August 17, 2008 (Beijing, China) – As rain drummed on the roof of the Laoshan Velodrome, Day 3 of track racing commenced with the 1/16 Finals of the men’s 200 metre sprint. First up was Britain’s Chris Hoy, with two gold medals in two days, and Denis Dmitriev of Russia. Hoy made the Russian take the lead and then chose the banking before the bell lap to ride him high and then deak underneath. Hoy, as usual, took the first heat with seemingly little effort in 10.6. He moved on through his taking the 1/8 finals over Kazunari Watanabe (Japan) in 10.636.

Heat number two saw Jason Kenny, the twenty-year-old wonder, also from Britain who won the team sprint with his teammates in the first evening of racing, and Lukasz Kwiatowski of Poland. Kenny had ridden a 9.857 in qualifiers to Kwiatowski’s 10.504. Again the Brit made his competitor take the lead, but they played cat and mouse, inching up the track before Kenny broke on the banking in the second lap. Kenny just kept going, flying into the bell lap and rode to a 10.6, just as his teammate had. Kenny moved on winning the 1/8 finals in 10.531.

Heat three had China’s favorite son Lei Zhang, who qualified with 10.497 up against Stephan Nimke of Germany, who had won a bronze medal in the team sprint two nights earlier and qualified with 10.064. Zhang forced Nimke to lead in the first lap, as they too inched their way around the track. Zhang broke first though, with Nimke pushed high on the banking until they were neck and neck into the last banking at which point Nimke let loose with the power he showed in the team sprint and took the first heat. Nimke moved to the 1/16 finals, winning his heat in 10.828, but lost out in the 1/8 finals to Stefan Teun of the Netherlands.

Kevin Sireau of France, silver medalist in the team sprint and qualifying with 10.098, and American Michael Blatchford (10.470) of the USA contested heat four. The American led the preliminary laps with Sireau going high on the banking into the last lap and then swinging down to take it. Sireau took his 1/16 final in 10.742, but lost the 1/8 final to Theo Bos of the Netherlands who took it in 10.777

Heat five paired Mickael Bourgain of France, qualifying in 10.123, and Tsubasa Kitatsuru of Japan with a qualifying time of 10:346, with the Japanese rider leading. Both went high on the banking on the second preliminary lap but Bourgain flew to the front going into the bell lap and was never really challenged. Bourgain had the fastest time of 10.562 and won his 1/16 final in 10:562 taking the 1/8 final as well against Roberto Chiappa in 10:734.

Heat six was Maximillian Levy, qualifying in 10.199, Nimke’s teammate from the team sprint, and Teun Mulder of the Netherlands, who qualified in 10.373. The German took command of the preliminary first lap, slowing down to a snail’s pace, while Mulder simply watching him from behind. On the second lap they both rode high on the first banking but the German swung out on the backstretch and started the sprint early on and staying in front until the line. Levy won his 1/16 final, and then the 1/8 final in 10.763.

Heat seven matched Ryan Bayley of Australia the 2004 Olympic champion and who qualified in 10.362, and Mohd Azizulhasni of Malaysia, whose qualifying time was 10.272. Azizulhasni flew off the front early, and kept Bayley from challenging until the final straightaway when Bayley came by. Bayley moved up to the 1/16 final, but lost to Levy in the 1/8 round.

Roberto Chiappa of Italy, qualifying in 10.314, and Kazunari Watanbe of Japan who qualified in 10.346 were up on heat eight. Chiappa rode out first and made his move on the backstretch before the bell lap. Watanbe gained on him, but not quickly enough and Chiappa took the heat. Chippa won his 1/16 final, but was taken out by Bourgain in the 1/8 final.

The final heat paired Mark French of Australia, who qualified in 10.10:337 and Theo Bos of the Netherlands, qualifying in 10.318 as well as being the 200 metre world record holder. They were cat and mouse until the second lap when the Dutch rider tried to get past French, who held him off until the last ten metres at which time Bos went by, winning by less than half a wheel. Bos won his 1/16 and 1/8, the latter in 10.77

The 1/8 final repechage saw Sireau of France and Awang of Malaysia move up, which resulted in Hoy and Awang as the first two up in the quarter finals tomorrow, followed by Sireau and Kenny in the second group, Levy and Mulder as the third and Bourgain and Bos in the final grouping.

Women’s 3,000m Individual Pursuit Final
Bronze and fourth place rode off first as Lesya Kalitovska of the Ukraine and Alison Shanks of New Zealand came to the startline.

