March 1/18 17:24 pm - Track Worlds Day 2 Report

Posted by Editoress on 03/1/18
 

Canada finished just off the podium on Day 2 of the UCI Track World Championships in Apeldoorn, Netherlands, on Thursday, with the women's Team Pursuit squad finishing fourth.

After struggling on Wednesday in the qualifying round, the team of Allison Beveridge, Ariane Bonhomme, Annie Foreman-Mackey and Steph Roorda put in a strong second ride to qualify for the bronze medal race against Italy.  For the first 2000 metres the teams swapped the lead back and forth, before the Canadians faded slightly to finish with a time of four minutes and 23.216 seconds, 3.214 seconds back.  The United States won the gold medal, beating Great Britain.







"Our first ride yesterday was a little rough around the edges," admitted Foreman-Mackey, "so we came back ready to fight in the next round and I think we can feel pretty proud of that ride.  Obviously, we want to be on the podium, so it's a little bit of a tough pill to swallow.  We can look at these performances and figure out what we need to change for the Commonwealth Games in a few weeks."

"We executed our own plan and didn't worry about the other team and did our best," said U.S. team anchor Chloe Dygart.  "That worked out.  Winning is always rewarding, [and] after getting second at the Olympics it's nice to get a win here.  Our country has a big focus on our program and we have a bunch of committed young women.  However, even with the win today, our goal is still looking ahead a Tokyo.  That's what we are focussed on."

In the men's Keirin, Hugo Barrette had his strongest ever world championships result, finishing tenth overall.  Barrette won a Repechage heat to make the second round, but came up one hundredth of a second short in making the medal final.







"One hundredth of a second!," said Barrette.  "I definitely had the legs today, but I just mismanaged the semifinal; it was my mistake, I went too early.  It bit me at the end of the race and I had to settle for the 7-12 final.  I'm not happy with the result, but I'm happy with my legs."

Fabian Hernando Puertas Zapata won the Keirin title, moving up from last year's silver.  In the final, he powered over the top of the bunch to take the lead in the final turn.  Tomoyuki Kawabata of Japan won silver and Maximillian Levy of Germany took bronze.

The final Canadian to compete was women's sprinter Amelia Walsh, who qualified 26th with a time of 11.383 seconds.  Walsh went up against Shanne Braspennincx of the Netherlands in the 1/16th round, the seventh fastest qualifier and was knocked out of the competition.







"My qualifier wasn't a PB [personal best], but I understand this track is slow," said Walsh.  "I was happy with how I rode technically, I just need some more training.  Unfortunately, I didn't get to the [second last] corner first, but it was an okay ride."

In the men's Team Pursuit, Great Britain won ahead of Denmark, while Italy took the bronze over Germany.

Ed Clancy, a member of Great Britain's 2008, 2012 and 2016 Olympic gold medal teams, commented, "I'm just happy to still be here. At thirty-three years old in a couple weeks time, riding around with Ethan [Hayter] and Charlie [Tanfield] at nineteen, twenty years old ... I love it more and more every year that goes by. It is still so special to me.  I still love it.  I still have massive passion.  When we get it right and win, nothing feels this good."

Belarus took their first title of these championships in the men's Scratch Race with a strong ride by Yauheni Karaliok.  Karaliok lapped the field along with Michele Scartezzini of Italy and Callum Scotson of Australia.  With the rest of the field a lap down the medals were decided, but Karaliok proved to be the strongest of the three in the final bunch sprint, with Scartezzini just beating Scotson for silver.

Results

Day 1

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