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Great Britain’s Ed Clancy won the bronze medal in the men’s Omnium after six gruelling rounds of competition, clinching the medal after a stunning sub 1:01 ride in the final round, the 1km time trial.
Ed Clancy's consistency in the three timed events, and a thrilling performance in Saturday’s elimination race helped him win a fine bronze medal in the omnium.
His time in the kilometre, the sixth and final discipline, was truly world class. He stopped the clock on 1-00.981, which would have been quick enough to win the world championship title in 2006, 2007 and 2008. It would also have netted him a bronze medal behind Chris Hoy and Arnaud Tournant in Athens in 2004, the last time the kilometre was part of the Olympic programme.
But the balance of the omnium events and the scoring system means that avoiding disaster is more valuable than achieving brilliance.
Not that Clancy had a disaster in any of the six events. He was 11th in the points race and 10th in the scratch which were good enough to keep him well in the hunt.
His undoing was the exceptional riding by Denmark’s Lasse Norman Hansen and a surprisingly excellent kilometre time by Frenchman Bryan Coquard.
Going into the final day, Clancy was well in the hunt. He was lying fourth behind Coquard, Elia Viviani of Italy and Glenn O’Shea of Australia, knowing that the Frenchman and the Italian might fall away in the individual pursuit and the kilometre.
Sunday’s opening discipline went well for Clancy. He set the second fastest time of 4-20.853, just outside Hansen’s winning effort.
The 15-kilometre scratch race turned out to be the difference between gold and bronze. A dangerous group of riders gained a lap at around the halfway mark. Among them were Coquard and Viviani, Roger Kluge of Germany, Zach Bell of Canada and Eloy Teruel of Spain.
Clancy missed it, as did Hansen, and at one stage they joined forces to respond. As they attacked the main group Hansen did a turn at the front, swung up the banking to settle in behind Clancy and clipped his wheel.
Hansen went down but was up smartly, took a replacement bike and was back in the race within the permitted five laps.
The Dane then launched an impressive move to also gain a lap and put one hand on the gold medal. Clancy was the best of the riders who did not manage to lap the field but tenth place was costly.
Three men were tied on 25 points with just the kilo to ride. Of them, Hansen was by far the favourite to win overall as Viviani and Coquard are not noted kilometre riders. Clancy was in fifth place, four points off the pace, confident of winning the kilometre but also needing snookers.
His ride in the kilometre time trial was exceptional. Only Hansen and O’Shea got within two seconds of him.
But second place was enough to give Hansen gold and Coquard’s fourth place meant he grabbed the silver by a single point.
Clancy was delighted to be on the podium and it was a just reward for a fine campaign. The elimination race was particularly impressive. Although obviously out of his comfort zone, he wriggled off the hook several times to take a superb fifth place. When he reflects on his performance over the two days he will know that had he surrendered earlier instead of fight to the death, he would have finished outside the medals.
Meanwhile, Jason Kenny and Victoria Pendleton are well on course to contest the medals in the sprint competitions.
Kenny, who won the silver medal behind Chris Hoy in Beijing four years ago, is seeking to go one better.
He cruised through to the last four with a comprehensive 2-0 win over Malaysia’s Azizulhasni Awang. All four of Sunday’s quarter-finals were comfortable for the victors. Frenchman Grégory Baugé beat Germany’s Robert Forstemann 2-0 in the battle of the heavyweights. Shane Perkins of Australia despatched Jimmy Watkins without reply and Njisane Nicholas Phillip of Trinidad was the surprise 2-0 winner over Denis Dmitriev, considering the Russian qualified fifth fastest.
Kenny will now face Phillip in Monday’s semi-final, with Baugé up against Perkins. It is all shaping up for a repeat of the 2011 and 2012 World Championship finals between Kenny and Baugé, both of which the French rider won 2-0, although he was later stripped of his 2011 title for missing out-of-competition dope tests.
Pendleton’s progress to the last eight of the women’s competition has been just as smooth as Kenny’s.
The reigning Olympic sprint champion set a new Olympic record for the 200-metres when she recorded a time of 10.724 seconds. It is a lifetime best and only just outside the world record of 10.643 set by Miriam Welte of Germany at altitude in Colorado in June.
Anna Meares of Australia pushed Pendleton hard and was the only other rider to go under 11 seconds.
Both Pendleton and Meares breezed through their two knockout rounds. The British rider swept past Russia’s Ekaterina Gnidenko and Willy Kanis of the Netherlands, while Meares defeated Kayono Maeda of Japan and Canada’s Monique Sullivan.
The competition resumes with best-of-three quarter-final races on Monday.
Pendleton will face Belarussian Olga Panarina, who came through the 1/8 round repechage. Meares takes on Lyubov Shulika of Ukraine. The other matches are Shuang Guo of China against Lisandra Guerra Rodriguez of Cuba and Kristina Vogel of Germany versus Simona Krupeckaite of Lithuania.
