March 4/18 7:12 am - Track Worlds Day 4 Report
Posted by Editoress on 03/4/18
The first world record was broken and five world titles were awarded on Saturday, the fourth day of competition at the 2018 UCI Track Cycling World Championships. Host Netherlands leads with a total of nine medals, including three gold, followed by six for Great Britain (two gold) and Italy (1 gold) and then Germany at five (three gold).
Annie Foreman-Mackey was the top Canadian finisher for the day. Foreman-Mackey finished 11th in the 3000 metre women's Individual Pursuit. Foreman-Mackey's time was three minutes and 36.475 seconds. Kinley Gibson also competed in the event for Canada, finishing 15th.
"My ride today wasn't amazing," said Foreman-Mackey, "but it's always a great opportunity to do a ride at the Worlds. I went out a little hot; I think all of the focus we've been doing on the Team Pursuit affected me, and I paid for it in the last couple of laps. I think there is definitely more in me, so I'm looking forward to Commonwealth Games to give it another run."
American Chloe Dygart, already a world champion in the Team Pursuit, broke the women's IP world record twice, knocking over two seconds off the existing time to record a time of three minutes and 20.072 seconds. In the gold medal race against Annemiek van Vleuten of the Netherlands, Dygart took the record down another 0.012 seconds. Kelly Caitlin of the United States beat Lisa Brennauer of Germany for the bronze medal.
"It's really exciting," said Dygart. "I've been working for this for a while now. It's a little weird not having [former record holder] Sarah Hammer here. She's been to every track World Championship with me. It was strange, but I had my [video] call with her before the final ride, so that gave me a little bit of extra energy to get that next world record. Any time to be in the rainbow stripes is quite an honour. To be here again on the podium with another USA team member, Kelly Catlin, is really awesome."
In the men's Omnium, Aidan Caves finished 21st. Caves was a last minute addition to the field and had little time to prepare, finding out only a few days before the event that Canada had received a starting spot.
"I've been preparing for the Team Pursuit since the Milton World Cup [early December] so I had some mixed emotions," said Caves. "I was excited, but I haven't been training for it; I've been training for a totally different event. So, I did the best I could with the preparation I had. I'm not super happy with it, but I didn't want to get lapped and I didn't get lapped, so that's a positive. So, I think for such short notice and Team Pursuit legs it turned out okay."
The men's Omnium was one of the closest fought ever, with two riders tied at 107 points going into the final lap of the Points Race after four events. The tie between Szymon Sajnok of Poland and Jan Willem van Schip of the Netherlands would be broken by whomever crossed the finish line first, and it proved to be Sajnok, giving Poland their first medal and world title of the Championships. Simone Consonni of Italy won the bronze medal.
The Canadian team for the women's Madison had to make a last minute substitution, after Allison Beveridge crashed the day before in the women's Omnium. Steph Roorda stepped in to join Jasmin Duehring for the race, but the Canadians did not finish.
The women's Madison, in only its second year at the world championships, was dominated by the British team of Katie Archibald and Emily Nelson, finishing with 50 points. The Netherlands took silver, with Kirsten Wild winning her third medal of the Championships, beside partner Amy Pieters. The Italian team of Letizia Paternoster and Maria Conalonieri won bronze.
"Our strength is our speed," stated Archibald. "We said we're going to go into every sprint. We didn't want to take a lap, we want to win every sprint. Well, we tried for twelve [sprints] and eight [wins] is good enough."
Germany took their third world title in the women's 500 metre time trial, with Miriam Welte winning her second title at these Championships. Daria Shmeleva of Russia took second and Elis Ligtlee of the Netherlands won bronze.
"I worked so hard for this event and the Team Sprint," said Welte. "It is just so incredible that I get to be World Champion again after 2014. I still can't believe it. We have very, very strong international riders. I was always just that close. I was on the podium, just not on the top of the podium, but I believed in myself. I have trained hard and I wanted it so much. Really I can't believe I'm World Champion again."
The final title awarded for the day was for the men's Sprint, with Matthew Glaetzer of Australia undefeated in two days of sprinting. Glaetzer beat young British rival Jack Carlin for the rainbow jersey. In the bronze medal competition, Sebastien Vigier of France beat Maximilian Levy of Germany.
"I've won a team gold medal, but my first individual world title is so special," said Glaetzer. "I want to thank everyone. The crowd's been amazing, but this win is dedicated to my late coach Gary West who passed away about a year ago. It's very special and we worked as a whole team for this . It so great to see a reward. I got pushed hard all the way. Thank God for allowing me to be doing what I do. I'm blessed to be here racing amongst quality people."
"That last one [race] was fun. It was great. Close quarters. Sort of combat. It was just a matter of making sure you were on the front foot. He [Carlin] was doing a good job of keeping me close. It was a matter of just backing yourself. If they want to play that game, bring it on, I'm more than happy to play. It's a great challenge, you want to race your best."
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