Gold for Hoy and Rowsell, but a surprise win for Guo; Arango confirms men’s Omnium as Edmondson leads women's
An uncharacteristic win from behind for Great Britain’s Olympic hero Sir Chris Hoy was an early roof raiser in the new London Velodrome, in what most of the crowd would have hoped was a rehearsal for this summer’s Olympic Games. There was less good news for the home nation’s other Beijing sprint champion though, as a semi-final battle with Australian World champion Anna Meares saw Victoria Pendleton fail to medal in the women’s Sprint.
VeloNation’s newest blogger Joanna Rowsell lifted the partisan crowd’s spirits once more though, with a gold medal in the Individual Pursuit to add to the on she took in the Team event the previous day. Day two of the men’s Omnium went much as day one had done, with Colombian Juan Esteban Arango confirming overall victory; in the women’s event a heroic Elimination Race from Great Britain’s Laura Trott, who grew up less than 20 miles from the Velodrome, was not quite enough to give the lead after day one, with the more consistent Annette Edmondson of Australia in pole position at the halfway point.
Men’s Keirin: Sir Chris does it the hard way
It was no surprise that Great Britain’s Beijing Olympic hero Sir Chris Hoy came out as the winner of the Men’s Keirin; what was rather surprising though, was the way he did it. After cruising through qualification, in his usual style of hitting the front and daring his rivals to try to come past, the Scotsman did it the hard way in the final.
As the race entered the final lap, Hoy found himself close to the back of the pack, and an upset was on the cards. The Olympic champion opened up the taps on the final bend though, and eased past the rest to take a highly popular victory in front of a partisan London crowd. German Rene Enders was a close second, with Frenchman Mickael Bourgain taking the bronze.
Result Men’s Keirin
1. Chris Hoy (GBr) Great Britain
2. Rene Enders (Ger) Germany
3. Mickael Bourgain (Fra) France
4. Teun Mulder (Ned) Netherlands
5. Kazunari Watanabe (Jpn) Japan
Women’s Sprint: Guo Shuang takes a shock win over Anna Meares
World Champion Anna Meares of Australia took revenge for her Team Sprint defeat on Great Britain’s Victoria Pendleton in the semi-finals - although she took three rounds to do it - but she couldn’t get past Guo Shuang of China, who beat her in two rounds.
Her long battle with Pendleton appeared to have tired Meares, who usually manages to beat Guo without too much trouble. The Chinese rider put herself on the front in both races though, and the World champion was just unable to get around her.
Pendleton also seemed to be tired after her semi-final battle and, despite winning the opening race with Hong Kong’s Lee Wai Sze, lost the second and third and Lee took the bronze.
Result Women’s Sprint
1. Guo Shuang (Chn) China
2. Anna Meares (Aus) Australia
3. Lee Wai Sze (Hkg) Hong Kong
4. Victoria Pendleton (GBr) Great Britain
5. Jess Varnish (GBr) Great Britain
Women’s individual Pursuit: Second Gold for Joanna Rowsell
Having been part of Great Britain’s World record Team Pursuit trio the previous day, VeloNation blogger Joanna Rowsell took her second gold of the weekend in the Individual Pursuit. The 23-year-old was fastest in the morning’s qualification, with a time of 3:33.496, but was only eight-hundredths of a second faster than New Zealander Alison Shanks, who she would meet in the final.
Rowsell started the faster, and was more than a second ahead after the first kilometre; Shanks came back in the middle of the race, but Rowsell accelerated in the closing stages to restore that second margin at the finish; setting a time of 3:32.364. Amy Cure of Australia, having qualified fourth, overcame Vilija Serekaite of Lithuania to take the bronze medal.
Result Women’s Individual Pursuit
1. Joanna Rowsell (GBr) Great Britain
2. Alison Shanks (NZl) New Zealand
3. Amy Cure (Aus) Australia
4. Vilija Serekaite (Ltu) Lithuania
Men’s Omnium Day 2: Arango increases first day lead to take second World Cup
Having taken two second places on day one, competition leader Juan Esteban Arango of Colombia took his first victory of the weekend in the Individual Pursuit event, with a time of 4:24.087. Flying lap winner Zach Bell (Canada) salvaged a little pride - after ordinary results in the Points Race and Elimination - with second place, a fraction over a second behind Arango. Cho Ho Sung (Korea) moved himself up to second overall with third place, ahead of Great Britain’s Ben Swift.
