Women’s Omnium
With 29 riders meeting the Qualifying criteria, it was necessary to run two Points races to eliminate five riders to comply with track limits and the first race saw Lea Lin Teutenberg of Germany, Amber Joseph of Barbados and Paris-based Fanny Cauchois of Laos miss the cut. The big shock came in Heat 2 where Annette Edmondson of Australia just missed out, along with Lina Marcela Hernandez of Colombia. While Katie Archibald said afterwards that it was a great warm-up, the riders in Heat 2 would only have half an hour between their qualifying heat and the opening Scratch Race.
Qualifying
Heat 1
1 COPPONI Clara FRA 25
2 TSERAKH Hanna BLR 11
3 BALEISYTE Olivija LTU 9
4 SOLOVEI Ganna UKR 8
5 KOPECKY Lotte BEL 7
6 WOLLASTON Ally NZL 6
7 DIDERIKSEN Amalie DEN 6
8 STENBERG Anita Yvonne NOR 5
9 ARCHIBALD Katie GBR 5
10 KAJIHARA Yumi JPN 5
11 LARRARTE ARTEAGA Eukene ESP 4
12 KHATUNTSEVA Gulnaz RCF 3
13 TEUTENBERG Lea Lin GER 3
14 JOSEPH Amber BAR
15 CAUCHOIS Fanny LAO -40
Heat 2
1 SULTANOVA Rinata KAZ 23
2 van der DUIN Maike NED 23
3 BARRACLOUGH Ngaire CAN 22
4 EBERHARDT Verena AUT 20
5 PLOSAJ Nikol POL 14
6 VALENTE Jennifer USA 10
7 BACIKOVA Alzbeta SVK 9
8 BALSAMO Elisa ITA 8
9 MARTINS Maria POR 7
10 SEVCIKOVA Petra CZE 6
11 SEITZ Aline SUI 6
12 VELASCO FUENTES Victoria MEX 5
13 EDMONDSON Annette AUS 3
14 HERNANDEZ GOMEZ Lina Marcela COL 1
I -Scratch Race
The Scratch Race – as they often are in Omniums – was a cagey one which concluded with Archibald leading the bunch out and pulling fellow favourites Jennifer Valente of the USA and Clara Copponi of France behind her – with Elisa Balsamo not too far back.
Archibald had a big lead at the end, but that’s largely academic – the Omnium points are the same even if you take a lap.
1 ARCHIBALD Katie GBR
2 VALENTE Jennifer USA
3 COPPONI Clara FRA
4 BALEISYTE Olivija LTU
5 MARTINS Maria POR
6 BALSAMO Elisa ITA
7 SEVCIKOVA Petra CZE
8 van der DUIN Maike NED
9 DIDERIKSEN Amalie DEN
10 SULTANOVA Rinata KAZ
11 WOLLASTON Ally NZL
12 KAJIHARA Yumi JPN
13 PLOSAJ Nikol POL
14 LARRARTE ARTEAGA Eukene ESP
15 TSERAKH Hanna BLR
16 SEITZ Aline SUI
17 KHATUNTSEVA Gulnaz RCF
18 BACIKOVA Alzbeta SVK
19 EBERHARDT Verena AUT
20 BARRACLOUGH Ngaire CAN
21 STENBERG Anita Yvonne NOR
22 KOPECKY Lotte BEL
23 SOLOVEI Ganna UKR
24 VELASCO FUENTES Victoria MEX
II – Tempo Race
The thinking behind the Tempo race was that there would be a thrilling bunch sprint every lap – a sort of reverse Elimination Race. The – inevitable reality is that one or two riders break away, take most of a lap and then mop up the points lap after lap until they come under threat (or have accumulated enough points that they can’t be caught), at which point they complete the overlap and take an additional 20 points.
It was that sort of Tempo Race. Archibald took the first sprint and then the points for laps 7 to 15, when she alternated with Ganna Solovei of Ukraine until lap 23, when those two riders plus Lotte Kopecky of Belgium and Hanna Tserakh of Belarus took a lap. Balsamo kept herself in touch in 5th – despite only taking two points, with Valente 8th on one point and a pointless Copponi down in 10th.