But all eyes are on Pendleton and Meares in anticipation that there will be a repeat of the 2008 Olympic final on Tuesday evening.
Results
Men's Sprint
Final - 5th-8th Place
5 DMITRIEV Denis 10.34
6 WATKINS Jimmy
7 FORSTEMANN Robert
8 AWANG Azizulhasni
Quarter finals
Heat 1
Jason Kenny/Azizulhasni Awang
Match 1 - Kenny
Match 2 - Kenny
Winner - Jason Kenny
Heat 2
Gregory Bauge/Robert Forstemann
Match 1 - Bauge
Match 2 - Bauge
Winner - Gregory Bauge
Heat 3
Shane Perkins/Jimmy Watkins
Match 1 - Perkins
Match 2 - Perkins
Winner - Shane Perkins
Heat 4
Njisane Phillip/Denis Dimitriev
Match 1 - Phillip
Match 2 - Phillip
Winner - Njisane Phillip
Women's Sprint
Final - 9th-12th Place
9 KANIS Willy 11.852
10 LEE Wai Sze
11 SULLIVAN Monique
12 HANSEN Natasha
1/8 Finals - Repechage
Heat 1
SHULIKA Lyubov Winner
LEE Wai Sze Defeated
KANIS Willy Defeated
Heat 2
PANARINA Olga Winner
SULLIVAN Monique Defeated
HANSEN Natasha Defeated
1/8 Finals
Heat 1
PENDLETON Victoria Winner
KANIS Willy Defeated
Heat 2
MEARES Anna Winner
SULLIVAN Monique Defeated
Heat 3
GUO Shuang Winner
HANSEN Natasha Defeated
Heat 4
VOGEL Kristina Winner
SHULIKA Lyubov Defeated
Heat 5
KRUPECKAITE Simona Winner
PANARINA Olga Defeated
Heat 6
GUERRA RODRIGUEZ Lisandra Winner
LEE Wai Sze Defeated
1/16 Finals - Repechage
Heat 1
HANSEN Natasha Winner
GAVIRIA RENDON Juliana Defeated
GNIDENKO Ekaterina Defeated
Heat 2
SULLIVAN Monique Winner
LEE Hyejin Defeated
MAEDA Kayono Defeated
Heat 3
KANIS Willy Winner
CUEFF Virginie Defeated
LARREAL Daniela Grelui Defeated
1/16 Finals
Heat 1
PENDLETON Victoria Winner
GNIDENKO Ekaterina Defeated
Heat 2
MEARES Anna Winner
MAEDA Kayono Defeated
Heat 3
GUO Shuang Winner
LARREAL Daniela Grelui Defeated
Heat 4
VOGEL Kristina Winner
CUEFF Virginie Defeated
Heat 5
PANARINA Olga Winner
LEE Hyejin Defeated
Heat 6
GUERRA RODRIGUEZ Lisandra Winner
GAVIRIA RENDON Juliana Defeated
Heat 7
LEE Wai Sze Winner
SULLIVAN Monique Defeated
Heat 8
KRUPECKAITE Simona Winner
KANIS Willy Defeated
Heat 9
SHULIKA Lyubov Winner
HANSEN Natasha Defeated
Qualification - 200m TT
1 PENDLETON Victoria 10.724 OR
2 MEARES Anna 10.805
3 GUO Shuang 11.02
4 VOGEL Kristina 11.027
5 PANARINA Olga 11.08
6 GUERRA RODRIGUEZ Lisandra 11.109
7 LEE Wai Sze 11.203
8 KRUPECKAITE Simona 11.234
9 HANSEN Natasha 11.241
10 SHULIKA Lyubov 11.319
11 KANIS Willy 11.322
12 SULLIVAN Monique 11.347
13 GAVIRIA RENDON Juliana 11.376
14 LEE Hyejin 11.405
15 CUEFF Virginie 11.439
16 LARREAL Daniela Grelui 11.569
17 MAEDA Kayono 11.6
18 GNIDENKO Ekaterina 11.649
Men's Omnium
Final overall standings after 6 rounds
1 HANSEN Lasse Norman 27 pts
2 COQUARD Bryan 29 pts
3 CLANCY Edward 30 pts
4 KLUGE Roger 33 pts
5 O'SHEA Glenn 34 pts
6 VIVIANI Elia 34 pts
7 ARCHBOLD Shane 48 pts
8 BELL Zachary 49 pts
9 TERUEL ROVIRA Eloy 59 pts
10 ARANGO CARVAJAL Juan Esteban 60 pts
11 CHO Hosung 60 pts
12 LEA Bobby 61 pts
13 IRVINE Martyn 64 pts
14 PEREZ Walter Fernando 72 pts
15 van HOECKE Gijs 77 pts
16 CHOI Ki Ho 89 pts
17 LINAREZ ZAMBRANO Carlos Daniel 96 pts
