UCI Track Cycling World Championships 2017 – Day 2 Report

Report and results from the second day of competition at the Hong Kong Velodrome

Women

Sprint

Qualifying

Hong Kong’s Wing Yu Ma kicked off the 200m Time Trials and, sadly for the home crowd, she would be the only one of the 29 starters not to qualify for the round of 16, although one of her compatriots would give the crowd rather more to cheer for later in the session.

Junhong Lin of China wen next and clocked a very respectable 11.169 which is the kind of time that would normally give an early starter a decent spell on top of the leaderboard. Mathilde Gros of France had other ideas, though and, in the very next heat, was the first of nine riders to break the 11 second barrier.

Heat 6 saw Pauline Grabosch of Germany join the club with a 10.967, which put her second at the time – until Natasha Hansen of New Zealand squeezed into second with a 10.945. Kaarle McCulloch of Australia took over third a couple of heats later with a 10.962 and then we had a lull until Stephanie Morton of Australia took to the track in Heat 20. The Commonwealth Sprint Champion clocked 10.724 to go a tenth clear at the top – with Sarah Lee of Hong Kong coming within a whisker of topping the times, slotting into second on 10.764.

Simona Krupeckaite of Lithunia (10.937) and Anastasiia Voinova of Russia (10.975) both went sub-11 – with Krupeckaite qualifying for the last of the four round of 16 byes until the penultimate heat when a 10.816 put Kristina Vogel of Germany third. Tania Calvo of Spain in the final heat couldn’t trouble the leaders, so it was Morton, Lee, Vogel and Gros who got the free pass.

Results
1 MORTON Stephanie AUS 10.724
2 LEE Wai Sze HKG 10.764
3 VOGEL Kristina GER 10.816
4 GROS Mathilde FRA 10.826

5 KRUPECKAITE Simona LTU 10.937
6 HANSEN Natasha NZL 10.945
7 MCCULLOCH Kaarle AUS 10.962
8 GRABOSCH Pauline Sophie GER 10.967
9  VOINOVA Anastasiia RUS 10.975
10 SHMELEVA Daria RUS 11.012
11 BASOVA Liubov UKR 11.044
12 BAYONA PINEDA Martha COL 11.062
13 TAKOS Holly AUS 11.075
14 O’BRIEN Kate CAN 11.106
15 MAROZAITE Migle LTU 11.147
16 MARCHANT Katy GBR 11.151
17 LIN Junhong CHN 11.169
18 VAN RIESSEN Laurine NED 11.176
19 BRASPENNINCX Shanne NED 11.209
20 LEE Hyejin KOR 11.239
21 DEGRENDELE Nicky BEL 11.248
22 KIM Won Gyeong KOR 11.253
23 HINZE Emma GER 11.255
24 CALVO BARBERO Tania ESP 11.336
25 STARIKOVA Olena UKR 11.397
26 GAVIRIA RENDON Juliana COL 11.569
27 CASAS ROIGE Helena ESP 11.761
28 DEBORAH Deborah IND 11.807

1/16 Finals

The first eight heats in the ‘round of 16’ (which has 24 riders in…) went to qualifying form with Krupeckaite, Hansen, McCulloch, Grabosch, Voinova, Daria Shmeleva of Russia, Liubov Basova of Ukraine and Martha Bayona of Colombia all going through to the 1/8 Finals.

20^th fastest qualifier Hyejin Lee of Korea knocked out young Holly Takos of Australia who had qualified impressively in 13^th, before the predictive power of qualifying was restored as Kate O’Brien of Canada (14^th) knocked out Shanne Braspennincx of the Netherlands (19^th).

