March 26/10 17:48 pm - Track World Championships: Day 3 report and photos

Posted by Editoress on 03/26/10
 

Day 3 of the Track World Championships had three titles awarded, with the Dutch and French winning their first rainbow jerseys of the championships, and the Australians their fourth.  Canada did not have athletes participating in any of today's races.

Men's Team Pursuit (large photos)

Men's Team Pursuit

Men's Kilo

Women's Scratch

Women's Sprint

Men's 1000 metre Time Trial

Considered the hardest individual race on the track, the Kilo has lost much of its stature since it was dropped from the Olympics after the 2004 Games.  25 competitors still took part, with Dutch veteran Teun Mulder the victor after recording a time that surprised even himself - 1:00.341 .  Mulder rode halfway through the field, and had to wait while rider after rider attempted to break his time.  Michaël D'Almeida (France) was the only other rider to go under 1:01, with a time of 1:00.884, while François Pervis (France) finished in 1:01.024, just 62-thousandths faster than Stefan Nimke (Germany).  Two riders were disqualified for non-horizontal hand position:  Tomas Babek (Czech Republic) and Giddeon Massie (USA).

Men's Team Pursuit

The defending champions were the host Danes, but their qualifying time was only good enough to get them into the bronze final against New Zealand, where they lost despite a very enthusiastic crowd.  The gold medal final was Olympic champions and world record holders Great Britain against Australia.  Great Britain qualified first, nearly a second and a half ahead of Australia, but for the Final, Australia replaced Leigh Howard with Points Race winner Cameron Meyer, who provided the necessary extra power to beat the Brits by 0.152 seconds.

Women's Scratch Race

The 40 lap Scratch Race saved most of the action for the final 10 laps, when Vera Koedooder (Netherlands) and Jarmila Machacova (Czech Republic) were away in a potentially serious break.  As the field exploded in the chase, Julie Leth (Denmark) crashed in the finishing straight with seven laps to go, causing a chain reaction that took down six riders.  The most seriously affected was American Shelley Evans, who was catapulted head first over the Dane.  Evans lay on the ground surrounded by medical staff for the rest of the race, but eventually walked away on her own.  While multiple teams were scrambling to get their riders back in the race, the break was caught, setting up a field sprint won by Pascale Jeuland (France), ahead of Yumari Gonzalez Valdivieso (Cuba) and Belinda Goss (Australia).

Women's Sprint

The women's sprint also began today, with the 200 metre time trial qualifier and the first three rounds of competition.  Shuang Guo (China), Anna Meares (Australia), defending champion Victoria Pendleton (Great Britain) and Simona Krupeckaite (Lithuania) all advanced to the semi-finals on Saturday.  Krupeckaite receive a virtual bye through the quarterfinal, when her opponent Kaarle McCulloch (Australia) was struck with such powerful cramps in her left thigh that the start of the race had to be delayed while she received attention from the team soigneur.  MCulloch did ride, but could not respond to any of Krupeckaite's attacks.

Race Notes

- We reported on Day 1 that 500 metre TT bronze medalist received a large fine of 2000 Swiss Francs for 'improper attire' on the podium (she wore leg warmers).  It turns out that this is the lowest fine under the regulations, and she could have been assessed a penalty of up to 10,000 SF.

Full results