Men
Individual Pursuit
After the two Team Pursuit finals we’ve seen this week, it was hard to imagine we’d see a better race on the track at these World Championships – and yet we were treated to two.
Qualifying for the Men’s Individual Pursuit was more straightforward than in some of the other events we’ve seen. The first rider off – Felix Gross of Germany – was slightly out of sync and spent a couple of heats at the top of the time sheets, but broadly speaking the riders got significantly quicker as the morning went on. Gross’ 4:09.800 was bettered by Oliver Bleddyn of Australia in heat three with a 4:09.696. His compatriot Conor Leahy clocked 4:08.593 a couple of heats later and then Ivo Oliveira of Portugal put in a 4:06.407 to go top.
Tobias Buck-Gramcko of Germany posted a 4:07.626 to go second at that point – with Bleddyn now the last of those in the medal ride positions. They all dropped down one in the penultimate heat when Italy’s Jonathan Milan went round in 4:07.393 – leaving Leahy on the bubble. One glance at the start list, though, would have told him he was out.
Dan Bigham – Ineos Grenadiers aerodynamicist, mastermind of the Danish team’s Tokyo 2020/1 Team Pursuit Bid, former Huub Wattbike TP rider, former World Hour Record holder and part-time Great Britain athlete – versus Filippo Ganna of Italy. Ganna, of course, is the current Hour Record holder – supported by Bigham – multiple track and road time trial World Champion, and an Ineos Grenadiers rider. The back story is interesting enough. But what a race.
Both riders started relatively slowly – Ganna was 15th fastest out of the gate, Bigham 18th. After a lap they were 13th and 15th. Neither was in contention for the medals until the kilometre mark – and then it was Bigham in 4th – Ganna was still 9th.
By 1250m Bigham was finally in line for a Gold medal ride – but against Milan – Ganna was still third and looking at facing Oliveira from Bronze. But both riders were now churning our 14.5 second laps. At 1750m Bigham topped the time sheets – Ganna was still third. At 2875m, Ganna clawed his way into the Final and Bigham was now dipping into the 14.7s and Ganna was in the 14.3s. His last three laps were 14.251, 14.245 and 14.270 – Bigham’s were 14.827, 15.075 and 15.187.
Ganna had turned a 1.8 second deficit just after the halfway mark to a 1.6 second advantage at the gun – and clocked 4:01.344 in the process. And, what’s more, we were going to get a repeat in the final.
There was a Bronze medal ride to watch first, of course, which was straightforward – Milan was never headed by Oliveira and pulled out a two and a half second lead to take the win. Now for the main event – and it couldn’t possibly be better than the earlier heat – could it?
Well, the story was broadly the same – but more so. Bigham was a tenth slower out of the gate, but quicker than Ganna for every one of the opening 12 laps. By 3000m he was a staggering 2.2 seconds up on the Italian. Surely, this time, he had it. Lap 13 – Ganna pulls back 9 tenths but Bigham is still doing 14.5 second laps. Lap 14 – Bigham does a 14.755, Ganna a 14.374. The buffer is still 1.7 seconds. There are only two laps to go. Lap 15 – 15.063 for the Englishman, 14.392 for the Italian. The gap’s still over a second. Surely Bigham can hold on…
Half a lap to go and the gap is still over half a second. It’s going to be close… And close it was. 0.054 seconds. Ganna snatches the Gold literally in the last few metres of what was quite possibly the best Individual Pursuit final in history.