The last few heats match riders who were very close in qualifying, so  Laurine van Riessen of the Netherlands victory over Migle Marozaite of Lithuania (18^th vs 15^th) and Lin’s win over Katy Marchant of Great Britain (17^th vs 16^th) weren’t exactly upsets…

Results
Heat 1
1 KRUPECKAITE Simona LTU Winner
2 238 DEBORAH Deborah IND +0.134

Heat 2
1 HANSEN Natasha NZL Winner
2 CASAS ROIGE Helena ESP +0.080

Heat 3
1 MCCULLOCH Kaarle AUS Winner
2 GAVIRIA RENDON Juliana COL +0.358

Heat 4
1 GRABOSCH Pauline Sophie GER Winner
2 STARIKOVA Olena UKR +0.063

Heat 5
1 VOINOVA Anastasiia RUS Winner
2 CALVO BARBERO Tania ESP +1.492

Heat 6
1 SHMELEVA Daria RUS Winner
2 HINZE Emma GER +0.198

Heat 7
1 BASOVA Liubov UKR Winner
2 KIM Won Gyeong KOR +0.143

Heat 8
1 BAYONA PINEDA Martha COL Winner
2 DEGRENDELE Nicky BEL +0.015

Heat 9
1 LEE Hyejin KOR Winner
2 TAKOS Holly AUS +0.013

Heat 10
1 O’BRIEN Kate CAN Winner
2 BRASPENNINCX Shanne NED +0.048

Heat 11
1 VAN RIESSEN Laurine NED Winner
2 MAROZAITE Migle LTU +0.089

Heat 12
1 LIN Junhong CHN Winner
2 MARCHANT Katy GBR +0.028

1/8 Finals

The first four heats saw the top four qualifiers enter the competition and Morton, Lee, Vogel and Gros all progressed to the Quarter Finals without incident. Krupeckaite saw off Bayona and McCulloch eliminated Shmeleva – in line with their seeding, while Basova and Voinova both overcame faster opponents (Hansen and Grabosch) to progress.

Results
Heat 1
1 MORTON Stephanie AUS Winner
2 LIN Junhong CHN +0.103

Heat 2
1 LEE Wai Sze HKG Winner
2 VAN RIESSEN Laurine NED +0.091

Heat 3
1 VOGEL Kristina GER Winner
2 O’BRIEN Kate CAN +0.352

Heat 4
1 GROS Mathilde FRA Winner
2 LEE Hyejin KOR +0.092

Heat 5
1 KRUPECKAITE Simona LTU Winner
2 BAYONA PINEDA Martha COL +0.021

Heat 6
1 BASOVA Liubov UKR Winner
2 HANSEN Natasha NZL +0.099

Heat 7
1 MCCULLOCH Kaarle AUS Winner
2 SHMELEVA Daria RUS +0.050

Heat 8
1 VOINOVA Anastasiia RUS Winner
2 GRABOSCH Pauline Sophie GER +0.021

Quarter Finals

All the Quarter Finals were settled in two riders, with the top three seeds progressing to the Semi Finals. The only reverse occurred in Heat 4 where Krupeckaite’s experience overcame Gros – but the two had been separated by just a tenth of a second in qualifying.

Results
Heat 1
1 MORTON Stephanie AUS **
2 VOINOVA Anastasiia RUS +0.033 +0.002

Heat 2
1 LEE Wai Sze HKG **
2 MCCULLOCH Kaarle AUS +0.213 +0.068

Heat 3
1 VOGEL Kristina GER **
2 BASOVA Liubov UKR +0.140 +0.015

Heat 4
1 KRUPECKAITE Simona LTU **
2 GROS Mathilde FRA +0.001 +0.116

Team Pursuit

First Round

New Zealand had qualified three seconds faster than France yesterday and Michaela Drummond, Racquel Sheath, Rushlee Buchanan and Jaime Nielsen weren’t going to be denied their shot at a medal. They managed to shave another two seconds off their qualifying time, while Elise Delzenne, Laurie Berthon, Marion Borras and Coralie Demay were more than half a second off their qualifying performance.

The Great Britain quarter of Eleanor Dickinson, Elinor Barker, Manon Lloyd and Emily Nelson sent a personl best to qualify fifth and got within a tenth of that again today – 12 seconds ahead of Poland. Going in to the final two heats, New Zealand were in pole position for the Bronze medal ride, but with GB just a second and a half behind.

