May 28, 2004 (Melbourne, Australia) – A busy morning in Melbourne at the UCI Track Cycling World Championships as American Jennie Reed (Kirkland, Wash.) advanced to the 1/8 finals in the women’s sprint scheduled for the evening session. Reed, the bronze medalist in yesterday’s keirin, qualified ninth in the 200m qualifying round with a time of 11.569 seconds and then went on beat China’s Cuihua Jiang in the 1/16 finals despite a hard crash in the closing meters.

The morning opened with women’s 500m time trial qualifying as Russia’s Svetlana Grankovskaya clocked the fastest time over 200m, 11.339 seconds, to claim the number one seed. Americans Reed and Tanya Lindenmuth (Trexlertown, Pa.) qualified ninth and 12th respectively posting 11.569 and 11.646.

The fastest 18 riders moved on to the first round where Lindenmuth faced Tamilia Abassova (RUS) in the 1/16 finals and Reed was paired with Jiang. Abassova took the sprint from Lindenmuth relegating her to the ensuing repechages. And in the closest pairing of the morning Reed and Jiang entered the final turn neck-and-neck before Jiang veered off line causing Reed to crash before reaching the finish line. Officials immediately disqualified Jiang for causing the crash of her opponent sending Reed into the 1/8 finals.

In the second repechage, Lindenmuth faced Oxana Grishna (RUS) and Susan Panzer (GER), but failed to advance to the 1/8 finals after Grishna won the heat. Panzer, who originally crossed the line in second was relegated to third after officials determined that she did not hold her line in the final sprint.

In tonight’s 1/8 finals, Reed will face Natallia Tsylinskaya (BLR).

In today’s other action, Giddeon Massie (Colorado Springs, Colo.) and Andy Lakatosh (Trexlertown, Pa.) did not qualify for the second round in the men’s keirin. With four qualifying heats, the top two riders from each heat automatically advanced to the second round. After Lakatosh and Massie each placed fifth in their respective heats, they would be offered one more chance to advance to the second round through the repechages.

In the four ensuing repechages, the winner of each would advance to the second round. Lakatosh narrowly missed out, placing second behind Mickael Bourgain (FRA). Massie placed last after leading out the sprint for two and a half laps in his repechage.

With regards to Olympic implications, Reed’s presence in the 1/8 finals guarantees her a top-eight finish at the world championships and therefore the U.S. is assured at least one start position in both the women’s sprint and the women’s 500m time trial in Athens.

In the final event of the morning session, Jame Carney (Boulder, Colo.) easily advanced to the first round of the men’s scratch race after placing sixth in his qualifying heat.

Tonight’s session will feature the finals of the women’s individual pursuit in which Sarah Ulmer (NZL) will have her eye on another world record after setting a new mark of 3:30.604 yesterday, and nearly eclipsing that mark again today with a 3:31.083. Ulmer will face Australia’s Katie Mactier in the final.

Medals will also be decided in the men’s scratch race where Carney will look to score the second medal for the U.S. team at these world championships.

The women’s sprint will also be contested and result in the selection of the two riders that will contest Saturday’s finals.