Briton sees off Baugé in two legs; Pendleton and Meares still heading for final clash; Trott and Hammer lead women’s Omnium
Great Britain’s Jason Kenny turned his silver medal from the Sprint competition in the Beijing Olympics four years before - where he finished second behind compatriot Chris Hoy - to gold in London as he beat reigning World champion Grégory Baugé of France.
In the women’s competition the top seeds continued their own March towards the medals, with Great Britain’s reigning champion still heading for a gold medal clash with arch-rival Anna Meares of Australia.
In the women’s Omnium Great Britain’s World champion Laura Trott, and former four-time World Pursuit champion Sarah Hammer of the United States shared the lead after three events as the competition headed into its second day
Silver turns to gold for Jason Kenny in men’s Sprint
Kenny made short work of dispatching surprise semi-finalist Njisane Phillip of Trinidad & Tobago in two legs, while Baugé had to overcome a bigger challenge from Australia’s Shane Perkins, but still took just two races to put himself in a final against the Briton.
Phillip put up a harder fight against Perkins in the first leg of the battle for bronze however, but the more experienced Australian took him on the line. Perkins went early in the second leg, and managed to cruise around to take the medal.
In the fight for the gold medal Kenny took first blood at the end of a cagey first encounter; Baugé led slowly around the first two laps and, as he opened up his sprint, the British rider came around him on the final bend to beat him on the line.
A much faster second race saw Kenny take the front early and, despite getting into the British rider’s slipstream, Baugé was unable to come around on the line. Kenny took the race by half a bike length, and celebrated his second gold medal of the games as he went one better than his silver in Beijing.
Result men’s Sprint
1. Jason Kenny (Great Britain)
2. Grégory Baugé (France)
3. Shane Perkins (Australia)
4. Njisane Phillip (Trinidad & Tobago)
The big names progress to the semi-finals in the women’s Sprint
The first legs of the women’s Sprint went largely with the form book, with defending champion Victoria Pendleton beating Belarusian Olga Panarina, Anna Meares beating Ukrainian Lyubov Shulika, and Germany’s Kristina Vogel beating Simona Krupekaite. There was a slight shock however, as Cuba’s Lisandra Guerra managed to beat big favourite Guo Shuang in the first of their three possible matches.
Pendleton made short work of Panarina in the second leg, to cruise into the following day’s semi finals, as did Meares over a long attack from Shulika. Guo equalised against Guerra, despite dropping into the sprinter’s lane early after overtaking the Cuban rider, then Vogel won a close second leg over Krupekaite to set up a semi-final clash with Pendleton.
In the only tie to go to three races, Guo beat Guerra again to win 2-1 and go on to face Meares the next day. Meanwhile, Krupekaite won the four-way race for fifth place.
Women’s Sprint semi-final draw
Heat 1
Victoria Pendleton (Great Britain)
Kristina Vogel (Germany)
Heat 2
Anna Meares (Australia)
Guo Shuang (China)
Result 5th to 8th place final
5. Simona Krupekaite (Russia)
6. Lisandra Guerra (Cuba)
7. Lyubov Shulika (Ukraine)
8. Olga Panarina (Belarus)
Trott and Hammer boss the women’s Omnium
World champion, and member of Great Britain’s victorious Olympic Pursuit team, Laura Trott got her quest for a second Olympic gold off to a perfect start with victory in the Flying Lap. The 20-year-old’s time of 14.057 seconds for the 250 metres was good enough to beat French pure sprinter Clara Sanchez - who took fourth place in the women’s Keirin four days before - by one-thousandth of a second. Australia’s Annette Edmondson was third, with a still-impressive 14.261.
A cagey start to the Points Race saw Edmondson take an early lead, ahead of Canadian former two-time World champion Tara Whitten. Trott took the second sprint however, and tried to use her momentum to start a breakaway, but Edmondson closed her down before she could get far. As they swung up however, a group of five escaped, with Jolien D’Hoore (Belgium), Evgeniya Romanyuta (Russia), Maria Luisa Calle Williams (Colombia), Malgorzata Wojtyra (Poland) and Angie Gonzalez (Venezuela) managing to get a lap just after the third sprint.
As the five riders joined the back of the pack, Whitten escaped with Sarah Hammer (United States) and Kiesanowski (New Zealand) escaped and made short work of taking a lap themselves. This was followed by an attack from Tatsiana Sharakova (Belarus), who managed to make it all the way around alone.
Wojtyra attacked again, taking sprint six as she dangled half a lap ahead; she was eventually joined by Lee Minhye (Korea) but the bunch had sped up behind them and the two riders were having trouble closing the gap. The Polish rider took sprint seven, ahead of Lee, and Edmondson managed to hold off Trott to take third.
The pace of the peloton saw Wojtyra and Lee caught, and sprinter Sanchez distanced.
Whitten led with two laps to go, but Sharakova pulled around her at the bell; the Belarusian led into the final sprint, but Trott took her on the line to take the final five points.
Whitten and Hammer jointly took the lead after the second race, on ten points each, with Trott slipping to third on eleven.
Disaster for Whitten saw her out relatively early in the Elimination Race, and only taking eighth place as the rest of the big names carried on. The race came down to a fight between Hammer, Trott and Edmondson, with the Australian the last to be eliminated. Hammer went early to try and take the final sprint, but Trott overtook her with ease to win the third race.
The result saw Whitten drop away from the lead, but Trott joined Hammer at the top of the table on 12 points; Trott was in the lead however, having won two events.
Results women’s Omnium
Result Flying Lap
1. Laura Trott (Great Britain)
2. Clara Sanchez (France)
3. Annette Edmondson (Australia)
4. Kirsten Wild (Netherlands)
5. Sarah Hammer (United States)
Result Points Race
1. Malgorzata Wojtyra (Poland)
2. Tatsiana Sharakova (Belarus)
3. Tara Whitten (Canada)
4. Jolien D’Hoore (Belgium)
5. Sarah Hammer (United States)
Result Elimination Race
1. Laura Trott (Great Britain)
2. Sarah Hammer (United States)
3. Annette Edmondson (Australia)
4. Evgeniya Romanyuta (Russia)
5. Kirsten Wild (Netherlands)
Standings after three events
1. Laura Trott (Great Britain) 12pts
2. Sarah Hammer (United States) 12
3. Annette Edmondson (Australia) 17
4. Tara Whitten (Canada) 18
5. Jolien D’Hoore (Belgium) 20