Event: 4-8 April 2012
Location: Hisense Arena, Melbourne, Australia
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Reports: Eddie Allen & Scott Hobro | Images: Guy Swarbrick
The final day of competition in Melbourne saw Sir Chris Hoy once again demonstrate why he’s regarded as one of cycling’s all-time great competitors, grabbing gold from the jaws of defeat in an incredible Keirin final. Sunday in Melbourne also saw a personal best and bronze medal for Jess Varnish in the 500m TT, silver for Wendy Houvenaghel in the individual pursuit and a fine silver medal in the Madison for Ben Swift and Geraint Thomas capping off a dominant performance for GB over five days of racing.
Men’s Keirin
Chris Hoy is world Keirin champion, snatching the title from nowhere in a jaw dropping final, from a position that would have arguably thwarted any other rider.
Hoy started the final last man behind the derny, with teammate Kenny third wheel. As the derny left the track, Hoy moved up onto Kenny’s wheel. However, Kenny had laid-off the wheels of Levy and Van Velthooven, who both kicked early and gapped the GB pair. All looked lost as Kenny continued to look over his shoulder, seemingly more interested in the movements of his GB teammate than the two escaping before him.
Into the final lap and Hoy looked boxed until the final bend, when, incredibly, he found a gap and surged through to steal the title in a photo finish. Behind, Kenny was pipped for a medal by Kiwi Van Velthooven but was subsequently awarded bronze after Van Velthooven was relegated for entering the sprinter's lane when the opponent was already there. It was an incredible ride from Hoy, demonstrating not only his sheer power, but his ability to adapt and pull-off wins from impossible positions.
Matt Crampton tried to take it on in the minor final, springing from fourth wheel and coming over the top with a lap to go. However he paid for his early effort, fading to tenth position overall, while Australia’s Scott Sunderland took the win.
Earlier, Hoy won his second round heat and progressed to the final in fine style, coming over the top at the bell winning comfortably. Jason Kenny also qualified for the final in businesslike fashion, powering around sole Australian Scott Sunderland to clinch third spot behind Michael Bourgain of France, with Matt Crampton missing the cut and going into the minor final.
Maximilian Levy of German powered away from his rivals in his second round heat with Japan’s Kazunawi Watanabe and Simon Van Velthooven second and third, joining the German in the final.
Above: Glaetzer falls at Crampton's feet in the first round.
In the afternoon session, Hoy comfortably made it through the first round of the Keirin, while fellow GB riders Jason Kenny and Matt Crampton both narrowly missed out on heat wins and went into the 1st round repechage. There was drama in Crampton's first round heat, with Australia's Matthew Glaetzer falling beside Crampton as the GB rider led out the sprint, which was won by Awang of Malaysia. Kenny and Crampton both went on to win their repechage heats and progress to the second round.
Speaking after the win, Hoy said: “I’d given up – not given up physically but I though the chance of winning had gone by the time I hit the back straight with half a lap to go. I hesitated for too long, I waited behind Jason [Kenny] as I thought he was going to go with everything and he didn’t, he’d hesitated for too long I think. Normally I would have gone round the outside but I’d killed my run a bit, lost momentum. It was one last chance, I’ve never done that in my life before, go on the inside - it was a last chance saloon and it paid off. I couldn’t believe the door opened and I managed to get through.”
Men's Keirin Finals
Final 1-6
1 HOY Chris GBR
2 LEVY Maximilian GER
3 KENNY Jason GBR
4 VAN VELTHOOVEN Simon NZL
5 BOURGAIN Mickael FRA
6 WATANABE Kazunari JPN
Final 7-12
7 SUNDERLAND Scott AUS
8 CANELON Hersony VEN
9 AWANG Azizulhasni MAS
10 CRAMPTON Matthew GBR
11 MAZQUIARAN URIA Hodei ESP
12 NITTA Yudai JPN
Men's Keirin Second Round
Heat 1
1 LEVY Maximilian GER
2 WATANABE Kazunari JPN
3 VAN VELTHOOVEN Simon NZL
4 NITTA Yudai JPN
5 AWANG Azizulhasni MAS
6 CANELON Hersony VEN
Heat 2
1 HOY Chris GBR
2 BOURGAIN Mickael FRA
3 KENNY Jason GBR
4 SUNDERLAND Scott AUS
5 CRAMPTON Matthew GBR
6 MAZQUIARAN URIA Hodei ESP
Qualification rule: First 3 riders in each heat qualify to final 1-6 and the others to final 7- 12.
