The penultimate session in Guadalajara saw the two timed events on the Omniums – the 500m/1km and the Flying Lap as well as qualifying and the opening rounds of the Men’s Sprint and the Women’s Keirin. They do like to pakc a lot into two days, the UCI!
Men’s Sprint
It was the turn of the women on the previous day, and now it was the turn of the men to contest the sprint. With 42 riders on the start sheet, there was some doubt that even the most efficient track officials could get through that number of riders in the allotted hour. The fastest 24 riders would qualify for the 1/16 final.
Dutchman Nils Van’t Hoenderaal started off proceeding with, what turned out to be later, a modest 10.068. It took just five rides before the first sub-10 minute ride was ridden, which came from Japanese rider Kazurnari Watanbe (9.999). When Britain’s Philip Hindes rode 9.898 just one ride later, it was clear that we were going to be in for some exceptionally speedy qualifying heats. Peter Lewis (Jayco-AIS) was the nineteenth competitor to take to the line, and his ride of 9.747 looked to be unbeatable. Michael D’Almeida (France) also dipped below 9.8 seconds (9.790), with Nikita Shurshin lowering the bar further to 9.781 just two rides later. When Stefan Bottinger (Germany) rode a 9.768 which teammate Robert Forsteman, Briton Jason Kenny and Kiwi Edward Dawkins were unable to better, the only competitor who had the potential of going faster was surely only Matthew Glaetzer, the Australian national sprint champion and Commonwealth Games Keirin gold medallist. Starting last, Glaetzer flew around the track to record a mightily impressive time of 9.516 – some two-tenths of a second faster than second placed Lewis. Incredibly, we do believe this may be the second fastest ride ever – only bettered by Francois Pervis at altitude in Aguascalientes, Mexico in December 2013.
Rather amazingly, the officials could have set the qualifying criteria to allow all those riding sub-10 seconds to qualify as exactly 24 riders rode sub-10 – with Watanbe the last qualifier with 9.999 seconds. Indeed, the qualifying heats are some of the fastest we have ever witnessed.
Qualifying
1 Matthew GLAETZER AUSTRALIA 9.516
2 Peter LEWIS JAYCO-AIS 9.747
3 Stefan BOTTICHER GERMANY 9.768
4 Robert FORSTEMANN GERMANY 9.774
5 Edward DAWKINS NEW ZEALAND 9.780
6 Nikita SHURSHIN RUSSIA 9.781
7 Michael D’ALMEIDA FRANCE 9.790
8 Kevin SIREAU FRANCE 9.824
9 Seiichiro NAKAGAWA Japan 9.831
10 Jason KENNY GREAT BRITAIN
11 Pavel KELEMAN CZECH REPUBLIC 9.835
12 Hersony CANELON VENEZUELA 9.844
13 Damian ZIELINSKI POLAND 9.846
14 Juan PERALTA GASCON SPAIN 9.893
15 Philip HINES GREAT BRITAIN 9.898
16 Sam WEBSTER NEW ZEALAND 9.898
17 Fabien Hernando PUERTA ZAPATA COLOMBIA 9.913
18 Jacob SCHMID AUSTRALIA 9.944
19 Hugo HAAK NETHERLANDS 9.946
20 Erik BALZER TEAM ERDGAS.2012 9.965
21 Mateusz LIPA POLAND 9.986
20 Erik BALZER TEAM ERDGAS.2012 9.965
21 Mateusz LIPA POLAND 9.986
22 Adam PTACNIK CZECH REPUBLIC 9.988
23 Santiago RAMIREZ COLOMBIA 9.992
24 Kazunari WATANABE JAPAN 9.999
The 1/16 finals went with form for the first two heats, with Glaetzer and Lewis eliminating Watanbe and Ramirez. The first upset looked to be in the third heat, where Ptacnik beat Botticher across the line. Ptacnik found himself relegated, however, so Botticher took the heat. A strong ride by Team Erdgas’ Erik Balzer saw him eliminate one of the event’s strongest sprinters, New Zealander Edward Dawkins. Dawkins’ teammate, Sam Webster, did manage to proceed to the 1/8 finals with an impressive surge in the final straight to pass Nakagawa. British riders Jason Kenny and Philip Hindes were seeded against each other in heat 10, and it was Kenny who got the better of Hindes on this occasion.