Kalitovska had a faster 500 metres, coming in at 1.5 seconds ahead of Shanks. At the 1000 metre mark, she had nearly two seconds, but at the 1,500 metre mark that went down to 1.4 and then 1.2, and 1.1 with the three laps after that. But Shanks could not sustain the chase and fell back until the final lap. When the gun went off, Kalitovska had won the bronze in 3:31.4, while Shanks took fourth place in 3:34.1.

The gold and silver race spoke to the amazing depth of women’s cycling in England as Rebecca Romero and teammate Wendy Houvenaghel faced off. They are also the two fastest women in the history of this event, behind New Zealand’s Sarah Ulmer, who still holds the world and Olympic record at 3:24.537. From the gun Romero had the lead until the first thousand metres saw her ride a 1:11.9 to her teammate’s 1:13, though Houvenaghel came into the event as a slightly faster rider. Romero, who took the silver in Athens in the quadruple sculls in rowing, added a gold to her collection, winning the event in 3:28.321 to Houvenaghel’s 3:30.395.

This silver-gold finish put England’s medal haul in cycling at eight after three days. Romero let out a deep scream when she caught her breath after the race and with sheer delight. The silver medalist from the quadruple sculls could not continue in that sport because of a back injury and in 2005 switched sports.

“I’m trying to hold it together – what an immense achievement. I’ve had to search deep inside and fight for it and do what I know I’m capable of. Olympic gold medals don’t come easy. My philosophy is I would trade everything for an Olympic medal, so it means a lot,” said Romero. “Wendy gave me a challenge all the way. We did it together, we filled the top two spots. Two years ago, we always said it would be us two.”

Teammate Houvenaghel added to this saying, “Really, it’s a good achievement for the two of us to be in the gold, silver final. It’s been the plan for the past two years. There really wasn’t too much between us in the last two days. It could be anyone across the track. It doesn’t come into it while you’re on the track, it doesn’t matter who is on the track for me. I went through the same process as the day before.”

Bronze medalist Kalitovska was the youngest competitor in the event at only twenty-one years of age. She said that she did not prepare mentally for the race, except to ignore it. “I didn’t think I was putting myself in a particular mindset. I tried to distract myself as much as possible and not think about the race. My ultimate goal was not to be overly stressed.”

Women’s 200 Metre Sprint
In the qualifying flying 200 metre rides (with only the last 100 metres timed) in the morning, British cyclist Vicki Pendleton set a new Olympic record in 10.963, finally beating Michelle Ferris’s record set twelve years ago in Atlanta. She was matched with Japan’s Sakie Tsukuda, but the Japanese rider didn’t have a hope against the British train, who took it easily in 11.736. This moves moves Pendleton to the quarter-finals tomorrow where she is up against Lithuania’s Simone Krupeckaite.

Next up was China’s Shuang Guo, who had the second fastest qualifying time in 11.106. and the Russian rider Swetlana Grankowskaja. Again the crowd went wild for the Chinese athlete who played it safe behind the Russian until the last banking before the bell lap when both let go a great sprint, but Guo unleashed a certain power that may make the Brits nervous. She flew to the finish in 11.410, three-tenths of a second faster than Pendleton. Guo is matched with Natalia Tsylinskaya of Belarus in the quarter-finals.

The third grouping had 2004 Olympic silver medalist from Australia, Anna Meares against Dutch rider Yvonne Hijgenaar. Meares flew from the bell – taking the heat no problem in 11.683. This result puts her in the quarter-final with Clara Sanchez of France.

The fourth grouping was a second Dutch rider Willy Kanis and Cuba’s Lisandra Guerra. The Dutch rider stayed behind the Cuban right to the bell when they started their sprint side by side. But the Cuban came up on the banking, nearly knocking Kanis off her bike, and causing her to go high on the banking. Guerra won, but the UCI jury relegated Guerra, which meant she was immediately taken out and could only contest the repechage. Kanis moves up to the quarter-final and will meet Jennie Reed of the USA.

Fifth up was American Jenny Reid taking on Simona Krupeckaite of Lithuania. Reid controlled from the preliminary lap, never giving Krupeckaite a chance. She took it in 11.955.

The final match saw Belarus’ Natallia Tsylinskaya and France’s Clara Sanchez. The French rider started quickly, went high on the banking and forced Tsylinskaya in front. They kept high again, but Tsylinskaya kept the lead until the last five metres when Sanchez got by.