Men’s Keirin First Round Repechages
Heat 1
1 BOURGAIN Mickael FRA
2 FABIAN HERNANDO Puerta Zapata COL
3 NG ONN LAM Josiah MAS
4 ARCHIBALD Matthew NZL
Heat 2
1 CANELON Hersony VEN
2 VOLIKAKIS Christos GRE
3 SPICKA Denis CZE
4 PERALTA GASCON Juan ESP
Heat 3
1 VAN VELTHOOVEN Simon NZL
2 MARIN CERMENO Jonathan COL
3 KUCZYNSKI Kamil POL
4 QUINCY Alexander TRI
Heat 4
1 CRAMPTON Matthew GBR
2 CECI Francesco ITA
3 MULDER Teun NED
4 VYNOKUROV Andrii UKR
5 BORISOV Sergey RUS
Heat 5
1 KENNY Jason GBR
2 GLAETZER Matthew AUS
3 PERKINS Shane AUS
4 EILERS Joachim GER
5 MD YUNOS Muhammad Edrus MAS
Heat 6
1 LEVY Maximilian GER
2 DAWKINS Edward NZL
3 PERVIS Francois FRA
4 ZHANG Miao CHN
5 HAAK Hugo NED
Qualification rule: First 1 rider in each heat qualify to second round.
Men’s Keirin First Round
Heat 1
1 NITTA Yudai JPN
2 NG ONN LAM Josiah MAS
3 ZHANG Miao CHN
4 PERKINS Shane AUS
5 BORISOV Sergey RUS
Heat 2
1 HOY Chris GBR
2 CANELON Hersony VEN
3 EILERS Joachim GER
4 CECI Francesco ITA
5 KUCZYNSKI Kamil POL
Heat 3
1 MAZQUIARAN URIA Hodei ESP
2 VAN VELTHOOVEN Simon NZL
3 MULDER Teun NED
4 LEVY Maximilian GER
5 SPICKA Denis CZE
Heat 4
1 AWANG Azizulhasni MAS
2 CRAMPTON Matthew GBR
3 QUINCY Alexander TRI
4 PERALTA GASCON Juan ESP
5 FABIAN HERNANDO Puerta Zapata COL
6 GLAETZER Matthew AUS DNF
Heat 5
1 WATANABE Kazunari JPN
2 KENNY Jason GBR
3 VOLIKAKIS Christos GRE
4 BOURGAIN Mickael FRA
5 DAWKINS Edward NZL
6 VYNOKUROV Andrii UKR
Heat 6
1 SUNDERLAND Scott AUS
2 PERVIS Francois FRA
3 ARCHIBALD Matthew NZL
4 MARIN CERMENO Jonathan COL
5 MD YUNOS Muhammad Edrus MAS
6 HAAK Hugo NED
Qualification rule: First 1 rider in each heat qualify to the second round, remainder to first round repechages.
Women’s Individual Pursuit
Wendy Houvenaghel took silver in the pursuit against Commonwealth Games nemesis Alison Shanks of New Zealand. The Kiwi started as she meant to go on, up by over half a second after the first kilometre. At 2km Shanks had opened the gap to 0.8 of a second and the gap continued to open in the last kilometre, with Houvenaghel drifting back as Shanks powered home, over two seconds ahead of her rival.
Australia’s Ashlee Ankudinoff took bronze in a cliff-hanger against her compatriot Amy Cure. Ankudinoff was fastest over first kilometre and was still a second up at the two kilometre mark. In the final km Cure began to eat into her teammates lead, but Ankudinoff didn’t panic and held on for bronze.
Earlier in qualifying, Houvenaghel posted the second fastest time setting up the gold medal ride-off against Alison Shanks. Houvenaghel went fastest in the eighth of eleven qualifying heats and held the top spot until Shanks and Sereikaite went off in the last heat, the Kiwi pipping Houvenaghel by around half a second. GB’s Joanna Rowsell posted 3:31.187 to finish in 6th position.
Speaking after the event, Houvenaghel said: "I'm pleased to come out tonight and give the IP a good go and I was pleased to come away with a medal. It’s really encouraging to know that the work that I have done has been helpful for my performances and I’ll take that forward over the next four months and try to develop that even more."
