Five titles were decided at the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome in Glasgow on the second night of competition in the UCI Juniors Track World Championships – the Men’s Keirin, the Men’s Scratch Race, the Men’s Individual Pursuit, the Women’s 500m Time Trial and the Women’s Team Pursuit. And there were three World Records broken (OK, the same one was broken three times…)
Men’s Scratch Race
Training schedules mean that the riders at a major championship rarely get to see the other races. You have to wonder, though, if Manuel Porzner of Germany had watched Colombia’s Jessica Parra take the Women’s Scratch Race last night. Like Parra, Porzner put the win beyond date with 10 laps to go by lapping the field – although, unlike Parra, it was his first attempt and he made the junction in just a couple of laps.
The group probably regretted not making the effort to chase him down, but it was too late. Josh Haggerty of New Zealand won the bunch sprint for second with Cristian Cornejo of Chile.
GOLD PORZNER Manuel GER
SILVER HAGGERTY Joshua NZL -1 lap
BRONZE CORNEJO Cristian CHI
4 DESTANG Lucas FRA
5 NAVARRO Nicolas Oscar ARG
6 TSISHCHANKA Hardzei BLR
7 SOULIOS Zisis GRE
8 PLEBANI Davide ITA
9 OSE? VERTEZ Matthias BEL
10 ANDREEV Maxim RUS
11 KLEVANOV Nikita KAZ
12 OLSEN Emil Ravnsholt DEN
13 HELIS Ludek CZE
14 WELSFORD Sam AUS
15 PAULS Jevandre RSA
16 SELENATI Nico SUI
17 OLIVEIRA Ivo Emanuel Alv POR
18 SADLER Jack IRL
DNF SHIRMUKHAMEDOV Yuriy UZB DNF
DNS MORIGUCHI Hiroki JPN DNS
Men’s Individual Pursuit
Pavel Chursin of Russia took the Bronze with what looked like a pretty comfortable match against Matt Gibson of Great Britain. Ahead at every stage, he gradually eased away from the young Briton to finish three seconds up.
The result of the Gold medal final was almost a carbon copy of the Bronze medal ride – both winners clocking short 3:21 times, both three seconds ahead of their rivals – but the races were very different. Zac Shaw got off to a blistering start and was two seconds ahead of his Australian team mate at the 1km point Callum Scotson. Scotson wasn’t quite finished yet, and clawed back a second in the middle third of the race. He couldn’t sustaint the challenge, though, and faded in the last four laps, dropping another two seconds by the end.
Finals
GOLD SHAW Zachary AUS 3:21.1220
SILVER SCOTSON Callum AUS 3:24.1340
BRONZE CHURSIN Pavel RUS 3:21.3940
4 GIBSON Matthew GBR 3:24.0460
Women’s Team Pursuit
The Team Pursuit is a relatively new event in women’s cycling and, as a result, the World Record evolved rapidly. During the course of 2011 and 2012 it changed hands between Great Britain, Australia and Canada – often several times in one evening’s competition.
And now the UCI had changed the format to bring the Women’s even in to line with the Men’s. Four riders now ride for 4km – a format described to me by one coach as ridiculous. Women, he said, simply don’t have the aerobic capacity.
And in the first few heats of this morning’s competition, you might even reluctantly, have thought he had a point. The first few nations struggled with the discipline – although, to be honest, it looked more like unfamiliarity than physical difficulty.
Then the times started to tumble and the teams that have had the luxury of spending time together on indoor velodromes to perfect the technique started to make it all look rather easy. The Great Britain smashed Italy’s three week old record and Australia were on course to smash it again until a crash in the closing stages ended their hopes of a ride for the Gold Medal.
Determined to salvage some pride – and make a point – the Aussies caught the Italians in the Bronze medal ride and shaved a little off World Record. The gauntlet was thrown down.
In the final Russia was inside yesterday’s World Record but the Great Britain quartet of Emily Kay, Emily Nelson, Amy Hill and Hayley Jones were on another level. Behind the Australian’s splits at the halfway mark they drew level with four laps to got – then took another two seconds off the record by the finish to give the home team its second title of the week.
Finals
GOLD Great Britain 4:36.147 WR
SILVER Russia RUS 4:39.122
BRONZE Australia AUS 4:38.108
4 Italy ITA OVR
Women’s 500m Time Trial
Dannielle Khan of Great Britain went off early in the Women’s 500m Time Trial and clocked an impressive time of 35.456. She then had a nervous wait as the later riders attempted to knock her off the top of the time sheets. Australia’s Tian Beckett – Team Sprint Gold Medalist the previous evening – came close with a 36.132 before the European Champion Meliddandre Pain took to the track. She could only manage a 35.926, though and Khan was crowned Great Britain’s first World Champion of the week.
GOLD KHAN Dannielle GBR 35.456
SILVER PAIN Melissandre FRA 35.926 +0.470
BRONZE BECKETT Tian AUS 36.132 +0.676
4 KISELEVA Tatiana RUS 36.240 +0.784
5 HEINZE Doreen GER 36.298 +0.842
6 DEGRENDELE Nicky BEL 36.484 +1.028
7 BAYONA Martha COL 36.627 +1.171
8 JANG Yeonhee KOR 36.648 +1.192
9 SALAZAR Jessica MEX 36.793 +1.337
10 KIM Soojin KOR 37.055 +1.599
11 DEBORAH Deborah IND 37.443 +1.987
12 ROGOVAYA Ekaterina RUS 37.625 +2.169
13 CHENG Yu Hsiu TPE 37.733 +2.277
14 VAN DEVENTER Odette RSA 39.378 +3.922
15 LATZGO Nadia USA 39.624 +4.168
16 BHATIA Shannon USA 41.487 +6.031
17 MELLOR Rachel Kaye IRL 41.687 +6.231
18 PRIESTLEY Hayley IRL 42.018 +6.562
Men’s Keirin
Sergei Gorlov of Russia was third in his Second Round Keirin but he was unbeatable in the Final. Lining up alongside team mate Aleksandr Dubchenko – who won his Semi Final after making his way through the Repechags – French riders Thomas Copponi and Benjamin Gil, Czech Joroslav Snasel and Korea’s Jeahee Jung, the battling for position first time off saw a minor spill and a restart.
Gorlov took second place in the line behind Copponi, who led out the sprint when Davie Urquhart pulled the Derny off the track. At the bell, the Frenchman was still ahead but Gorlov had given himself space and rushed the gap to his opponent, coming round him as he faded and pulling through Snasel and team mate Dubchenko to take the minor medals.
Second Round
Semi Final 1
1 DUBCHENKO Aleksandr RUS
2 COPPONI Thomas FRA
3 JUNG Jeahee KOR
4 ANGSUTHASAWIT Jai AUS
5 JONAUSKAS Svajunas LTU
6 SAHROM Muhammad Shah F MAS
Heat 2
1 SNASEL Jaroslav CZE
2 GIL Benjamin FRA
3 GORLOV Sergej RUS
4 ZAITSAU Artsiom BLR
5 PRESBURY Jeremy NZL
6 BORCHJES Kyle RSA
Finals
GOLD GORLOV Sergej RUS
SILVER SNASEL Jaroslav CZE
BRONZE DUBCHENKO Aleksandr RUS
4 GIL Benjamin FRA
5 COPPONI Thomas FRA
6 JUNG Jeahee KOR
7 ANGSUTHASAWIT Jai AUS
8 ZAITSAU Artsiom BLR
9 JONAUSKAS Svajunas LTU
10 SAHROM Muhammad Shah F MAS
11 PRESBURY Jeremy NZL