The repechage saw the first three riders: Tsylinskaya of Belarus, Guerra of Cuba and Tsukuda of Japan vie for the one spot to move on to the quarter-finals with Tsylinskaya taking it in 11.871. The other grouping of Krupeckaite of Lithuania, Grankowskaja of Russia and Hijgenaar of the Netherlands with Krupeckaite taking it in 12.123 and in doing so, earned the last spot to the quarter-finals.

Men’s 4000 Metre Team Pursuit
If there was ever a train ahead of schedule, it was the British team pursuit team on Sunday, August, 17, 2008 when they became the first human beings to ride 4000 metres on the track and average more than 61 kilometres per hour to set a new world record of 3:55.205, more than a second faster than the old mark. The British actually had held the world record at 3:56.322, set at the World Championship in Manchester last March.

Denmark set the pace in the first round as they devastated the French in a time of 3:56.831, just 0.5 seconds off the old world record. The French were overtaken and thus had to withdraw. The next match up saw Australia, who rode to a 3:58.633, while the Dutch they were up against again withdrew, as like the French they had been over taken. The third match was no different as New Zealand turned in a 3:57.536 and overtook Spain. Denmark, New Zealand and Australia had all come within two seconds of the world record when the formidable team of Ed Clancy, Paul Manning, Geraint Thomas and Bradley Wiggins climbed on their bikes for Great Britian.

The riders were a piece of moving art, and even as they lost Bradley Wiggins with three laps to go, they still flew to their new world record. These results set up old enemies New Zealand and Australia for the bronze medal ride and Denmark and England for the gold and silver tomorrow. Should be a fast one.

Results

Women’s 3000m Individual Pursuit Final

For Gold and Silver
1. Rebecca Romero (Great Britain) 3:28.321 (51.843 km/h)
2. Wendy Houvenaghel (Great Britain) 3:30.395

For Bronze
1. Lesya Kalitovska (Ukraine) 3:31.413
2. Alison Shanks (New Zealand) 3:34.156

Men’s 200m Sprint

Qualifications

1. Chris Hoy (Great Britain) 9.815 (73.357 km/h)
2. Jason Kenny (Great Britain) 9.857
3. Stefan Nimke (Germany) 10.064
4. Kevin Sireau (France) 10.098
5. Mickael Bourgain (France) 10.123
6. Maximilian Levy (Germany) 10.199
7. Mohd Azizulhasni Awang (Malaysia) 10.272
8. Roberto Chiappa (Italy) 10.314
9. Theo Bos (Netherlands) 10.318
10. Mark French (Australia) 10.337
11. Kazunari Watanabe (Japan) 10.346
12. Ryan Bayley (Australia) 10.362
13. Teun Mulder (Netherlands) 10.373
14. Tsubasa Kitatsuru (Japan) 10.391
15. Michael Blatchford (United States) 10.47
16. Lei Zhang (China) 10.497
17. Lukasz Kwiatkowski (Poland) 10.504
18. Denis Dmitriev (Russia) 10.565
19. Adam Ptacnik (Czech Republic) 10.569
20. Vasileios Reppas (Greece) 10.966
21. Daniel Novikov (Estonia) 11.187

1/16 Final

Heat 1
1. Chris Hoy (Great Britain) 10.607 (67.879 km/h)
2. Denis Dmitriev (Russia)

Heat 2
1. Jason Kenny (Great Britain) 10.672 (67.466 km/h)
2. Lukasz Kwiatkowski (Poland)

Heat 3
1. Stefan Nimke (Germany) 10.828 (66.494 km/h)
2. Lei Zhang (China)

Heat 4
1. Kevin Sireau (France) 10.742 (67.026 km/h)
2. Michael Blatchford (United States)

Heat 5
1. Mickael Bourgain (France) 10.562 (68.168 km/h)
2. Tsubasa Kitatsuru (Japan)

Heat 6
1. Maximilian Levy (Germany) 10.84 (66.420 km/h)
2. Teun Mulder (Netherlands)

Heat 7
1. Ryan Bayley (Australia) 10.762 (66.902 km/h)
2. Mohd Azizulhasni Awang (Malaysia)

Heat 8
1. Roberto Chiappa (Italy) 10.786 (v km/h)
2. Kazunari Watanabe (Japan)

Heat 9
1. Theo Bos (Netherlands) 10.959 (65.699 km/h)
2. Mark French (Australia)

1/16 Final Repechages

Heat 1
1. Teun Mulder (Netherlands) 10.889
2. Mark French (Australia)
3. Denis Dmitriev (Russia)

