August 15, 2008 (Beijing, China) – The Men’s Team Sprint is one of the most exciting events at the Games. The qualifications commenced on Friday with the Polish team on their own not having a nation to race against, given the unequal number teams that qualified, so they raced against the clock hoping to have a fast time.

Results put the Great (make that a capital “G”) Britain team in first place with a time of 42.950, the fastest time ever for this event followed by France in 43.541, Germany with 44.197, the Netherlands 44.213, Australia at 44.335, Japan in 44.454, Malaysia in 44.725, and the USA in at 45.346.

Disaster hit when a Polish rider went down on the second lap while Japan suffered a similar difficulty with a puncture to one rider. The jury decided to allow Poland and Japan to ride against each another once all of other heats had occurred. While Japan qualified, Poland was disqualified for deliberately riding on the blue band during the race, which gave them a slightly shorter distance to cover. This moved the American team into the quarter finals. The big surprise in the competition were the two Asian countries, Japan and particularly Malaysia who were less than a second out of second place.

The quarter-final saw the Netherlands and Australia in the first heat with Australia taking it in 44.090 over the Dutch time of 44.212. Germany and Japan were up in the second heat with Germany taking it in 43.699. The third heat saw France and Malaysia, which saw France take it in 43.656. Finally Great Britain team decimated the United States in the last sprint with a 43.034 against the Americans in at 45.423.

These results put the German team of Rene Enders, Maximillian Levy and Stefan Nimke up against Australia’s Ryan Bayley, Daniel Ellise and Mark French for the bronze medal ride. In a stunning race that saw Australia with a slight lead for the first two laps, the Germans unleashed a terrifying sprint in the final lap as Nimke flew to take the bronze.

The gold and silver would be decided between Great Britain’s Chris Hoy, Jason Kenny, and Jamie Staff competing against France’s Gregory Bauge, Mickale Bourgain, and Kevin Sireau. France has been world and Olympic champions in this event and went in as the favorites. But what a race this was for the British as Chris Hoy set such a fast pace at first his teammates had trouble staying on his wheel. The same thing happened when Kenny pulled through as Staff was over a bike length behind him, but still these guys are so fast they could do the team sprint as individuals. They rode to gold with a time of 43.128 while the French took silver in 43.651.

“You have so many emotions at the Olympic Games,” said thirty-five-year-old Staff who left BMX in 2001 to win a gold at the Olympic Games in track cycling. “This was four years of effort down to seventeen seconds. You put a lot of pressure on yourself. It definitely took longer than I thought” said Staff, who was on the team in Athens when they missed out on making the podium, “but it was the reason I came over.”

Staff said they didn’t allow themselves time to think that they would win the gold in Beijing, though obviously that was their goal. “You just go out there and do what you know what to do. We just never gave up hope to compete with the French. Not for one second did we give up hope. In the team sprint anything can happen.”

“I believe in myself and I believe in British cycling. Things have moved along so much with the National Lottery funds. It’s just fantastic to be part of this team.” Later Staff added that, while the medals may be around their necks, there’s a whole cycling support team behind them. “They’re the best in the world.”

Kenny, who is a wunderkind at only twenty years of age, and looks like an apple-cheeked schoolboy, could hardly speak. “It’s surreal,” he said, “It hasn’t sunk in at all. I just did the best job I could do.”

The veteran Hoy, who had so much trouble staying on Kenny’s wheel, said he still found a good slipstream, even though he was more than a bike length behind halfway through the race. “You treat each race like a final,” he commented. “We did that. We did the quickest three laps ever in the world. The French have been so dominant for so long, but we focused only on performance. We’re not worried about medals, or what other teams are doing. I struggled to hold Jason’s wheel. You’re part of a team. You don’t want to let these guys down.”

All three teams have nothing but respect for one another, and as Hoy pointed out, they had to ride a world record to beat the French and the Germans. Bronze medalist Enders said “right now, frankly, I feel nothing. I don’t yet realize that we won the bronze medal. There was a lot of pressure for me to race here. I thank Stefan and Max for giving it all because my opening lap was not the strongest, I have to admit.”

French silver medalist, Sireau said that he felt a mix of emotions. “It’s my first Olympics, but at the same time there’s a bit of bitterness. We missed the fastest place by just a little bit. But we take a lot of pleasure in being here – we are having fun.”

Men’s Individual 4000 Metre Pursuit
The qualifying rounds saw Great Britain’s Bradley Wiggins break his own Olympic record of 4:15.165 with a smooth and powerful ride of 4:15.031. Hayden Roulston of New Zealand also looked so very smooth, given how much this event hurts, turning in the second fastest time of 4:18.990. Russia’s Alexei Markov qualified third fastest with a 4:21.498, while Volodymyr Dyudya of the Ukraine rode fourth fastest in 4:21.530. Great Britain showed its depth once more in the sport as Steven Burke turned in the fifth fastest time of 4:22.260. Spain’s Antonio Tauler took sixth spot with a 4:22.462.

But it was American Taylor Phinney, son of Connie Carpenter-Phinney and Davis Phinney who, at only 18 years of age, really showed that he is a force to be reckoned with as he qualified in 4:22.860, just over a second behind the third fastest time. The eighth and final spot went to Alexander Serov of Russia with a 4:23.732.
This competition continues on Saturday with the first round for the top eight. Dyudya of the Ukraine will race against Burke of Great Britain. Markov of Russia is up against Tauler of Spain, while New Zealand’s Roulston takes on Phinney of the USA, and finally Great Britain’s Wiggins rides Alexander Serov.