Finals
GOLD GANNA Filippo ITA 4:01.976
SILVER BIGHAM Daniel GBR 4:02.030
BRONZE MILANJonathan 4:05.868
4 ALVES OLIVEIRA Ivo Manuel 4:08.469
Qualifying
1 GANNA Filippo ITA 4:01.344 QG
2 BIGHAM Daniel GBR 4:02.961 QG
3 MILAN Jonathan ITA 4:06.393 QB
4 ALVES OLIVEIRA Ivo Manuel POR 4:06.407 QB
5 BUCK-GRAMCKO Tobias GER 4:07.626
6 LEAHY Conor AUS 4:08.593
7 BLEDDYN Oliver AUS 4:09.606
8 GROSS Felix GER 4:09.800
9 ERNST Chris CAN 4:10.281
10 MORO Manlio ITA 4:10.460
11 SEXTON Thomas NZL 4:11.793
12 ERMENAULT Corentin FRA 4:12.341
13 IMHOF Claudio SUI 4:13.157
14 MAJEWSKI Kacper POL 4:13.544
15 KUBOKI Kazushige JPN 4:13.708
16 GALLI Niccolo ITA 4:14.830
17 FOLEY Michael CAN 4:15.609
18 MATTERN Carson CAN 4:17.896
19 ZHANG Haiao CHN 4:17.897
20 ARANGO CARVAJAL Juan Esteban COL 4:21.752
21 BENNASSAR ROSSELLO Joan Marti ESP 4:21.951
22 MATSUDA Shoi JPN 4:21.963
23 DINMUKHAMETOV Ramis KAZ 4:28.720
24 KORNILOVS Vitalijs LAT 4:31.444
25 TCHAMBAZ Lotfi ALG 4:34.561
26 QIU Zhentao CHN 4:36.644
27 THIEBAUD Valere SUI 4:46.943
Sprint
Just a single round in the Sprint competition today and not much to report. All four heats decided without the need for a decider and the fastest qualifiers through in three of the four heats. Only Carlin – 5th fastest qualifier – contested the 16th Final. The Semi Finals would see him face Lavreysen, with Rudyk and Paul in the other heat,
Quarter Finals
Heat 1
1 LAVREYSEN Harrie NED **
2 RICHARDSON Matthew AUS +0.324 +0.040
Heat 2
1 RUDYK Mateusz POL **
2 OTA Kaiya JPN +0.052 +0.006
Heat 3
1 PAUL Nicholas TTO **
2 TRUMAN Joseph GBR +0.265 +0.061
Heat 4
1 CARLIN Jack GBR **
2 CORNISH Thomas AUS +0.036 +0.061
Omnium
The Men’s Omnium was dominated by Iuri Leitao of Portugal who won the opening Scratch Race ahead of Ollie Wood of Great Britain and Tim Torn Teutenberg of Germany – and went straight off the front of the bunch in the Tempo race, racking up 12 points before taking that lap gain. Sebastian Mora of Spain (8), Shunsuke Imamura of Japan (8) Niklas Larsen of Denmark (6) and Benjamin Thomas of France were the only other riders to score points – the other riders basically contesting a two lap Scratch Race for the rest of the Omnium points.
Leitao had to settle for second behind Campbell Stewart of New Zealand in the Elimination Race, but early exits for most of his rivals meant he went into the final points race with a sizeable advantage. Problems with the scoreboard meant it was almost impossible for riders, coaches, commentators and spectators to know what was going on as first no points were added, then lap gain after lap gain chalked up, then points removed. The order at the finish was correct – more by luck than judgement – but the actual scores were updated much later. What had looked like a comfortable win for the Portuguese rider should have been a thrilling, nail-biting finish with Benjamin Thomas of France going in to the final sprint knowing that if he won and Leitao finished fifth or lower, he’d snatch the title on the line. He did take the sprint – and Letao took fourth and the rainbow jersey.
Thomas tied for the ‘win’ in the Points race – he and Larsen gained 105, Fabio van den Bossche of Belgium 101, Elia Viviani of Italy 92, Imamura 91, Alan Banaszek of Poland 82 – but Leitao’s 69 points were enough to secure the title.