Australia were always going to have to work hard to secure a place in the Gold Medal ride. Amy Cure, Ashlee Ankudinoff, Alexandra Manly and Rebecca Wiasak clocked 4:18.659 yesterday, but Jasmin Duehring, Laura Brown, Annie Foreman-Mackey and Kirsti Lay had been right behind them on 4:19.515.

The heat was close – and neither team could match yesterday’s times. Australia took it in the end with a 4:20.041 but Canada’s 4:22.446 was slower than both New Zealand and Great Britain. New Zealand were in the Bronze medal ride, Canada were out – and Great Britain would have to wait to see what happened in the final heat.

The result was never in doubt. Kelly Catlin, Chloe Dygert, Kimberly Geist and Jennifer Valente were a second off their qualifying pace – and Elisa Balsamo, Simona Frapporti, Tatiana Guderzo and Silvia Valsecchi pushed them hard –  but the time was immaterial to the USA, who were in the Gold medal ride. Italy clocked 4:19.958 – the second best time of the session – which put them into the Bronze medal ride, leaving Great Britain in fifth overall.

Results
Heat 1
1 New Zealand (DRUMMOND Michaela, SHEATH Racquel, BUCHANAN Rushlee, NIELSEN Jaime) 4:20.171 Qualified for Bronze
2 France (DELZENNE Elise, BERTHON Laurie, BORRAS Marion, DEMAY Coralie) 4:26.434

Heat 2
1 Great Britain (BARKER Elinor, DICKINSON Eleanor, LLOYD Manon, NELSON Emily) 4:21.681
2 Poland (PIKULIK Daria, RUTKOWSKA Natalia, KACZKOWSKA Justyna, ROZYNSKA Nikola) 4:33.237

Heat 3
1 Australia (CURE Amy, ANKUDINOFF Ashlee, MANLY Alexandra, WIASAK Rebecca) 4:20.041 Qualified for Gold
2 Canada 4:22.446 (DUEHRING Jasmin, BROWN Laura, FOREMAN-MACKEY Annie, LAY Kirsti)

Heat 4
1 United States (CATLIN Kelly, DYGERT Chloe, GEIST Kimberly, VALENTE Jennifer) 4:18.716 Qualified for Gold
2 Italy (BALSAMO Elisa, FRAPPORTI Simona, GUDERZO Tatiana, VALSECCHI Silvia) 4:19.958 Qualified for Bronze

Finals

The Bronze medal ride was close until the final 500m when the Italians – down to three, started to crumble under the pressure from the Kiwis – both teams having brought in fresh legs with Kirstie James replacing Drummond and Francesca Pattaro in for Tatiana Guderzo. Down to three, Italy couldn’t hold the pace and dropped the third rider. New Zealand took Gold with a five second margin.

The Final also saw a collapse of sorts, but not to the same degree – and at the end of one of the best Women’s Team Pursuit races in history. As expected, the USA led for much of the race – up by almost a second after a kilometre. By half way, though, there were just hundredths in it and with 1500 metres to go Australia was ahead – but only for a lap and a half.

A lap and a half later, though, they were on top again and with a lap and a half to go they had a half second lead. It looked to be all over, with Australia sill four tenths up at the bell. Remarkably, the USA put in their fastest lap of the race and, although Australia’s pace barely faltered, the lead was down to a tenth with half a lap to go and at the gun the USA had snatched it back to win by four tenths!

Results
Final for Gold
GOLD United States (CATLIN Kelly, DYGERT Chloe, GEIST Kimberly, VALENTE Jennifer) 4:19.413 SILVER Australia (CURE Amy, ANKUDINOFF Ashlee, MANLY Alexandra, WIASAK Rebecca) 4:19.830

Final for Bronze
BRONZE New Zealand (SHEATH Racquel, BUCHANAN Rushlee, JAMES Kirstie, NIELSEN Jaime) 4:21.778
4 Italy (BALSAMO Elisa, FRAPPORTI Simona, PATTARO Francesca, VALSECCHI Silvia) 4:26.562

Men

Keirin

First Round

There were a couple of surprises in the First Round of the Keirin – although former World Champion Francois Pervis, Australian hotshot Matt Glaetzer, World Cup stars Tom Babek of the Czech Republic and Fabian Puerta of Colombia went through – along with Team Sprint World Champions Eddie Dawkins and Sam Webster of New Zealand, Azizul Awang of Malaysia and Joe Truman of Great Britain – who came from way back to take second in the final heat.

