March 28/09 9:59 am - Track World Championships: Day 4 report, photos and full results

Posted by Editoress on 03/28/09
 

Day 4 in Pruszkow, Poland

Women's Omnium:  200m TT

Women's Omnium: Scratch Race

Women's Omnium:  Pursuit

Women's Omnium: Points

Women's Omnium 500m  and podium

Men's 200m Sprint - Qualifier

Men's Sprint - 1/16, 1/8, 1/4 finals

Women's Sprint - Semi's and Final

Men's Madison

For Canada, the highlight of Day 4 at the Track Worlds was, of course, Tara Whitten's silver medal in the Women's Omnium, a new event at the Worlds this year.  Whitten's medal is the first on the track since Gina Grain's silver in the Scratch Race in 2006.

Women's Omnium

The five event competition consists of a Flying 200 metre time trial, a Scratch Race, Individual Pursuit, Points Race and 500 metre time trial.  Whitten came out of the first event in fifth, but won the Scratch Race with a mid race breakaway to take the overall lead.  Two riders had broken away from the bunch about a quarter of the way through.  Whitten bridged up to the solo and then, when they started to flag, jumped away.  In the Pursuit she finished second to Vilija Sereikaite (Ltu) to extend her lead as the afternoon session ended.

The evening did not go as well, unfortunately.  Whitten struggled in the Points Race, trying to organize a break without success, and eventually finishing 11th, out of the points.  This dropped her into a tie with Josephine Tomic (Aus) as they went into the last event.  Tomic finished one spot ahead of Whitten (seventh and eighth, respectively), to give the Australian the title by one point.  Yvonne Hijgenaar (Ned), winner of the final 500 metre time trial, moved up to take the bronze medal.

Whitten is in only her second year of international competition, having switched from cross country skiing.

"I was just trying to remind myself to put it all out there for the 500," Whitten explained.  "I didn't know what I could do really, so I just reminded myself to go as hard as I could.  It's hard because it's so close [to gold], but I can't be disappointed.  I'm proud with the way I was able to refocus after the [fourth] race, when I lost my lead, and I know that now it is just a matter of fine tuning my skills for the future."

"It was kind of a big step for me to start racing in a bunch this year, and all the little things just come with time.  I think my strengths are suited to the Points Race - although you couldn't tell from today [laughs].  I can sprint and recover, sprint and recover, so once I can improve on tactics I should do better.  But I'll be reliving that Points Race for a while, I just needed a couple of points..."

Men's Sprint

This was Day 1 for the sprinters, with qualifying and heats up to the quarter finals taking place.  There were a number of upsets, including all three Brits getting knocked out before the medal rounds.  Canada's Travis Smith finished 30th in the 200m time trial and did not qualify for heat racing.

"This year I've been training for the Keirin, so doing the Sprint is a bonus.  It was kind of disappointing, because I was looking to do a 10.4 .  It's so hard ... I can remember when I was doing 10.2s, 10.3s [before his crash and injury at the 2007 Worlds].  But I have to forget that ... coming back isn't easy."

France's Gregory Bauge was by far the fastest in qualifying, turning in an amazing 9.930 second time - possibly the fastest ever at sea level, and only 0.158 seconds off the world record (set in Bolivia by Theo Bos).

Into the heats, and favoured riders began to fall.  Former champion Teun Mulder (Ned) went out in the first round.  Kilo winner Stefan Nimke (Ger) was gone in the 1/8th finals, and Bauge and Olympic silver medalist Ross Edgar had to go through the repechage.

The amazingly fast young Malaysian Azizulhasni Awang put Edgar out in the quarterfinals.  Awang has a interesting habit of popping a wheelie when he throws his bike at the line.  The other two Brits also went out in this round - Matt Crampton and Jason Kenny.

The semifinals will see the two French riders Bauge and Kevin Sireau compete to get into the gold final, while World Cup champion Shane Perkins (Aus) will go up against Awang.

Smith also spoke about his future plans and the national team (of which he has been a critic in the past):

"I've got to figure out my situation; my team just folded.  For me, this summer will be a full training load, and I haven't had that in two years, so this is a [new] start."

""It's frustrating, I feel like I'm letting down all the guys here.  We are going in the right direction, the way Richard [Wooles] is running this [project] is what the CCA needs.  But I think we need a group of guys for training.  The group training environment is so beneficial - look at the French, and now the Malaysians."

Women's Sprint

The final two rounds took place, with defending champion Victoria Pendleton (GBr) and Willy Kanis (Ned) meeting for gold, while Simona Krupeckaite (Ltu) met Olga Panarina (Blr) for the bronze.  Krupeckaite made short work of Panarina for the bronze, but it took three rides for Pendleton to beat Kanis, and it was close every time.  Pendleton burst into tears after the final race, reflecting the pressure she was feeling.

Men's Madison

The presence of Mark Cavendish made the Brits immediate favourites, but Cavendish was teamed with 19 year old Peter Kennaugh, rather than his defending title partner Bradley Wiggins.  Kennaugh rode well, but didn't have the speed in the sprints.  He also crashed heavily just after the halfway point, but returned within five laps and rode well until the end of the race.

The medals came down to taking a lap on the field, and three teams managed that feat - first the Czechs, then the Danes, and, finally the Australians in the last quarter of the race.  The Czechs had no points, while the Australians had two and the Danes a whopping 22 (the most of any team), meaning for the final 30 laps they basically had to stay upright to win.