I – Scratch
1 LEITAO Iuri POR
2 WOOD Oliver GBR
3 TEUTENBERG Tim Torn GER
4 HOPPEZAK Vincent NED
5 BIBIC Dylan CAN
6 LARSEN Niklas DEN
7 STEWART Campbell NZL
8 IMAMURA Shunsuke JPN
9 THOMAS Benjamin FRA
10 MORA VEDRI Sebastian ESP
11 VIVIANI Elia ITA
12 BRIEN Kelland AUS
13 WAFLER Tim AUT
14 CRISTA Daniel ROU
15 BANASZEK Alan POL
16 ZAKHAROV Artyom KAZ
17 van den BOSSCHE Fabio BEL
17 THIEBAUD Valere SUI
17 HOOVER Gavin USA
20 PENA SALAS Ricardo MEX -1 lap
21 LEUNG Ka Yu HKG DNF
21 van AERT Bernard Benyamin INA DNF
21 CAMPBELL Akil TTO DNF
21 ALMANSOORI Ahmed UAE DNF
II – Tempo
1 LEITAO Iuri POR 32
2 VEDRI Sebastian ESP 8
3 IMAMURA Shunsuke JPN 8
4 LARSEN Niklas DEN 6
5 THOMAS Benjamin FRA 1
6 van den BOSSCHE Fabio BEL
7 BIBIC Dylan CAN
8 HOPPEZAK Vincent NED
9 VIVIANI Elia ITA
10 BANASZEK Alan POL
11 WOOD Oliver GBR
12 TEUTENBERG Tim Torn GER
13 WAFLER Tim AUT
14 STEWART Campbell NZL
15 THIEBAUD Valere SUI
16 HOOVER Gavin USA
17 PENA SALAS Ricardo MEX
18 CRISTA Daniel ROU
19 ALMANSOORI Ahmed UAE
20 CAMPBELL Akil TTO
21 O’BRIEN Kelland AUS
22 ZAKHAROV Artyom KAZ
23 LEUNG Ka Yu HKG -20
24 van AERT Bernard Benyamin INA -20
III – Elimination
1 STEWART Campbell NZL
2 LEITAO Iuri POR
3 O’BRIEN Kelland AUS
4 BIBIC Dylan CAN
5 HOPPEZAK Vincent NED
6 MORA VEDRI Sebastian ESP
7 TEUTENBERG Tim Torn GER
8 WOOD Oliver GBR
9 THOMAS Benjamin FRA
10 VIVIANI Elia ITA
11 IMAMURA Shunsuke JPN
12 WAFLER Tim AUT
13 van den BOSSCHE Fabio BEL
14 ZAKHAROV Artyom KAZ
15 CAMPBELL Akil TTO
16 van AERT Bernard Benyamin INA
17 HOOVER Gavin USA
18 THIEBAUD Valere SUI
19 PENA SALAS Ricardo MEX
20 CRISTA Daniel ROU
21 ALMANSOORI Ahmed UAE
22 LARSEN Niklas DEN
23 LEUNG Ka Yu HKG
24 BANASZEK Alan POL
IV – Points & Overall
GOLD LEITAO Iuri POR 69 187
SILVER THOMAS Benjamin FRA 105 185
BRONZE IMAMURA Shunsuke JPN 91 173
4 LARSEN Niklas DEN 105 170
5 HOPPEZAK Vincent NED 68 160
6 VIVIANI Elia ITA 92 158
7 MORA VEDRI Sebastian ESP 92 157
8 van den BOSSCHE Fabio BEL 101 155
9 WOOD Oliver GBR 60 144
10 TEUTENBERG Tim Torn GER 46 128
11 STEWART Campbell NZL 43 125
12 BANASZEK Alan POL 82 117
13 BIBIC Dylan CAN 21 115
14 WAFLER Tim AUT 42 92
15 O’BRIEN Kelland AUS 20 75
16 HOOVER Gavin USA 45 71
17 THIEBAUD Valere SUI 21 47
18 CRISTA Daniel ROU 20 42
19 ZAKHAROV Artyom KAZ 0 25
20 PENA SALAS Ricardo MEX 0 14
21 van AERT Bernard Benyamin INA 0
22 CAMPBELL Akil TTO 3 -25
23 LEUNG Ka Yu HKG DNF
24 ALMANSOORI Ahmed UAE DNF
Women
Keirin
The Women’s Keirin Quarter Finals provided some drama – Emma Finucane of Great Britain was eliminated in a crash with Mina Sato of Japan, who was subsequently relegated for an earlier incident with the same rider. Finucane’s team mate Katy Marchant finished last in her heat and Lauriane Genest of Canada failed to qualify for the Semi Finals, but otherwise things went largely to form.
The same was true of the first Semi Final heat which saw Lea Sophie Friedrich of Germany, Ellesse Andrews of New Zealand and Nicky Degrendele of Belgium progress. The second heat was arguably the stronger of the two, but Kelsey Mitchell of Canada, Emma Hinze of Germany and Kirstina Clonan might all have expected to progress. None did. Martha Bayona of Colombia and Mathilde Gros of France were hardly surprise qualifiers, but Hetty van der Wouw of the Netherlands, perhaps, was.
