UCI Track Cycling World Cup
The 2009 world champion Alison Shanks has finished second in the individual pursuit final at the UCI World Cup in London today.
Shanks finished less than a second behind Great Britain’s Joanna Rowsell in the final in front of a raucous sell-out and partisan home crowd at the Olympic Velodrome.
In doing so Shanks picked up the overall World Cup title for a second time after victory at the earlier round at Cali.
The Otago rider said the experience on the Olympic track and with the packed home crowd has been invaluable, although it has been challenging mentally with the endurance squad not tapering for this event.
“There’s an amazing atmosphere in here. The British have backed out the place and are so patriotic. In the final against Joanna, man they were loud,” said Shanks.
“We are all still getting use to the actual shape of the track and getting to grips with how to ride it.
“It’s been such a cool experience and I was absolutely stoked to be racing a Brit in the final.
“Obviously I desperately wanted to beat her but it was cool to be part of it and man the crowd was loud. It definitely gives you a real sense of what the Olympics will be like. It is going to be so exciting.
“It has been a different experience. We haven’t trained through a World Cup before so to be racing so flat and through a big training load is not easy on the head. But we have really looked at the big picture this year which is aimed at the World Championships in Melbourne and on to the Olympics.
“So London for us was about coming here to experience the track and get a feeling about what it is going to be like in August. The performance was not such an important thing this time.”
Shanks was nearly 1.5 seconds down at the 1km mark but caught up to be 0.4sec at the 2km but that was as close as she got, with Rowsall winning in 3:32.364 and Shanks second in 3:33.406.
Manawatu sprinter Simon van Velthooven continued his strong form to push through to the finals of the keirin.
Van Velthooven dominated his opening heat, moving into the lead and covering all challengers as he moved through to the semifinals where he finished comfortably in second place.
He pushed out strongly to grab the lead going into the final lap of the final but was swamped when challenged by Beijing gold medallist and home country hero, Sir Chris Hoy.
Fellow sprinter Natasha Hansen qualified seventh fastest in the women’s sprints in 11.282, just 0.3s behind Olympic champion and top qualifier Anna Meares (Australia).
The Southland-based sprinter lost her round of eight clash against Australian Kaarle McCulloch, with a photo finish needed to separate the pair after Hansen attacked around the final bend and was a blink away from rolling over her opponent.
She lost to Spain’s Clara Sanchez in the B quarterfinal.
In the omnium battles, Timaru’s Shane Archbold finished 14th overall while Joanne Kiesanowski is 15th overall after her first day.
The World Cup finishes tomorrow at the London Olympic Velodrome.
Results:
Men’s keirin semifinal 1: Chris Hoy (GBR) 1, Teun Mulder (NED) 2, Rene Enders (GER) 3. Semifinal 2: Mickael Bourgain (FRA) 1, Simon van Velthooven (NZL) 2, Kazunari Watanabe (JPN) 3.
Final: Hoy 1, Enders 2, Bourgain 3. Also: Van Velthooven 6.
Men’s omnium, day 2: 4000m individual pursuit: Juan Arango (COL) 4:24.087, 1; Zach Bell (Can) 4:25.057, 2; Ho Sung Cho (KOR) 4:26.340, 3. Also: Shane Archbold (NZL) 4:32.769, 11.
Omnium, 15km scratch: Ben Swift (GBR) 1; Rafal Ratajczyk (POL) 2, Roger Kluge (GER) 3. Also: Archbold 15.
Omnium, time trial: Bell 1:03.667, 1; Arango 1:03.830, 2; Ratajczyk (POL) 1:03.993, 3. Also: Archbold 1:06.770, 18.
Final standings: Arango 21, 1; Cho 32, 2; Bell 33, 3. Also: Archbold 74, 14.
Women’s omnium, day 1, 250mm flying lap: Li Huang (CHN) 14.339, 1; Laura Trott (GBR) 14.473, 2; Sarah Hammer (USA) 14.479, 3. Also: Joanne Kiesanowski (NZL) 14.932, 15.
Omnium points race: Sofia Arreola (MEX) 33 points, 1; Svitlana Golyuk (UKR) 32, 2; Valentina Scandolava (ITA) 24, 3. Also: Kiesanowski 0m 19.
Omnium, elimination: Trott 1, Tara Whitten (CAN) 2, Kirsten Wild (NED) 3. Also: Kiesanowski 6.
Standings after 3 events: Annette Edmonson (AUS) 16 points, 1; Whitten 17, 2; Trott, Hammer, Wild all 20, equal 3. Also: Kiesanowski 40, 15.
Women’s sprint qualifying: Anna Meares (AUS) 10.939, 1; Wai Lee (HGK) 11.003, 2; Shuang Guo (CHN) 11.079, 3. Also: Natasha Hansen (NZL) 11.282, 7; Katie Schofield (NZL) 11.645, 26.
Round of 8: Hansen lost to Kaarle McCulloch (AUS) photo finish.
B Quarterfinal: Hansen lost to Clara Sandie (FRA)
Women’s 3000m individual pursuit final: Joanna Rowsell (GBR) 3:32.364, 1; Alison Shanks (NZL) 3:33.406, 2. Bronze medal: Amy Cure (AUS) 3:36.707, 3; Vilija Sereikaite (LTU) 3:37.137, 4.
Image credit: Gerry McManus.