1 ARCHIBALD Katie GBR 34
2 SOLOVEI Ganna UKR 24
3 KOPECKY Lotte BEL 21
4 TSERAKH Hanna BLR 20
5 BALSAMO Elisa ITA 2
6 PLOSAJ Nikol POL 2
7 DIDERIKSEN Amalie DEN 1
8 VALENTE Jennifer USA 1
9 BALEISYTE Olivija LTU 1
10 COPPONI Clara FRA
11 MARTINS Maria POR
12 LARRARTE ARTEAGA Eukene ESP
13 van der DUIN Maike NED
14 SEVCIKOVA Petra CZE
15 KHATUNTSEVA Gulnaz RCF
16 BARRACLOUGH Ngaire CAN
17 WOLLASTON Ally NZL
18 EBERHARDT Verena AUT
19 SEITZ Aline SUI
20 STENBERG Anita Yvonne NOR
21 SULTANOVA Rinata KAZ
22 KAJIHARA Yumi JPN
23 VELASCO FUENTES Victoria MEX
24 BACIKOVA Alzbeta SVK -20
III – Elimination Race
The stand-alone Elimination Race last night was in some ways a dress-rehearsal for the Omnium, with many of the same riders involved. The major difference was Archibald. Although there were a couple of near misses – and a crash that briefly had Archibald off the track – the net result was that the final five were the pre-race favourites. Valente – who, in both races – had ridden from the front, taking no risks but using a lot of energy, ran out of gas first and was out. Kopecky went next and Copponi followed her. Those anticipating a match sprint between Balsamo and Archibald were disappointed – the Scot powered away and the Italian sat up.
1 ARCHIBALD Katie GBR
2 BALSAMO Elisa ITA
3 COPPONI Clara FRA
4 KOPECKY Lotte BEL
5 VALENTE Jennifer USA
6 MARTINS Maria POR
7 BALEISYTE Olivija LTU
8 van der DUIN Maike NED
9 LARRARTE ARTEAGA Eukene ESP
10 EBERHARDT Verena AUT
11 DIDERIKSEN Amalie DEN
12 BACIKOVA Alzbeta SVK
13 WOLLASTON Ally NZL
14 SEITZ Aline SUI
15 SEVCIKOVA Petra CZE
16 PLOSAJ Nikol POL
17 SOLOVEI Ganna UKR
18 KHATUNTSEVA Gulnaz RCF
19 SULTANOVA Rinata KAZ
20 KAJIHARA Yumi JPN
21 BARRACLOUGH Ngaire CAN
22 VELASCO FUENTES Victoria MEX
23 TSERAKH Hanna BLR
24 STENBERG Anita Yvonne NOR
IV – Points Race
So Archibald, with a clean sweep under her belt from the first three events, went into the Points Race with a 20 point advantage over Balsamo – a lap gain or four sprints ahead. All she really had to do was mark the riders around her – but Katie doesn’t do ‘all she has to do’. The first sprint went to a break away of four riders – Nikol Plosaj of Poland, Victoria Velasco of Mexico, Ally Wollaston of New Zealand and Verena Eberhardt of Austria – who were no threat to the overall. The second went to Archibald.
Mid way through the race Maria Martins of Portugal, Kopecky, Kajahari and Wollaston took a lap. They were allowed to go because they were perceived to be no threat, but it actually put Martins into the Silver medal position and closed the gap back to 20 points – with 30 points available. Copponi and Balsamo picked up a few points to go back ahead of Martins, but in the closing stakes Kopecky took another. It was too late to threaten Archibald who had effectively sewn up the Gold medal – but it was enough to leapfrog Balsamo and Copponi into the Silver medal position.
Balsamo was still in with a chance of catching the Belgian in the final sprint but she needed to take the 10 points and have Kopecky not score. The second part of the equation fell into place, but Balsamo was beaten to the line by Copponi, who also wanted the 10 points to snatch the Bronze from the Italian.
Archibald took third to give her the medal and the rainbow jersey by 18 points ahead of Kopecy with Balsamo three points back, three ahead of Copponi.
GOLD ARCHIBALD Katie GBR 137
SILVER KOPECKY Lotte BEL 119
BRONZE BALSAMO Elisa ITA 116
4 COPPONI Clara FRA 113
5 MARTINS Maria POR 106
6 VALENTE Jennifer USA 99
7 DIDERIKSEN Amalie DEN 99
8 BALEISYTE Olivija LTU 86
9 van der DUIN Maike NED 73
10 WOLLASTON Ally NZL 68
11 PLOSAJ Nikol POL 63
12 LARRARTE ARTEAGA Eukene ESP 56
13 SOLOVEI Ganna UKR 48
14 TSERAKH Hanna BLR 47
15 KAJIHARA Yumi JPN 45
16 EBERHARDT Verena AUT 33
17 SEITZ Aline SUI 28
18 SULTANOVA Rinata KAZ 27
19 SEVCIKOVA Petra CZE 14
20 VELASCO FUENTES Victoria MEX 6
21 STENBERG Anita Yvonne NOR 4
22 BACIKOVA Alzbeta SVK -35
23 BARRACLOUGH Ngaire CAN DNF
23 KHATUNTSEVA Gulnaz RCF DNF
Men’s Kilometre Time Trial
There were 19 riders entered for the Kilo – with 8 progressing to the Finals in the evening session. Ivan Gladyshev from Russia went in a heat on his own at the start of the session and set the mark at 1:01.835. That was beaten by Yuta Obara of Japan in Heat 2 with a 1:00.898 and by Alejandro Martinez of Spain with a 1:01.000 in Heat 3.