The final saw Andrews take the initiative early on and despite a strong challenge from Bayon and Friedrich, the Kiwi held on to take the Rainbow jersey. Van der Wouw finished fourth, ahead of Degrendele and Gros. Clonan took 7th in the minor final, with Hinze 12th.
Finals
GOLD ANDREWS Ellesse NZL
SILVER BAYONA PINEDA Martha COL +0.010
BRONZE FRIEDRICH Lea Sophie GER +0.104
4 van der WOUW Hetty NED +0.112
5 DEGRENDELE Nicky BEL +0.140
6 GROS Mathilde FRA +0.267
7 CLONAN Kristina AUS
8 van der PEET Steffie NED +0.132
9 MITCHELL Kelsey CAN +0.168
10 PROPSTER Alessa-Catriona GER +0.173
11 OHTA Riyu JPN +0.331
12 HINZE Emma GER +0.498
Semi Finals
Heat 1
1 FRIEDRICH Lea Sophie GER Q
2 ANDREWS Ellesse NZL +0.013 Q
3 DEGRENDELE Nicky BEL +0.106 Q
4 OHTA Riyu JPN +0.161
5 van der PEET Steffie NED +0.497 w
6 ROPSTER Alessa-Catriona GER +1.264
Heat 2
1 BAYONA PINEDA Martha COL Q
2 GROS Mathilde FRA +0.042 Q
3 van der WOUW Hetty NED +0.086 Q
4 MITCHELL Kelsey CAN +0.179
5 HINZE Emma GER +0.332
6 CLONAN Kristina AUS +0.441
Quarter Finals
Heat 1
1 FRIEDRICH Lea Sophie GER Q
2 van der PEET Steffie NED +0.261 Q
3 MITCHELL Kelsey CAN +0.506 Q
4 GROS Mathilde FRA +0.801 Q
5 SATO Mina JPN REL
DNF FINUCANE Emma GBR
Heat 2
1 HINZE Emma GER Q
2 ANDREWS Ellesse NZL +0.647 Q
3 OHTA Riyu JPN +0.762 Q
4 CLONAN Kristina AUS +0.868 Q
5 GENEST Lauriane CAN+ 1.004
6 VECE Miriam ITA +1.833
Heat 3
1 BAYONA PINEDA Martha COL Q
2 van der WOUW Hetty NED +0.324 Q
3 DEGRENDELE Nicky BEL +0.361 Q
4 PROPSTER Alessa-Catriona GER +0.364 Q
5 GAXIOLA GONZALEZ Luz Daniela MEX +0.414
6 MARCHANT Katy GBR +0.656
Elimination Race
An eventful Women’s Elimination race saw some confusion as Laura Rodriquez of Spain eliminated first, despite apparently suffering a puncture that caused the race to be neutralised – and then a crash involving Nafosat Kozieva of Uzbekistan, Zyaed Ahmed of Egypt and Alžbeta Bačikova of Slovakia, which saw the Uzbek rider eliminated on the apron as she failed to return to the race in time – while the Egyptian would not only get back int to the race, but finish a very creditable 11th.
At the sharp end, the only real surprise was, as we got into the final three, Jennifer Valente of the USA simply ran out of gas and dropped out before the elimination and left Valentine Fortin of France and Lotte Kopecky of Belgium to contest the final sprint. Fortin, led out but she wasn’t going to prevent the Belgian from retaining her title.
GOLD KOPECKY Lotte BEL
SILVER FORTIN Valentine FRA
BRONZE VALENTE Jennifer USA
4 BARBIERI Rachele ITA
5 BARKER Elinor GBR
6 BALEIŠYTE Olivija LTU
7 van DAM Sarah CAN
8 STENBERG Anita Yvonne NOR
9 TEUTENBERG Lea Lin GER
10 ACEVEDO MENDOZA Yareli MEX
11 ZAYED AHMED Ebtissam EGY
12 LORKOWSKA Patrycja POL
13 KAKITA Maho JPN
14 BARTOVA Gabriela CZE
15 MILAKI Argyro GRE
16 RAAIJMAKERS Marit NED
17 BAČIKOVA Alžbeta SVK
18 KOZIEVA Nafosat UZB
19 MORAN Chloe AUS
20 SHEARMAN Emily NZL
21 METTRAUX Lena SUI
22 KAY Emily IRL
23 RODRIGUEZ CORDERO Laura ESP
