Britons need to send a message to the Australian riders who dominated Commonwealth Games
Although the main headlines early on day two of the European track championships in Pruszkow, Poland, concerned Chris Hoy’s shock defeat to the Irishman Felix English in the final 16 of the sprint competition, the opening day of competition saw a strong display by the team which dominated the last Olympics.
It won two our of the four finals held on Friday, then took silver and bronze in the other events.
First to top the podium were the men’s individual pursuit team of Ed Clancy, Steven Burke, Andy Tennant and Jason Queally, a 40 year old former Olympic gold medallist in the kilo event. They clocked a time of 4 minutes 0.492 to handily beat the Russians’ 4 minutes 4.274. Netherlands beat Spain for bronze.
The women’s trio of Wendy Houvenaghel, Laura Trott and Katie Colclough had a more dominant success whey they clocked 3 minutes 23.435, over six seconds quicker than the 3 minutes 29.992 of silver medallists Lituania. Germany edged out Belarus for bronze.
The team sprint gold medals went elsewhere, with Germany’s Robert Forstemann, Max Levy and Stefan Nimke squaring up against the French trio of Michaël D’Almeida, François Pervis and Kevin Sireau and going 0.215 faster. British trio Matt Crampton, Chris Hoy and Jason Kenny had to be content with third ahead of Poland.
“It was a shame not to be able to take part to the final, we could’ve fought for the gold medal,” Hoy said. “But it’s all part of the game, that’s how cycling goes.”
France went once step higher in the women’s team sprint, where Sandi Clair and Clara Sanchez beat Victoria Pendleton and Jess Varnish by 0.108 seconds. Bronze went to the Germans Kristina Vogel and Miriam Welte, who beat Dutchwomen Willy Kanis and Yvonne Higenaar.
British riders are under pressure to perform well at the European championships, both because it is the first round in Olympic qualification and also because it would send a message to the Australian team that dominated the Commonwealth Games last month.
Several key British competitors such as Hoy and Pendleton didn’t travel to Delhi, preferring instead to focus their efforts on the Europeans. However, notwithstanding this, the level of dominance shown by the Australian riders plus the young age of the successful competitors shows that the country is back on track in terms of velodrome racing. Its riders won twelve out of the 14 gold medals handed out there, and also clocked up three silver and two bronze medals for a total of 16 visits to the podium.
Hoy will now head home, but the remaining British riders will do what they can this weekend to underline that they remain a major power in track racing.