1/16 finals – Heat winners who qualify for 1/8 finals
1 Matthew GLAETZER AUSTRALIA
2 Peter LEWIS JAYCO-AIS
3 Stefan BOTTICHER GERMANY
4 Robert FORSTEMANN GERMANY
5 Erik BALZER TEAM ERDGAS.2012
6 Nikita SHURSHIN RUSSIA
7 Michael D’ALMEIDA FRANCE
8 Fabien Hernando PUERTA ZAPATA COLOMBIA
9 Sam WEBSTER NEW ZEALAND
10 Jason KENNY GREAT BRITAIN
11 Pavel KELEMAN CZECH REPUBLIC
12 Hersony CANELON VENEZUELA
The first of the 1/8 finals saw Glaetzer easy knock Canelon into the repechages, with Keleman taking the surprise win in the second heat from New Zealand’s Webster. Kenny took a safe win from Botticher, with Forstemann, Puerta Zapata and d’Almeida taking the remaining heats.
1/8 finals – Heat winners who qualify for quarter finals
1 Matthew GLAETZER AUSTRALIA
2 Pavel KELEMAN CZECH REPUBLIC
3 Jason KENNY GREAT BRITAIN
4 Robert FORSTEMANN GERMANY
5 Fabien Hernando PUERTA ZAPATA COLOMBIA
6 Michael D’ALMEIDA FRANCE
Two heats of three riders contested the 1/8 finals repechage. The first heat was controlled by Sam Webster (NZL) throughout and it was of little surprise that he crossed the line first. A fine display of sprinting saw Peter Lewis (Jayco-AIS) triumph in the second heat.
1/8 finals repechages – Heat winners who qualify for quarter finals
1 Sam WEBSTER NEW ZEALAND
2 Peter LEWIS JAYCO-AIS
In a repeat of the women’s sprint competition the previous day, all four quarter finals were won in just two races. Glaetzer defeated Lewis to proceed to the semifinals, with Webster getting his revenge on Keleman for knocking him into the repechages to take both races in the second heat. Kenny, who looks to be riding at a standard last seen in London 2012, knocked d’Almeida out, whilst Puerta Zapata knocked out the great German Forstemann in the closest heat of the quarter finals.
Quarter finals – Heat winners who qualify for semi finals
1 Matthew GLAETZER AUSTRALIA
2 Sam WEBSTER NEW ZEALAND
3 Jason KENNY GREAT BRITAIN
4 Fabien Hernando PUERTA ZAPATA COLOMBIA
Women’s Omnium
The first women’s omnium event of the day was the 500m time trial. With the gold, silver and bronze medallists at this year’s world championships not contesting the omnium, the event result was hard to call. Minami Uwano of Japan, who had enjoyed some success in the previous day’s races, was listed as a DNS on the startsheet.
Elissa Wundersitz (Australia) was the first to ride, and set a reasonable benchmark time of 36.549. It took until the third heat for this ride to be challenged, with Ausrine Trebaite (Lithuania) clocking 36.327 and China’s Yuanyuan Tian, a relative unknown on the track, stopping the clock with an impressive 35.945. Malgorzata Wojtyra (Poland) was seeded against Sarah Hammer (USA) and, whilst Hammer was unable to trouble the top of the table with 36.567, Wojtyra went a third of a second faster than Tian to clock 35.643. Marlies Mejias Garcia (Cuba) rode an exceptional 34.808 to take the lead in the penultimate heat and Jolien D’Hoore was unable to better this in the final heat.
Women’s Omnium IV – 500m Time Trial
1 Marlies MEJIAS GARCIA CUBA 34.808
2 Jolien D’HOORE BELGIUM 35.299
3 Malgorzata WOJTYRA POLAND 35.643
4 Yuanyuan TIAN CHINA 35.945
5 Simona FRAPPORTI ITALY 36.121
6 Anna Knauer GERMANY 36.141
The final women’s omnium event of the evening was the flying lap. Xiao Juan Diao (Hong Kong) was the first to dip below 13.5 seconds, clocking a 14.463 in the third ride of the event. However, it was those at the top of the leaderboard in the omnium competition who rode the fastest times of the evening. Kirsten Wild (Netherlands) who has done very little on the track all year clocked a fast 14.120. However, Marlies Mejias Garcia (Cuba) showed that she is as strong over 250m as she is over 500m, clocking the fastest time (13.887 seconds) in the penultimate ride. Competition leader, Jolien D’Hoore (Belgium) rode well – but could only muster a time two hundredths of a second slower and had to settle for second place.
