Two days remain at the 2002 Track World Championships in Copenhagen, Denmark and already there have been stellar performances put forth by the 350 athletes representing thirty five different countries. Built only 15 months ago, the new, indoor, 250 metre, wooden track, has been producing very fast times.

The Canadian team representatives are: Mandy Poitras and Laura Yoisten. Poitras, in her fourth World Championships, will demonstrate her sprinting strengths on Saturday, September 28/02, in the 24 km Points Race and the following day in the 10Km Scratch Race. Yoisten, competing in her first
World Championships, began on Thursday, September 27/02 in the 500m followed by the Sprint events on Friday.

The first event of the competition was the Men's 4km Individual Pursuit. Australia dominated by taking the gold and silver medals, repeating their strong performances at the 2002 Commonwealth Games. The very same night 21-year-old Jobie Dajka from Australia won a frenzied final in the men's keirin to land Australia's second gold medal of these world track championships.

The second day of competition wasn't dominated by Australian blood but rather it was a mix of new and old blood. The night kicked off with the women's 500m and the gold medal going to Natallia Tsylinskaya of Belarus. Having won this event in 2000, Tsylinskaya was no stranger to the event although in 2000 she was competing under a different name, her married name. Natalia, now single, says of the experience, ” It's easier to win a gold medal at the World Championships then find a good husband.” In the men's one kilometer the same evening sensation Chris Hoy of England won gold in the 1000m time trial by the narrowest of margins, defeating reining world champion Arnaud Tournant from France by just one thousandth of a second to record a winning time of 1.01.893.

The third day brought more golden success to the Australian team. The Australian pursuit quartet continued their gold medal streak from the Commonwealth Games to storm around the track 16 times, averaging 59 km/hr. On most residential streets in Canada they would be at risk of getting a speeding ticket!

Stay tuned for more results from Copenhagen and think fast thoughts for Mandy Poitras as she sprints for points in the Women's Points race on Saturday night.

Men's Points Race

1. Chris Newton (GBr) 76 pts
2. Franz Stocher (Aut) 50
3. Juan Curuchet (Arg) 49
4. Bruno Risi (Swi) 39
5. Serguei Kudentsov (Rus) 31
6. Leonardo Duque (Col) 31
7. Makoto Iijima (Jpn) 26
8. Volodymyr Rybin (Ukr) 25
9. Milton Wynants (Uru) 24
10. Juan Llaneras Rossello (Spa) 24

Women's Points

1. Olga Slioussareva (Rus) – 35 pts

2. Lada Kozlikova (Cze) – 20 pts

3. Vera Carrara (Ita) – 20

4. Lyudmyla Vypyraylo (Ukr) – 15 pts

5. Katherine Bates (Aus) – 12 pts

6. Gema Pascual Torrecilla (Spa) – 11 pts

7. Maria Luisa Calle Williams (Col) – 7 pts

8. Anke Wichmann (Ger) – 6 pts

9. Belem Guerrero Mendez (Mex) – 5 pts

10. Cathy Moncassin (Fra) – 4 pts

11. Mette Andreasen (Den) – 4 pts

12. Joanne Marie Kiesanowski (NZl) – 3 pts

13. Sarah Uhl (USA) – 3 pts

14. Mandy Poitras (Can) – 2 pts

15. Edita Kubelskiene (Ltu) – 0

16. Eleftheria Ellinikaki (Gre) – 0

17. Adrie Visser (Ned) – 0

18. Evelyn Garcia ESA – 0

19. Maaria Siren (Fin) – 0

DNF Sara Symington (GBr)

Men's Pursuit Final

1. Brad McGee (Aus) 4.17.875 (55.841 km/h)
2. Luke Roberts (Aus) 4.24.925
3. Jens Lehmann (Ger)

Women's 500m

1. Natallia Tsylinskaya (Blr) – 34.838 (51.667 km/h)

2. Nancy Contreras Reyes (Mex) – 34.898

3. Kerrie Meares (Aus) – 34.964

4. Katrin Meinke (Ger) – 35.180

5. Tanya Lindenmuth (USA) – 35.185

6. Kathrin Freitag (Ger) – 35.365

7. Julie Paulding (GBr) – 35.542

8. Tamilla Abbassova (Rus) – 35.556

9. Céline Nivert (Fra) – 35.590

10. Anna Meares (Aus) – 35.610

11. Iryna Yanovych (Ukr) – 36.025

12. Yvonne Hijgenaar (Ned) – 36.048

13. Tatiana Malianova (Rus) – 36.109

14. Rebecca Conzelman (USA) – 36.230

15. Yumari Gonzalez (Cub) – 36.391

16. Tatiana Makarova (Rus) – 36.668

17. Szilvia Szabolcsi (Hun) – 36.776

18. Laura Yoisten (Can) – 38.187

Team Pursuit Finals Men
For Gold and Silver

1.Australia, 4.00.362 (59.909 km/h) (Peter Dawson, Brett Lancaster, Stephen Wooldridge, Luke Roberts)

2.Germany, 4.07.384 (Christian Bach, Guido Fulst, Sebastian Siedler, Jens Lehmann) For Bronze

3.Great Britain, 4.02.839  (59.298 km/h) (Paul Manning, Bryan Steel, Bradley Wiggins, Chris Newton)

4.Ukraine, 4.08.151 (Volodymyr Dyudya, Roman Kononenko, Lyubomyr Polatayko, Oleksandr Symonenko)