of the competition tomorrow. We also saw the opening three events of the Men’s Omnium with the Flying Lap, Points Race and Elimination getting us under way.
And if that wasn’t enough, we also saw the Men’s Keirin, Women’s Scratch and Men’s Points Race titles awarded.
Just over half way through the competition and Great Britain leads the medals table with a haul of three Golds, one Silver and two Bronzes with Australia not far behind on two Golds, two Silvers and two Bronzes, with Germany just one Bronze medal behind in third place. Ireland are the surprise package so far in 4th place thanks to Martyn Irvine’s Gold and Silver double on Day 2.
trackcycling’s coverage of the 2013 World Track Championships is supported by V-Sprint
trackcycling’s coverage of the 2013 World Track Championships is supported by V-Sprint
Women’s Sprint
After her third place in yesterday’s 500m Time Trial, it was Rebecca James of Great Britain who was fastest over 200m – setting a personal best of 10.957 – her first time under 11 seconds. Wai Sze Lee of Hong Kong – Gold medalist over two laps – was only third on 11.070 with Kristina Vogel of Germany splitting those two to take second spot on 11.057.
Those three were given a ‘ride over’ from the first round which largely went with qualifying form. In the 1/8 Finals, the three top seeds progressed automatically but Kaarle McCulloch of Australia (beaten by Lee), Miriam Welte of Germany and Jinjie Gong of China all headed to the Repechages – with Gong and McCulloch taking the two available Quarter Final spots.
There was no need for any deciders in the Quarter Finals with James comfortably beating McCulloch in two, Lee defeating Australian Stephanie Morton and Shuang Guo despatching Virginie Cueff of France. That left the second and fourth fastest qualifiers to face each other and it was Vogel that won out, sending Gong to the 5-8 Final, which she won.
That set up two intriguing Semi Finals with fastest qualifier James facing pre-race favourite Guo and Team Sprint World Champion Vogel to face 500m World Champion Lee.
200m Qualifying
1 Rebecca Angharad JAMES GBR 10.957
2 Kristina VOGEL GER 11.057
3 Wai Sze LEE HKG 11.070
4 Jinjie GONG CHN 11.135
5 Shuang GUO CHN 11.142
6 Stephanie MORTON AUS 11.172
7 Miriam WELTE GER 11.189
8 Olivia MONTAUBAN FRA 11.208
9 Virginie CUEFF FRA 11.222
10 Kaarle MCCULLOCH AUS 11.238
11 Juliana GAVIRIA COL 11.345
12 Victoria WILLIAMSON GBR 11.360
13 Lisandra GUERRA RODRIGUEZ CUB 11.394
14 Tania CALVO BARBERO ESP 11.398
15 Olga STRELTSOVA RUS 11.426
16 Anastasiia VOINOVA RUS 11.453
17 Elena BREJNIVA RUS 11.472
18 Helena CASAS ROIGE ESP 11.541
19 Kayono MAEDA JPN 11.605
20 Hiroko ISHII JPN 11.674
21 Olena TSOS UKR 11.710
Quarter Finals
Heat 1
Rebecca Angharad JAMES GBR **
Kaarle MCCULLOCH AUS
Heat 2
Kristina VOGEL GER **
Jinjie GONG CHN
Heat 3
Wai Sze LEE HKG **
Stephanie MORTON AUS
Heat 4
Shuang GUO CHN **
Virginie CUEFF FRA
Minor Final
5 Jinjie GONG CHN
6 Stephanie MORTON AUS
7 Kaarle MCCULLOCH AUS
8 Virginie CUEFF FRA
Semi Final Draw
Heat 1
Rebecca Angharad JAMES GBR
Shuang GUO CHN
Heat 2
Kristina VOGEL GER
Wai Sze LEE HKG
Men’s Keirin
With only two going through from each heat, there are always some upsets in the Men’s Keirin and the biggest surprise in the First Round was Jason Kenny of Great Britain who could only manage third behind Tobias Wachter of Germany and the impressive Matthijs Buchli of the Netherlands. The other favourites – Simon van Velthooven of New Zealand, Max Levy of Germany and Francois Pervis of France all won their heats.
Kenny made the most of the Repechages and progressed to the Second Round, where the top three went through to the Final. Boxed in, he came fourth but Pervis was adjudged to have come down on him and was relegated.
Nothing about Kenny’s Keirin competition had been easy. Until the Final. Squeezing on the power at the bell he simply cruised past the field and took the Gold medal comfortably from Levy and Buchli.
GOLD Jason KENNY GBR
SILVER Maximilian LEVY GER
BRONZE Matthijs BUCHLI NED
Men’s Omnium
I – Flying Lap
The story of the opening event of the Men’s Omnium couldn’t be simpler. Aaron Gate of New Zealand went first, stormed round the track in a very impressive 13.109 seconds and, naturally, went to the top of the leaderboard. And stayed there.
Olympic Champion Lasse Norman Hansen of Denmark went close with a 13.121. Reigning World Champion Glenn O’Shea wasn’t far behind on 13.173, but it was Gate who was still on top at the end of the session.