Women’s Omnium V – 250m Flying Lap
1 Marlies MEJIAS GARCIA CUBA 13.887
2 Jolien D’HOORE BELGIUM 13.910
3 Kirstin WILD NETHERLANDS 14.120
4 Sarah HAMMER UNITED STATES 14.164
5 Anna Knauer GERMANY 14.214
6 Malgorzata WOJTYRA POLAND 14.267
Men’s Omnium
The first event of the men’s omnium programme for the evening was the kilo. Oliver Beer of Switzerland set the benchmark with a time of 1:02.740. Casper Phillip Pedersen, clocked 1:02.815 two heats later which was a sure demonstration of the maturity and talent of the young Dane who is barely out of the junior ranks. Cameron Karwowski (New Zealand) was the first rider to ride a 61 second time, clocking a fast 1:01.415 with two heats remaining. With Australian Glenn O’Shea unable to better it in the following heat with a time of 1:02.411, all eyes were on U23 European Omnium Champion Lucas Liss (Germany) who was riding in the final heat and was a known fast kilo rider. Liss delivered to the hype, riding the
four laps in just 1:01.381 – a time which would have earned him ninth place in the world championships in the kilo event.
Men’s Omnium IV – 1km Time Trial
1 Lucas LISS GERMANY 1:01.381
2 Cameron KARWOWSKI NEW ZEALAND 1:01.415
3 Glenn O’SHEA AUSTRALIA 1:02.411
4 Olivier BEER SWITZERLAND 1:02.740
5 Casper Philip PEDERSEN DENMARK 1:02.815
6 Bobby LEA UNITED STATES 1:03.030
The omnium 250m flying lap was the final event of the session. Vivien Brisse (France) set the benchmark at 13.349 in the first ride. Casper Phillip Pedersen of Denmark once again impressed, putting in the first sub-13 second lap of the event (12.914). Elia Viviani (Italy) managed to lower the bar with a 12.869 ride. In the end, it was Kiwi Cameron Karwowski put in the fastest ride of the night, clocking the only >70kph ride with a time of 12.824 seconds. Competition leader, Liss, finished in fourth with 12.937.
Men’s Omnium V – 250m Flying Lap
1 Cameron KARWOWSKI NEW ZEALAND 12.824
2 Elia VIVIANI ITALY 12.869
3 Casper Philip PEDERSEN DENMARK 12.914
4 Lucas LISS GERMANY 12.937
5 Glenn O’SHEA AUSTRALIA 13.076
6 Hao Liu CHINA 13.103
Women’s Keirin
It was a pleasant surprise to see Germany’s Miriam Welte back on the track to contest the keirin after a nasty bout of food poisoning the previous day. And whatever treatment she was given must have worked as she breezed through to win the first keirin heat. Tianshi Zhong (China 361o Cycling Team) took the second heat, with Simona Krupeckaite of Lithuania impressively holding off both Shuang Guo (Max Success Pro Cycling) and Anna Meares (Jayco-AIS) to take the win by a definitive margin. Anastasiia Voinova (Russia) took the fourth heat with relative ease, with Elis Ligtlee stamping her authority to triumph in the fifth. A slightly late retiring derny caused problems once more in the sixth heat, with Mexican rider Daniela Gaxiola Gonzalez Luz blamed – and subsequently disqualified – for the restart, despite vocal protestations from the home crowd. Elena Brejniva (Rusvelo) took the win in the final heat.
First round heats – Heat winners who qualify for second round
1 Miriam WELTE GERMANY
2 Tianshi ZHONG China 361o Cycling Team
3 Simona KRUPECKAITE LITHUANIA
4 Anastasiia VOINOVA RUSSIA
5 Elis LIGTELEE NETHERLANDS
6 Elena BREJNIVA RUSVELO
The much hated repechages rounds formed the only other keirin event of the session, with 25 riders on the startsheet to contest for six second round places in six heats. Tania Calvo Barbero (Spain) timed the first heat to perfection to take the win, whilst Fatehah Mustapa (YSD Track Team) breezed through the second heat. Shuang Guo impressively won the third heat by three-quarters of a second, whilst Anna Meares (Jayco-AIS) defeated Jessica Varnish (GBR) by just a single thousandth of a second – a heartbreak moment for Varnish. Stephanie Morton (AUS) took the fifth heat, with Canadian Monique Sullivan comfortably taking the final heat.
First round repechages – Heat winners who qualify for second round
1 Tania Calvo Barbero Spain
2 Fatehah Mustapa YSD Track Team
3 Shuang GUO MAX SUCCESS PRO CYCLING
4 Anna MEARES JAYCO-AIS
5 Stephanie MORTON AUSTRALIA
6 Monique SULLIVAN CANADA
