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RACE REPORTS: GREAT BRITAIN DOMINATES FIRST DAY OF OLYMPIC TRACK IN BEIJING
Road Bike Action
August 15, 2008
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Photo Rob Jones / Canadian Cyclist: Great Britain Team Sprint Gold Medal team
Great Britain Takes First Track Gold In Men's Team Sprint Final
With Great Britain's ex-BMX'er Jamie Staff, 20 year old phenom Jason
Kenny and sprint meister Chris Hoy racing a blistering World's Best
Time of 42.950" (62.863km/hr. avg.) . The previous Olympic best time for the team sprint was set by Germany at
the Athens Olympics four years ago when Jens Fiedler, Stefan
Nimke and Rene Wolff rode 43.98". So was no surprise that the Great
Britain team captured the Men's 1000m.
Team Sprint Final in Beijing, while France was 2nd, half a second behind the Brits, while Germany squeaked
in eight-hundreths of a second ahead of the luckless Australians. Team
USA of Michael Blatchford, Adam Duvendeck & Giddeon Massie, who
made it to the top 8th after Poland crashed and was disqualified, ended
up 8th in 45.423"
Hoy Ahoy!
Men's Team Sprint Final (750m)
1. Great Britain: 43.128" (62.604km/hr. avg.)
(Jamie Staff / Jason Kenny / Chris Hoy)
2. France: 43.651"
(Gregory Bauge / Kevin Sireau / Arnaud Tournant)
3. Germany: 44.014"
(Rene Enders / Maximilian Levy / Stefan Nimke
4. Australia: 44.022
(Mark French / Daniel Ellis / Ryan Bayley)
Photo Rob Jones / Canadian Cyclist: Wiggins Goes For Gold
Men's 4000m. Individual Pursuit Qualifying: Wiggo Goes Biggo
As expected, Great Britain's Bradley Wiggins dominated the Men's 4000m.
Individual Pursuit Qualifying, riding 4'15.031 for a new Olympic record
and personal best, posting the fifth-fastest of all-time for the Men's
4000m. Individual Pursuit. Former Discovery Channel pro, Kiwi Hayden
Roulston was second, almost 4" behind Wiggo, while steady Russian
Alexei Markov was third fastest with 4'21"498". 18-year-old American
Taylor Phinney drew 35-year-old Ukranian pro Volodymyr Dyudya in Heat
6, who beat Mini-Phinney by 1.3". Dyudya qualified 4th, while Phinney
qualified 7th and moves on to the semi-finals where he will face
Roulston. "My goal was just to qualify," said Phinney following his ride. "That was the hardest I've ever pushed myself in a pursuit. In training we thought the track would be faster, but it might have been a little colder in here today." Great Britain's 20 year old Steven Burke, who only found out
the day before he would ride the Individual Pursuit, had a superb ride.
Burke had a new personal best by 9 seconds and the UK team pursuiter
could surprise in the individual discipline tommorrow.
Photo Rob Jones / Canadian Cyclist: 18 year old Taylor Phinney Qualifies 7th
Saturday 16 August: Men's 4000m. Individual Pursuit Semi-Finals:
Volodymyr Dyudya (Ukraine) vs Steven Burke (Great Britain)
Alexei Markov (Russia) vs Antonio Tauler (Spain)
Hayden Roulston (New Zealand) vs Taylor Phinney (USA)
Bradley Wiggins (Great Britain) vs Alexander Serov (Russia)
The fastest two race winners will compete for gold. The other two race winners will go for bronze.
Men's 4000m. Individual Pursuit Qualifying
1. Bradley Wiggins (Great Britain) 4'15.031"
(56.463km/hr avg.)
2. Hayden Roulston (New Zealand) 4'18.990"
3. Alexei Markov (Russian Fed) 4'21"498"
4. Volodymyr Dyudya (Ukraine) 4'21'530"
5. Steven Burke (Great Britain) 4'22.260"
6. Antonio Tauler (Spain) 4'22.462"
7. Taylor Phinney (United States) 4'22.860"
8. Alexander Serov (Russian Fed) 4'23.732
Eliminated
9. Bradley McGee (Australia) 4'26.084"
10. Sergi Escobar (Spain) 4'26.102"
11. David O'Loughlin (Ireland) 4'26.102"
12. Brett Lancaster (Australia) 4'26.139"
Photo Rob Jones / Canadian Cyclist:
Wonderful Wendy Qualifies First
Great Britain 1-2 In Women's 3000m. Individual Pursuit Qualifying
33 year old Wendy Houvenaghel qualified fastest in the Women's 3000m.
Individual Pursuit today at Laoshan Velodrome. A former road time
trialist from Northern Ireland, Houvenaghel was a part of the gold medal winning womens team
pursuit, but was only 4th in the individual pursuit. Her Great Britain
teammate Rebecca Romero qualified 2nd but the reigning Women's 3000m.
Individual Pursuit World Champion may be suffering back problems.
Romero earned a Silver Medal in the 2004 Athens Games in rowing but
retired due to back problems. United States rider Sarah Hammer, 2006-07
Women's 3000m. Individual Pursuit World Champion qualified 5th in
3'35.471". Herself hampered by a back injury this season, Hammer is
almost 7" behind the Brits rapid pace in Beijing. "It was ugly for me personally," Hammer said of her qualifying heat." That's not how I hope to feel. My body wasn't handling it today. Four laps in I was like,
'oh, this is not going to be fun.' It was just a bad day. I was a little nervous, so I'm lucky it's over three rounds."
Women's 3000m. Individual Pursuit Qualifying Round
1. Wendy Houvenaghel (Great Britain) 3'28.443"
(51.812km/h)
2. Rebecca Romero (Great Britain) 3'28.641"
3. Lesya Kalitovska (Ukraine) 3'31.942"
4. Alison Shanks (New Zealand) 3'34.312"
5. Sarah Hammer (United States) 3'35.471"
6. Vilija Sereikaite (Lithuania) 3'36.063"
7. Katie Mactier (Australia) 3'38.178"
8. Lada Kozlikova (Czech Republic) 3'39.561"
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