1 Aaron GATE NZL 13.109
2 Lasse Norman HANSEN DEN 13.121
3 Glenn O’SHEA AUS 13.173
4 Lucas LISS GER 13.183
5 Artur ERSHOV RUS 13.323
6 Hao LIU CHN 13.349
II – Points Race
The Points race was frantic and overall leader Gate was always at the heart of the action but it was O’Shea that racked up the points – winning the opening Sprint then taking second place in Sprint 3. He didn’t contest Sprint 4 and was behind Elorriaga of Spain briefly, but he then scored in five of the next six sprints and went in to the final sprint with only Vivien Brisse of France who roode a strong middle section of the race capable of catching him.
Tim Veldt of the Netherlands won the final gallop and Brisse failed to score, ensuring a deserved win for O’Shea. Hansen’s second place moved in the final sprint him up to second place in the race and left O’Shea and Hansentied on 4 points in the overall Omnium standings. Gate’s 8th place dropped him down the order, but there wasn’t much in it on points.
1 Glenn O’SHEA AUS 18 points
2 Lasse Norman HANSEN DEN 14
3 Vivien BRISSE FRA 13
4 Unai ELORRIAGA ZUBIAUR ESP 12
5 Ho Ting KWOK HKG 10
6 Jasper DE BUYST BEL 9
III – Elimination Race
A reasonably straightforward Elimination race saw only two moments of controversy. Jon Dibben of Great Britain was eliminated for overtaking on the inside, under pressure from Gate who was lunging for a gap, which seemed a little harsh. And Hao Lui of China was disqualified from the entire Omnium for not coming out on the appointed lap. He was about half a lap late and, again, we think the punishment is a little harsh. For riders who persistently ignore the red light, disqualification might be warranted, but for those who miss it in the heat of the action and come out 250m late, we think a relegation is more appropriate.
Anyway, that was, pretty much, that. Hansen went out with six riders remaining – which was good for the overall competition – and O’Shea was the last rider out before the sprint – which Veldt took from Gate.
1 Tim VELDT NED
2 Aaron GATE NZL
3 Glenn O’SHEA AUS
4 Lucas LISS GER
5 Ho Ting KWOK HKG
6 Lasse Norman HANSEN DEN
The result of the Elimination race left O’Shea still the clear favourite, but Hansen and Gate are still in contention for the win and Velt and Lucas Liss of Germany still, just about, in the hunt for a medal.
Standings After 3 Events
1 Glenn O’SHEA AUS 7
2 Lasse Norman HANSEN DEN 10
3 Aaron GATE NZL 11
4 Tim VELDT NED 17
5 Lucas LISS GER 18
6 Artur ERSHOV RUS 24
Women’s Scratch Race
Katazyna Pawlowska of Poland dominated the Wo
men’s Scratch, controlling the race and going clear with Sofia Arreola of Mexico and Caroline Ryan of Ireland inside the last ten laps. It did look as though Ireland might pick up a historic third medal, but Ryan faded in the last lap and slipped out of the medal places. Arreola held on after a gutsy ride to take Silver and the home crowd were delighted with a relatively local medal as Evganiya Romanyuta of Russia took the Bronze.
GOLD Katarzyna PAWLOWSKA POL
SILVER Sofia ARREOLA NAVARRO MEX
BRONZE Evgeniya ROMANYUTA RUS
Men’s Points Race
Without a doubt, the best race of the week so far was the Men’s Points Race. Two riders lit up the track – one taking the ultimate reward the other, by virtue of failing to take a lap with the breakaway group, took nothing.
Andres Graf of Austria spent more time on the head of the race than any other rider and scored more points in sprints than any other rider. He came very close to taking a solo lap in the first third of the race, but just couldn’t quite close the last quarter of the distance to the bunch. By the end he’d won three of the 16 sprints, taken secons place in two and third in another to rack up 23 points. It would only be good enough for sixth place.
When Milan Kadlec of the Czech Republic, Eloy Teruel of Spain, Kirill Sveshnikov of Russia and Simon Yates of Great Britain slipped away between sprints 7 and 8 and took the lap it left Kadlec, Teruel and Yates tied on 26 points but it was Teruel who made the most of the opportunity, picking up eight points over the next six sprints – in contrast to Kadlec who only managed two and Yates who could only notch up one fourth place.
The Yates moved into another gear. He took another fourth in the antepenultimate sprint and won the next one. That left him a point behind Teruel but, by now, the race was split in two and Teruel was in the second group.
Thomas Boudat of France had slipped off the front and, although, he was no threat to the overall, it mean that Yates needed be first or second in the bunch sprint – and hope Teruel failed to score. The Briton rocketed down the back straight and left the rest of the field for dead, followig Boudat home in second place. Teruel gave it everything, but could only manage seventh and had to settle for Silver as Yates leapfrogged him to take win by a single point. Sveshnikov took the Bronze for Russia.
GOLD Simon YATES GBR 35
SILVER Eloy TERUEL ROVIRA ESP 34
BRONZE Kirill SVESHNIKOV RUS 30
trackcycling’s coverage of the 2013 World Track Championships is supported by V-Sprint