There was a minor shock when Lewis Oliva of Great Britain – another rider who had shown well in the World Cups – had to make do with a second attempt in the Repechages – and a bigger own when the outgoing World Champion Joachim Eilers of Germany joined him.

Results
Heat 1
1 GLAETZER Matthew AUS
2 PERVIS Francois FRA +0.113

3 OLIVA Lewis GBR +0.206
4 EILERS Joachim GER +0.234
5 BARRETTE Hugo CAN +0.298
6 WILLIAMS Zac NZL +0.307
7 RAMIREZ MORALES Santiago COL +0.373

Heat 2
1 DAWKINS Edward NZL
2 BABEK Tomas CZE +0.059

3 KANG Shih Feng TPE +0.117
4 DORNBACH Maximilian GER +0.155
5 KAWABATA Tomoyuki JPN +0.234
6 CECI Francesco ITA +0.443
7 LENDEL Vasilijus LTU +0.468

Heat 3
1 PUERTA ZAPATA Fabian Hernando COL
2 AWANG Mohd Azizulhasni MAS +0.041

3 WAKIMOTO Yuta JPN +0.118
4 BROWNE Kwesi TTO +0.179
5 LAFARGUE Quentin FRA +0.207
6 OMELCHENKO Sergii AZE +0.346
7 SOJKA David CZE +0.507

Heat 4
1 WEBSTER Sam NZL
2 TRUMAN Joseph GBR +0.092

3 SAHROM Muhammad Shah Firdaus MAS +0.096
4 VYNOKUROV Andrii UKR +0.205
5 JURCZYK Marc GER +0.238
6 KELEMEN Pavel CZE +0.316
7 NITTA Yudai JPN +0.403

Repechages

Eilers made it through the Reps, but Oliva didn’t. The German was joined in the second round by compatriot Marc Jurczyk, Pavel Kelemen of the Czech Republic and Andrii Vynokurov of Ukraine.

Results
Heat 1
1 VYNOKUROV Andrii UKR

2 LAFARGUE Quentin FRA
3 RAMIREZ MORALES Santiago COL +0.047
4 OLIVA Lewis GBR +0.103
5 CECI Francesco ITA +0.174

Heat 2
1 JURCZYK Marc GER

2 KAWABATA Tomoyuki JPN +0.117
3 WILLIAMS Zac NZL +0.168
4 KANG Shih Feng TPE +0.208
5 SOJKA David CZE +0.572

Heat 3
1 KELEMEN Pavel CZE

2 DORNBACH Maximilian GER +0.083
3 BROWNE Kwesi TTO +0.105
4 BARRETTE Hugo CAN +0.123
5 WAKIMOTO Yuta JPN +0.276

Heat 4
1 EILERS Joachim GER

2 SAHROM Muhammad Shah Firdaus MAS +0.061
3 OMELCHENKO Sergii AZE +0.164
4 LENDEL Vasilijus LTU +0.527
5 NITTA Yudai JPN +0.981

Second Round

There were two relegations in the Second Round – one of which would have a huge impact on the Final. The first heat saw Eilers relegated for blocking Awang, who subsequently qualified third behind Glaetzer and Babek. In the second it was another former World Champion who felt the wrath of the Commisaires – Pervis losing out as Puerta, Kurczyk and Kelemen progressed.