Heat 2
1. Mohd Azizulhasni Awang (Malaysia) 10.959
2. Tsubasa Kitatsuru (Japan)
3. Lukasz Kwiatkowski (Poland)

Heat 3
1. Kazunari Watanabe (Japan) 10.965
2. Michael Blatchford (United States)
3. Lei Zhang (China)

1/8 Final

Heat 1
1. Chris Hoy (Great Britain) 10.636 (67.694 km/h)
2. Kazunari Watanabe (Japan)

Heat 2
1. Jason Kenny (Great Britain) 10.531 (68.369 km/h)
2. Mohd Azizulhasni Awang (Malaysia)

Heat 3
1. Teun Mulder (Netherlands) 10.888 (66.127 km/h)
2. Stefan Nimke (Germany)

Heat 4
1. Theo Bos (Netherlands) 10.777 (66.808 km/h)
REL Kevin Sireau (France)

Heat 5
1. Mickael Bourgain (France) 10.734 (67.076 km/h)
2. Roberto Chiappa (Italy)

Heat 6
1. Maximilian Levy (Germany) 10.763 (66.895 km/h)
2. Ryan Bayley (Australia)

1/8 Final Repechages

Heat 1
1. Kevin Sireau (France) 10.57
2. Kazunari Watanabe (Japan)
3. Ryan Bayley (Australia)

Heat 2
1. Mohd Azizulhasni Awang (Malaysia) 11.01
2. Stefan Nimke (Germany)
3. Roberto Chiappa (Italy)

Women’s 200m Sprint

Qualifications

1. Victoria Pendleton (Great Britain) 10.963
2. Shuang Guo (China) 11.106
3. Anna Meares (Australia) 11.14
4. Willy Kanis (Netherlands) 11.167
5. Simona Krupeckaite (Lithuania) 11.222
6. Clara Sanchez (France) 11.365
7. Natallia Tsylinskaya (Belarus) 11.372
8. Jennie Reed (United States) 11.4
9. Lisandra Guerra (Cuba) 11.462
10. Yvonne Hijgenaar (Netherlands) 11.533
11. Swetlana Grankowskaja (Russia) 11.544
12. Sakie Tsukuda (Japan) 12.134

1/8 Final

Heat 1
1. Victoria Pendleton (Great Britain) 11.736 (61.349 km/h)
2. Sakie Tsukuda (Japan)

Heat 2
1. Shuang Guo (China) 11.41 (63.102 km/h)
2. Swetlana Grankowskaja (Russia)

Heat 3
1. Anna Meares (Australia) 11.663 (61.733 km/h)
2. Yvonne Hijgenaar (Netherlands)

Heat 4
1. Willy Kanis (Netherlands) 12.155 (59.234 km/h)
REL Lisandra Guerra (Cuba)

Heat 5
1. Jennie Reed (United States) 11.955 (60.225 km/h)
2. Simona Krupeckaite (Lithuania)

Heat 6
1. Clara Sanchez (France) 11.607 (62.031 km/h)
2. Natallia Tsylinskaya (Belarus)

1/8 Final Repechages

Heat 1
1. Natallia Tsylinskaya (Belarus) 11.871
2. Lisandra Guerra (Cuba)
3. Sakie Tsukuda (Japan)

Heat 2
1. Simona Krupeckaite (Lithuania) 12.123
2. Swetlana Grankowskaja (Russia)
3. Yvonne Hijgenaar (Netherlands)

Men’s Team Sprint

Heat 1
1. Denmark 03:56.8 (60.802 km/h)
Michael Moerkoev
Casper Joergensen
Jens-Erik Madsen
Alex Nicki Rasmussen

France (caught)
Damien Gaudin
Matthieu Ladagnous
Christophe Riblon
Nicolas Rousseau

Heat 2
1. Australia 3.58.633 (60.343 km/h)
Jack Bobridge
Graeme Brown
Mark Jamieson
Bradley McGee

2. Netherlands (caught)
Levi Heimans
Jens Mouris
Robert Slippens
Wim Stroetinga

Heat 3
1. New Zealand 3.57.536 (60.622 km/h)
Sam Bewley
Hayden Roulston
Marc Ryan
Jesse Sergent

2. Spain (caught)
Sergi Escobar
Asier Maeztu
David Muntaner
Antonio Miguel Parra

Heat 4
1. Great Britain 3.55.202 (3:55.202 km/h)
Ed Clancy
Paul Manning
Geraint Thomas
Bradley Wiggins

2. Russian Fed.
Evgeny Kovalev
Alexei Markov
Alexander Petrovskiy
Alexander Serov