18 MANSILLA Luis 104 pts
Round 6 - Kilometre TT
1 Great Britain CLANCY Edward 1:00.981 1pt
2 Denmark HANSEN Lasse Norman 1:02.314 2pts
3 Australia O'SHEA Glenn 1:02.513 3pts
4 France COQUARD Bryan 1:03.078 4pts
5 Germany KLUGE Roger 1:03.144 5pts
6 New Zealand ARCHBOLD Shane 1:03.290 6pts
7 Colombia ARANGO CARVAJAL Juan Esteban 1:03.793 7pts
8 Republic of Korea CHO Hosung 1:04.150 8pts
9 Italy VIVIANI Elia 1:04.239 9pts
10 Canada BELL Zachary 1:04.328 10pts
11 Ireland IRVINE Martyn 1:04.558 11pts
12 Belgium van HOECKE Gijs 1:04.748 12pts
13 United States of America LEA Bobby 1:04.853 13pts
14 Spain TERUEL ROVIRA Eloy 1:05.463 14pts
15 Hong Kong, China CHOI Ki Ho 1:06.071 15pts
16 Venezuela LINAREZ ZAMBRANO Carlos Daniel 1:06.773 16pts
17 Argentina PEREZ Walter Fernando 1:07.523 17pts
18 Chile MANSILLA Luis 1:08.517 18pts
Round 5 - 15km Scratch Race
1 BELL Zachary -
2 TERUEL ROVIRA Eloy -
3 COQUARD Bryan -
4 KLUGE Roger -
5 VIVIANI Elia -
6 HANSEN Lasse Norman -
7 LEA Bobby -
8 CHO Hosung -
9 IRVINE Martyn -
10 CLANCY Edward -1 lap
11 ARANGO CARVAJAL Juan Esteban -1 lap
12 PEREZ Walter Fernando -1 lap
13 ARCHBOLD Shane -1 lap
14 O'SHEA Glenn -1 lap
15 van HOECKE Gijs -1 lap
16 MANSILLA Luis -1 lap
17 CHOI Ki Ho -1 lap
18 LINAREZ ZAMBRANO Carlos Daniel -2 laps
Overall standings after round 5
1 HANSEN Lasse Norman 25 pts
2 VIVIANI Elia 25 pts
3 COQUARD Bryan 25 pts
4 KLUGE Roger 28 pts
5 CLANCY Edward 29 pts
6 O'SHEA Glenn 31 pts
7 BELL Zachary 39 pts
8 ARCHBOLD Shane 42 pts
9 TERUEL ROVIRA Eloy 45 pts
10 LEA Bobby 48 pts
11 CHO Hosung 52 pts
12 ARANGO CARVAJAL Juan Esteban 53 pts
13 IRVINE Martyn 53 pts
14 PEREZ Walter Fernando 55 pts
15 van HOECKE Gijs 65 pts
16 CHOI Ki Ho 74 pts
17 LINAREZ ZAMBRANO Carlos Daniel 80 pts
18 MANSILLA Luis 86 pts
Round 4 - 4km Individual Pursuit
1 Denmark HANSEN Lasse Norman 4:20.674 1pt
2 Great Britain CLANCY Edward 4:20.853 2pts
3 Australia O'SHEA Glenn 4:24.811 3ts
4 Colombia ARANGO CARVAJAL Juan Esteban 4:25.477 4pts
5 Germany KLUGE Roger 4:25.554 5pts
6 New Zealand ARCHBOLD Shane 4:26.581 6pts
7 Italy VIVIANI Elia 4:28.499 7pts
8 Canada BELL Zachary 4:29.411 8pts
9 Spain TERUEL ROVIRA Eloy 4:29.874 9pts
10 Belgium van HOECKE Gijs 4:29.992 10pts
11 United States of America LEA Bobby 4:30.127 11pts
12 France COQUARD Bryan 4:30.780 12pts
13 Republic of Korea CHO Hosung 4:32.382 13pts
14 Ireland IRVINE Martyn 4:32.948 14pts
15 Argentina PEREZ Walter Fernando 4:33.532 15pts
16 Venezuela LINAREZ ZAMBRANO Carlos Daniel 4:36.477 16pts
17 Hong Kong, China CHOI Ki Ho 4:38.707 17pts
18 Chile MANSILLA Luis 4:53.230 18pts
Overall standings after round 4
1 O'SHEA Glenn 17
2 CLANCY Edward 19
3 HANSEN Lasse Norman 19
4 VIVIANI Elia 20
5 COQUARD Bryan 22
6 KLUGE Roger 24
7 ARCHBOLD Shane 29
8 BELL Zachary 38
9 LEA Bobby 41
10 ARANGO CARVAJAL Juan Esteban 42
11 TERUEL ROVIRA Eloy 43
12 PEREZ Walter Fernando 43
13 CHO Hosung 44
14 IRVINE Martyn 44
15 van HOECKE Gijs 50
16 CHOI Ki Ho 57
17 LINAREZ ZAMBRANO Carlos Daniel 62
18 MANSILLA Luis 70