With Arango apparently out of reach, Swift improved his chances of taking a medal in his home World Cup with a victory in the Scratch Race. The British rider was one of seven to take a lap in the 15km race, and was the first of those across the line, ahead of Rafal Ratajczyk of Poland and Roger Kluge of Germany.
Despite an ordinary ninth in the Scratch Race, it would take a disaster in the Kilometre Time Trial to deny Arango a repeat of his victory in his home round of the World Cup, in Cali, Colombia, at the beginning of December. Unluckily for the rest of the field, his time of 1:03.830 for four laps of the track was good enough for second place, less than two-tenths of a second behind Bell.
The Colombian’s total of 21 points, seven less than he scored in Cali, gave him overall victory by an incredible 11-point margin over Sung; Bell’s near perfect second day compensated in part for his disappointing Points and Elimination races to lift him up into the bronze medal position, just one point behind the Korean.
Result Individual Pursuit
1. Juan Esteban Arango (Col) Colombia
2. Zach Bell (Can) Canada
3. Cho Ho Sung (Kor) Korea
4. Ben Swift (GBr) Great Britain
5. Roger Kluge (Ger) Germany
Result Scratch Race
1. Ben Swift (GBr) Great Britain
2. Rafal Ratajczyk (Pol) Poland
3. Roger Kluge (Ger) Germany
4. Zach Bell (Can) Canada
5. Cho Ho Sung (Kor) Korea
Result Kilometre
1. Zach Bell (Can) Canada
2. Juan Esteban Arango (Col) Colombia
3. Rafal Ratajczyk (Pol) Poland
4. Cho Ho Sung (Kor) Korea
5. Elia Viviani (Ita) Italy
Final standings
1. Juan Esteban Arango (Col) Colombia 21pts
2. Cho Ho Sung (Kor) Korea 32
3. Zach Bell (Can) Canada 33
4. Elia Viviani (Ita) Italy 39
5. Bryan Coquard (Fra) France 42
Women’s Omnium Day 1: Australia’s Edmondson holds a narrow lead
A fastest time of 14.339 gave China’s Huang Li victory in the Flying Lap, more than a tenth of a second ahead of Great Britain team pursuiter Laura Trott, with the United States’ Individual Pursuit World champion Sarah Hammer in third. Sofia Arreola of Mexico took a close victory in the Points Race, just one point ahead of Svitlana Galyuk of Ukraine, after a group of four riders managed to take a lap on the field. Italian Valentina Scandolara finished third, ahead of Ausrine Trebaite of Lithuania, but it was the Lithuanian’s consistency that gave her the lead after two laps.
Trebaite had a disastrous Elimination however, finishing just 14th, which left the lead open for second placed Hammer to take; the American could only take eighth though, and she drifted down the leader board. An Elimination exhibition from Trott, who hung at the back for most of the race and outsprinted the final rider each time, belied the 19-year-old’s exhaustion; she hung on to take the victory over World champion Tara Whitten of Canada, and Dutch road sprinter Kirsten Wild.
Fourth place for Australia’s Annette Edmondson though, was enough to give her a total of 16 points and put her into the lead at the end of day one, just one point ahead of Whitten. Trott, Hammer and Wild are all poised on 20 points, with the British rider taking the third spot by virtue of her Elimination victory.
Result Flying Lap
1. Huang Li (Chn) China
2. Laura Trott (GBr) Great Britain
3. Sarah Hammer (USA) United States
4. Annette Edmondson (Aus) Australia
5. Tara Whitten (Can) Canada
Result Points Race
1. Sofia Arreola (Mex) Mexico
2. Svitlana Galyuk (Ukr) Ukraine
3. Valentina Scandolara (Ita) Italy
4. Ausrine Trebaite (Ltu) Lithuania
5. Charlotte Becker (Ger) Germany
Result Elimination
1. Laura Trott (GBr) Great Britain
2. Tara Whitten (Can) Canada
3. Kirsten Wild (Ned) Netherlands
4. Annette Edmondson (Aus) Australia
5. Pascale Jeuland (Fra) France
Standings after Day One
1. Annette Edmondson (Aus) Australia 16pts
2. Tara Whitten (Can) Canada 17
3. Laura Trott (GBr) Great Britain 20
4. Sarah Hammer (USA) United States 20
5. Kirsten Wild (Ned) Netherlands 20