Those times were smashed in Heat 4, when Jeffrey Hoogland of the Netherlands broke the 60 second barrier and went clear with a 58.746. None of the top three were challenged again until Heat 8 when Joachim Eilers of Germany went 2nd with a 1:00.233.
Both the riders in Heat 10 jumped into the top 6 – Patryk Rajkowski of Poland going 4th with a 1:00.510 and Nicholas Paul of Trinidad and Tobago, impressively, going 2nd with a 59.269.
Reigning Champion Sam Ligtlee of the Netherlands went off in the final heat and did qualify for the Finals with a 1:00.441, but it was only good enough for 4th. In theory, the times from the morning are irrelevant – everyone starts from scratch in the evening. In practice, the challenge is to match your time from the Qualifying session, not to beat it.
Qualifying
1 HOOGLAND Jeffrey NED 58.746
2 PAUL Nicholas TTO 59.269
3 EILERS Joachim GER 1:00.233
4 LIGTLEE Sam NED 1:00.441
5 RAJKOWSKI Patryk POL 1:00.510
6 SHARAPOV Alexander RCF 1:00.749
7 OBARA Yuta JPN 1:00.898
8 MARTINEZ CHORRO Alejandro ESP 1:01.000
9 BOSCARO Davide ITA 1:01.281
10 WAGNER Robin CZE 1:01.292
11 RAMIREZ MORALES Santiago COL 1:01.339
12 HOEHNE Anton GER 1:01.431
13 DODYK Ryan CAN 1:01.440
14 MOHD ZONIS Muhammad Fadhil MAS 1:01.589
15 GLADYSHEV Ivan RCF 1:01.835
16 CHUGAY Andrey KAZ 1:02.232
17 TOPINKA Dominik CZE 1:02.649
18 LAITONJAM Ronaldo IND 1:02.656
19 RUIZ TERAN Juan Carlos MEX 1:02.834
Finals
The format of the Kilo means that the start list in the Final is often just a countdown to the Gold medallist as the eight riders record a time slightly slower than they did in the morning, one after another.
There were a few exceptions this year – Martinenz leap-frogged Obara because the Japanese rider dropped half a second and the Spaniard found a tenth. And Ligtlee swapped places with Rajkowski – the Pole dropping a tenth and the Dutch rider dropping two.
In the last three heats, Eilers made the biggest improvement to date – up over two tenths – but although Paul lost half a second it was enough to hold on to the lead with just Hoogland to go. And Hoogland found another three tenths…
GOLD HOOGLAND Jeffrey NED 58.418
SILVER PAUL Nicholas TTO 59.791
BRONZE EILERS Joachim GER 1:00.008
4 RAJKOWSKI Patryk POL 1:00.624
5 LIGTLEE Sam NED 1:00.669
6 SHARAPOV Alexander RCF 1:00.928
7 MARTINEZ CHORRO Alejandro ESP 1:01.213
8 OBARA Yuta JPN 1:01.385
Men’s Individual Pursuit
At last, we had an upset! Thomas Denis of France set the early pace in Heat 1 with a 4:15.333 – which Great Britain’s Charlie Tanfield sliced two seconds off in Heat 2. His 4:13.840 was unchallenged until Heat 7 when Manlio Moro of Italy improved the mark to 4:10.509.
That looked positively pedestrian by the end of the next heat, by which time Moro’s compatriot Jonathan Milan had completed the 16 laps in 4:05.785 – and that only lasted another 5 or 6 minutes, by which point Ashton Lambie of the USA – the World Record holder and the first man to get under 4 minutes – moved the mark to 4:03.237.
Claudio Imhof of Switzerland went third on 4:07.609, which only left Filippo Ganna. The Italian was expected – at the very least – to face Lambie in the final, but a poor start, from which he never really recovered, left him seven tenths adrift of Milan on 4:06.402.