Results
Heat 1
1 GLAETZER Matthew AUS
2 BABEK Tomas CZE +0.156
3 AWANG Mohd Azizulhasni MAS +0.172
4 WEBSTER Sam NZL +0.376
5 VYNOKUROV Andrii UKR +0.509
6 EILERS Joachim GER REL
Relegation for irregular movement to prevent his opponent from passing

Heat 2
1 PUERTA ZAPATA Fabian Hernando COL
2 JURCZYK Marc GER +0.082
3 KELEMEN Pavel CZE +0.130
4 DAWKINS Edward NZL +0.164
5 TRUMAN Joseph GBR +1.226
6 PERVIS Francois FRA REL
Relegation for moving outward with the intention of forcing the opponent going up

Finals

The Final was all about one man. Just over six years after it seemed his career was over, impaled with a 21cm splinter in Manchester, Azizulhasni Awang rose out of the saddle on the back straight on the final lap and simply left the rest of the field for dead. The trademark victory wheelie was the icing on the cake as the Malaysian broke down in tears of joy with coach John Beasley on the track apron after the race. The two World Cup round winners – Puerta and Babek – took the sprint for the other podium places. Victory in the Minor Final will have been little consolation for Eilers.

Results
GOLD AWANG Mohd Azizulhasni MAS
SILVER PUERTA ZAPATA Fabian Hernando COL +0.382
BRONZE BABEK Tomas CZE +0.417

4 GLAETZER Matthew AUS +0.473
5 KELEMEN Pavel CZE +0.590
6 JURCZYK Marc GER +0.663

7 EILERS Joachim GER
8 TRUMAN Joseph GBR +0.066
9 VYNOKUROV Andrii UKR +0.126
10 PERVIS Francois FRA +0.267
11 WEBSTER Sam NZL +0.368
12 DAWKINS Edward NZL +1.676

Team Pursuit

Finals

The talk before the Final was all about the World Record, but, in the end they were over a second shy. Nicholas Yallouris replaced Kelland O’Brien, with Cameron Meyer – who rode in Qualifying but was replaced by Rohan Wright in the First Round – returning to the line-up. And Regan Gough, Pieter Bulling, Dylan Kennett and Nicholas Kergozou – who rode every round – pushed them hard – even leading for a lap just before three quarters distance.

In the end, though, Australia were able to maintain their pace and took the win with a couple of seconds in hand.

Great Britain led the Bronze medal ride for 3000 metres Mark Stewart, Steven Burke, Kian Emadi and Oliver Wood faltering at that point and handing control to the Italians – Simone Consonni, Liam Bertazzo, Fillippo Ganna and Francesco Lamon – who took the Bronze, a second and a half ahead by the end.

Results
Final for Gold
GOLD Australia 3:51.503 (WELSFORD Sam, MEYER Cameron, PORTER Alexander, YALLOURIS Nicholas)
SILVER New Zealand 3:53.979 (GOUGH Regan, BULLING Pieter, KENNETT Dylan, KERGOZOU Nicholas)

Final for Bronze
BRONZE Italy (CONSONNI Simone, BERTAZZO Liam, GANNA Filippo, LAMON Francesco) 3:56.935
4 Great Britain (STEWART Mark, BURKE Steven, EMADI Kian, WOOD Oliver) 3:58.566

Scratch Race

The Scratch Race was, as ever, flat out from the start, with no rider able to build a substantial advantage, it looked to be coming down to a bunch sprint until Adrian Teklinski of Poland attacked. He was 100m or so clear, and being chased by Gael Suter of Switzerland when the bunch finally reacted with two to go.

Suter was swamped on the final lap with Teklinski holding on for Gold, Lucas Liss of Germany Silver and Christopher Latham of Great Britain Bronze. Wim Stroetinga of the Netherlands pipped Suter for fourth on the line.

Results
GOLD TEKLINSKI Adrian POL
SILVER LISS Lucas GER
BRONZE LATHAM Christopher GBR

4 STROETINGA Wim NED
5 SUTER Gael SUI
6 KNEISKY Morgan FRA
7 KOVALCIK Zachary USA
8 VOLIKAKIS Christos GRE
9 GHYS Robbe BEL
10 CASTEGNARO Francesco ITA