Women’s Individual Pursuit Finals
GOLD SHANKS Alison NZL 3:30.199
SILVER HOUVENAGHEL Wendy GBR 3:32.340
BRONZE ANKUDINOFF Ashlee AUS 3:33.593
4 CURE Amy AUS 3:33.642 50.551
Women’s Individual Pursuit Qualifying
1 SHANKS Alison NZL 3:27.268
2 HOUVENAGHEL Wendy GBR 3:27.842
3 CURE Amy AUS 3:28.474
4 ANKUDINOFF Ashlee AUS 3:28.869
5 WHITTEN Tara CAN 3:30.407
6 ROWSELL Joanna GBR 3:31.187
7 SEREIKAITE Vilija LTU 3:33.612
8 BOCHKAREVA Elizaveta UKR 3:34.471
9 RYAN Caroline IRL 3:34.515
10 NIELSEN Jaime NZL 3:35.286
11 REED Jennie USA 3:35.359
12 ELLIS Lauren NZL 3:37.925
13 KOEDOODER Vera NED 3:38.099
14 ABSALYAMOVA Venera RUS 3:39.456
15 PAWLOWSKA Katarzyna POL 3:39.519
16 BUJAK Eugenia POL 3:39.610
17 SANDIG Madeleine GER 3:40.156
18 MEJIAS GARCIA Marlies CUB 3:40.371
19 TABATA Maki JPN 3:44.501
20 UWANO Minami JPN 3:44.644
21 PAULIUKAITE Svetlana LTU 3:44.646
Women’s 500m TT
Australia’s Anna Meares added a second world title to her 2012 track worlds campaign, winning the 500m TT and setting a new world record with a stunning time of 33.010, two-tenths inside the previous record set by Simona Krupeckaite of Lithunia back in 2009. Meares had the perfect start, the only rider to go under 19 seconds for the opening lap and backed it up in the final 250 metres.
Germany’s Miriam Welte went closest to Meares, the penultimate rider to go, posting 33.626 and stealing silver from Great Britain’s Jess Varnish, who posted a personal best 33.999. Varnish had an anxious wait while the remaining riders took to the track, with big hitters Welte, Kanis and Clair all threatening to topple her. However, only Welte went faster, Varnish eventually taking bronze.
Surprise entry for Great Britain and endurance specialist Dani King suffered from a poor start and posted 36.153 to finish 23rd.
Men's Madison
Belgium took the world Madison title in a thrilling finale to five days of action in Melbourne, with Great Britain’s Geraint Thomas and Ben Swift bagging a fine silver medal.
The GB pairing’s strategy in the early part of the race was centred around winning key sprints and not contesting others, a ploy which, after four gallops, saw Thomas and Swift top the leader board ahead of early aggressors Germany. The race was shaken up by Austria who were first to take a lap, then completely blown apart by a stunning attack from the Australian pairing of Leigh Howard and Cameron Meyer. The Netherlands, Belgium and Italy followed, the quartet gaining a lap, while GB and other teams chased down. As the dust settled, seven teams, including Swift and Thomas, had gained a lap and despite the Australian’s combativity, Howard and Meyer found themselves lying in third behind Great Britain as the race entered its latter stages.
The big winners in Australia’s mid race shake-up were the Belgian pairing of De Ketele and Van Hoecke who showed the Melbourne crowd how to win a Madison race by stealth, having amassed points early on and followed Australia’s moves when it counted.
Going into the final sprint, the Dutch pairing of Schep and Stroetinga, on zero points, threatened to spoil the party, attacking with fury with 16 laps to go in an attempt to take a lap. This provoked a frantic chase from Belgium, GB and Australia, who had it all to lose. Eventually with the lap board ticking down, it was clear that the Dutch move wasn’t going to stick and Belgium took the title, GB a fine silver, capping an excellent week’s racing from Swift, Thomas and the rest of the Great Britain team.
Men’s Madison Final 50km
GOLD BEL Belgium 24 pts
DE KETELE Kenny
VAN HOECKE Gijs
SILVER GBR Great Britain 18 pts
SWIFT Ben
THOMAS Geraint
BRONZE AUS Australia 11 pts
HOWARD Leigh
MEYER Cameron
4 AUT Austria 10 pts
5 ESP Spain 7 pts
6 RUS Russia 6 pts
7 NED Netherlands 5 pts
8 CZE Czech Republic 4 pts
9 FRA France 4 pts -1 lap
10 ITA Italy 3 pts -1 lap
11 NZL New Zealand 1 pt -1 lap
12 SUI Switzerland 0 pts – 1 lap
13 GER Germany 14 pts – 2 laps
14 DEN Denmark 2 pts – 2 laps
HKG Hong Kong DNF
13 KAZ Kazakhstan DNF
Full Results (tissottiming.com)