Women’s Individual 3000 Metre Pursuit
The IOC’s rules on the track have greatly limited female competition. The men have seven events while women have only three. In addition the men’s team can consist of up to eleven riders while a nation’s women’s track team can be a maximum of three. This means there was a grand total of fifteen women starting this event with no riders from Canada, the Netherlands, France, Russia, Austria, Sweden, Norway, or Denmark – all of whom have strong road teams where pursuiters normally reside.

The British women have expressed their anger over this situation and match that anger with phenomenal performances on the road and track. Wendy Houvenaghel of Great Britain rode to a fabulous time of 2:37.56 at the 2,250 mark, and put the USA’s Sarah Hammer in her sights on the last lap, nearly lapping her with a final time of 3:28.443 to Hammer’s 3:35.471. But it was the final match up of another Brit, Rebecca Romero against Australia’s Katie Mactier, who was second in this event in Athens four years earlier, that showed how serious the British really are. Mactier had Romero nearly in her sight after three laps, but Romero fought back and completely turned the tables on Mactier, evening things out and then gaining on her each lap. Just as Romero was hitting the finish line, she lapped Mactier and rode to a time of 3:28.641, two-tenths of a second behind Houvenaghel her teammate.

Houvenaghel ended up with the fastest qualifying time followed by her teammate Romero. Only world and Olympic champion Sarah Ulmer has gone faster with her time at the Athens Games of 3:24.537. The Ukraine’s Lesya Kalitovska took the fourth fastest position with 3:31.942, while Alison Shanks of New Zealand took fifth in 3:34.312. Sixth position went to Vilija Sereikaite of Lithuania in 3:36.053, while Australia’s Katie Mactier was seventh in 3:38.178 and the Czech Republic’s Lada Kozlikova took the final spot for the quarter-finals on Saturday in 3:39.561.

Results

Men’s Team Sprint

Qualifying

1. Great Britain 42.950 (62.863km/h)
Chris Hoy
Jason Kenny
Jamie Staff

2. France 43.541
Gregory Bauge
Kevin Sireau
Arnaud Tournant

3. Germany 44.197
Rene Enders
Maximilian Levy
Stefan Nimke

4. Netherlands 44.213
Theo Bos
Teun Mulder
Tim Veldt

5. Australia 44.335
Daniel Ellis
Mark French
Shane Kelly

6. Japan 44.454
Kiyofumi Nagai
Tomohiro Nagatsuka
Kazunari Watanabe

7. Malaysia 44.725
Mohd Azizulhasni Awang
Josiah Ng
Mohd Rizal Tisin

8. United States 45.346
Michael Blatchford
Adam Duvendeck
Giddeon Massie

9. China 45.556
Yong Feng
Wenhao Li
Lei Zhang

10. Greece 45.645
Athanasios Mantzouranis
Vasileios Reppas
Panagiotis Voukelatos

11. Czech Republic 45.678
Tomas Babek
Adam Ptacnik
Denis Spicka

12. Russian Fed 45.964
Sergey Polynskiy
Denis Dmitriev
Sergey Kucherov

13. Poland 45.266
Maciej Bielecki
Kamil Kuczynski
Lukasz Kwiatkowski

First Round

Heat 1

1. Australia 44.090
Ryan Bayley
Daniel Ellis
Mark French

2. Netherlands 44.212
Theo Bos
Teun Mulder
Tim Veldt

Heat 2

1. Germany 43.699
Rene Enders
Maximilian Levy
Stefan Nimke

2. Japan 44.437
Kiyofumi Nagai
Tomohiro Nagatsuka
Kazunari Watanabe

Heat 3

1. France 43.656
Gregory Bauge
Mickael Bourgain
Kevin Sireau

2. Malaysia 44.822
Mohd Azizulhasni Awang
Josiah Ng
Mohd Rizal Tisin

Heat 4

1. Great Britain 43.034
Chris Hoy
Jason Kenny
Jamie Staff

2. United States 45.423
Michael Blatchford
Adam Duvendeck
Giddeon Massie

Finals

1. Great Britain 43.128 (62.604km/h)
Chris Hoy
Jason Kenny
Jamie Staff

2. France 43.651
Gregory Bauge
Kevin Sireau
Arnaud Tournant

3. Germany 44.014
Rene Enders
Maximilian Levy
Stefan Nimke

4. Australia 44.022
Ryan Bayley
Daniel Ellis
Mark French

Men’s Individual Pursuit

Qualifying

1. Bradley Wiggins (Great Britain) 4:15.031 (56.463km/h)
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
9. Bradley McGee (Australia) 4:26.084
10. Sergi Escobar (Spain) 4:26.084
11. David O’Loughlin (Ireland) 4:26.102
12. Brett Lancaster (Australia) 4:26.102
13. Jens Mouris (Netherlands) 4:26.139
14. Vitaliy Popkov (Ukraine) 4:27.445
15. Fabien Sanchez (France) 4:30.321
16. Carlos Alzate (Colombia) 4:33.100
17. Alexandr Pliuschin (Rep. of Moldova) 4:35.438
18. Jenning Huizenga (Netherlands) 4:37.097

Women’s Individual Pursuit

Qualifying

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
9. Karin Thurig (Switzerland) 3:40.862
10. Maria Luisa Calle (Colombia) 3:41.175
11. Verena Jooss (Germany) 3:44.480
12. Svetlana Pauliukaite (Lithuania) 3:45.691
13. Evelyn Garcia (El Salvador) 3:56.849