Qualifying
1 LAMBIE Ashton USA 4:03.237
2 MILAN Jonathan ITA 4:05.785
3 GANNA Filippo ITA 4:06.402
4 IMHOF Claudio SUI 4:07.609
5 BUCK-GRAMCKO Tobias GER 4:08.596
6 HEINRICH Nicolas GER 4:10.352
7 MORO Manlio ITA 4:10.509
8 TANFIELD Charlie GBR 4:13.840
9 IMAMURA Shunsuke JPN 4:14.751
10 DENIS Thomas FRA 4:15.333
11 GONOV Lev RCF 4:16.234
12 NOVOLODSKII Ivan RCF 4:17.245
13 MARTORELL HAGA Erik ESP 4:20.307
14 CRISTA Daniel ROU 4:20.401
15 MATIAS Joao POR 4:20.497
16 LEITAO Iuri POR 4:22.716
17 ZAPATA UNAS Alex Juan Pablo COL 4:23.528
18 OSORIO HENAO Julian COL 4:25.546
19 SHMANTSAR Aliaksei BLR 4:26.337
20 DZHUS Volodymyr UKR 4:29.493
21 AGUIRRE GARZA Tomas MEX 4:39.500
22 TCHAMBAZ Lotfi ALG 4:40.105
Finals
In the Bronze medal ride, Ganna forgot all about the one second gap to Imhof and stormed out of the gate, catching the Swiss rider just after the halfway mark – at which point he was on World Record pace. But he was on a pace that he couldn’t sustain and, medal in the bag, he aborted the attempt.
The Final was closer than expected, but Lambie was always in control and although he was two seconds adrift of his Qualifying time, he was always ahead and in control. The USA only brought five riders, but it had its first Gold medal to go with the two Bronzes Jennifer Valente has picked up so far.
GOLD LAMBIE Ashton USA 4:05.060
SILVER MILAN Jonathan ITA 4:06.149
BRONZE GANNA Filippo ITA
4 IMHOF Claudio SUI Overhauled
Men’s Points Race
The Men’s points race was a demonstration by Benjamin Thomas of France. It didn’t look that way early on – Kenny de Ketele of Belgium and Sebastian Mora of Spain took a lap and looked in control. Thomas just started picking up points in Sprints. In fact, he took eight wins out of the 16 sprints – as well as a three seconds (one on the double points final lap) and a third. He only failed to score in four of them. And, although de Ketele took two more laps, Thomas took them with him. There was simple nothing the Belgian could do.
GOLD THOMAS Benjamin FRA 94
SILVER de KETELE Kenny BEL 84
BRONZE HOPPEZAK Vincent NED 35
4 MORA VEDRI Sebastian ESP 24
5 VERNON Ethan GBR 19
6 THIEBAUD Valere SUI 16
7 STRONG Corbin NZL 14
8 SCARTEZZINI Michele ITA 9
9 REINHARDT Theo GER 8
10 SHICHKIN Vlas RCF 6
11 HRYNIV Vitaliy UKR 3
12 HOOVER Gavin USA -12
13 PSZCZOLARSKI Wojciech POL -18
14 CRISTA Daniel ROU -20
15 CHREN Martin SVK -40
16 LEZICA Facundo Gabriel ARG -60
17 PIETRULA Nicolas CZE -60
18 MUNIZ VAZQUEZ Jose MEX -100
19 MAZUR Dzianis BLR DNF
19 TCHAMBAZ Lotfi ALG DNF
19 GOMEZ PENALOZA Bryan Steve COL DNF
Women’s Sprint
Unless you were Germany’s Emma Hinze, the Sprint Finals were a little bit disappointing. In the Semi-Finals she beat Canada’s Kelsey Mitchell with ease, in two straight races. Her team mate did the same to the other Canadian finalist, Lauriane Genest. Canada were guaranteed a Bronze, but the two shiny medals were going to Germany.
Semi Finals
Heat 1
1 FRIEDRICH Lea Sophie GER **
2 GENEST Lauriane CAN +0.102 +0.106
Heat 2
1 HINZE Emma GER **
2 MITCHELL Kelsey CAN +0.071 +0.060
Finals
The Medal Finals were similarly uneventful – Mitchell despatched Genest on raw speed and, more impressively, Hinze did the same to Friedrich. Last year Hinze won the Team Sprint, Sprint and Keirin, with Friedrich completing a German clean-sweep by taking the 500m Time Trial. You wouldn’t bet against the same thing happening this year.
GOLD HINZE Emma GER **
SILVER FRIEDRICH Lea Sophie GER +0.117 +0.129
BRONZE MITCHELL Kelsey CAN **
4 GENEST Lauriane CAN +0.087 +0.050
