May 18, 2004 – The United States has received 15 start positions for  the 2004 UCI World Track Championships slated for May 26-30 in Melbourne, Australia the UCI announced today. Included are six start positions for the men  and nine for the women. Start positions were allocated based on overall  standings from the recently concluded 2004 UCI Track World Cup series and the  2003 Continental Championships – last August's Pan American Games in the  Dominican Republic.

The six start positions for the men include two  slots in the keirin and one each in the kilometer time trial, the scratch race  and the points race. The team sprint squad also qualified a start position. The  United States did not qualify start positions in the individual pursuit, the madison, the team pursuit and the sprint.

The women qualified at least  one start position in each World Championship discipline including three start  positions in the sprint, two in the keirin, and one each in the 500m time trial,  individual pursuit, scratch race and points race.

Tanya Lindenmuth  (Trexlertown, Pa.) qualified two start positions for the U.S. as a result of her  double gold medal performance in the sprint and keirin at last summer's Pan  American Games. Jennie Reed (Kirkland, Wash.) qualified the second start  position for the U.S. in the women's keirin as the overall World Cup Champion.  The other two start positions in the women's sprint came as a result of  Lindenmuth's fourth place and Reed's sixth place overall ranking in the World  Cup. Lindenmuth also qualified the 500m time trial position as a result of her  15th place overall world cup finish.

Start positions in the women's  individual pursuit and the points race came courtesy of Erin Mirabella (Racine,  Wis.) who placed fourth and 10th overall respectively. Becky Quinn (Quakertown,  Pa.) qualified the scratch race position thanks to her sixth place overall  performance.

In the men's kilometer time trial, Christian Stahl  (Bethany, Conn.) qualified a spot for the U.S. based on his 18th overall placing  in the world cup standings while his contributions in the team sprint along with Giddeon Massie (Colorado Springs, Colo.) and Adam Duvendeck (Santa Barbara, Calif.) ensured the U.S. a start at the world championships in that event after  ending the world cup season ranked ninth overall. Colby Pearce (Boulder, Colo.)  qualified two spots for the U.S. at worlds thanks to his overall world cup  performance in the scratch race and points race in which he placed second and  third respectively.

In the keirin, Andy Lakatosh (Trexlertown, Pa.) and  2000 Olympic Gold Medalist, Marty Nothstein (Orefield, Pa.) contributed to the  qualification of two spots for the U.S. in that event with their respective 18th  and 13th place ranking in the overall world cup standings.

The World  Championships hold significant importance this year as start positions for the  upcoming Olympic Games are primarily based on a country's performance in  Melbourne.

This announcement only signifies the number of start  positions the U.S. has been granted by the UCI for the world championships and  how those positions were secured, and not necessarily the athletes that will  fill those spots. A further announcement naming the team that will represent the U.S. at the UCI Track World Championships will be made at a later date.

Total start positions allotted to the United States at the 2004 UCI  Track World Championships:

Men:
-Kilometer Time Trial (1)
-Team Sprint (1)
-Keirin (2)
-Scratch Race (1)
-Points Race (1)
-Madison (0)
-Individual Pursuit  (0)
-Team Pursuit (0)
-Sprint (0)

Women:
-500m Time Trial (1)
-Sprint (3)
-Keirin (2)
-Scratch Race (1)
-Individual Pursuit (1)
-Points Race (1)