Track News
GB Top Medal Table in L.A.
2012 UCI Para-Cycling Track World
Championships 9-12 February 2012 Home Depot Velodrome, Los Angeles
Great Britain’s Para-Cycling squad had an incredibly successful TrackWorld Championships last week, a perfect confidence booster as the team build towards this year’s London Paralympics.
The team had headed out to L.A. with a lot to live up to. At last year’sWorlds, held in Montichiarri, Italy, the British riders topped the medal table, winning 18 medals, including nine golds. This time around, the total was 17 medals, made up of eight golds, seven silvers and two bronze medals, enough to top the medals table again.
Sarah Storey started the ball rolling, with a gold medal-winning ride in the C5 Class 500 metre Time Trial. Storey was last to start, giving her the advantage ofknowing what she had to beat. She rode her two laps brilliantly, posting a new British record with a time of 37.371 , to leave her well clear of rest of the field.
Storey’s success comes after training with the able-bodied Team Pursuit squad, and felt that those experiences and her preparations for the Team Sprint are helping her to improve. “I’ve been working hard on getting more explosive, so it was good to get a PB as it shows I’m notching away towards the world record.”
“Today I was just trying to concentrate on getting out of the gate cleanly, getting the first half snappy and then using my strength in the second lap and a half to drive as fast as I could. It all came together for me and I’m really chuffed.” she said. The silver medal went to Greta Niemanas (USA, 39.237), with Jennifer Schuble (USA, 39.416) winning bronze.
Storey then followed up with another gold on day three, in the C5 3km Pursuit. Storey dominated her opponent, catching Greta Neimanas (USA), after 5.5 laps.
Day two was even more successful for the Team GB. Two golds, three silvers and a bronze were won in an impressive six-medal haul.
Mark Colbourne got day two off things off to the best possible start in the C1 3km Pursuit. Colbourne had faced potential reclassification halfway through the competition after a protest from the German team but he was eventually deemed to be in the correct class by the UCI officials. Colbourne went on to win the Pursuit Final, catching his opponent two-thirds of the way through the race.
Colbourne won a silver medal as well, losing out by two-tenths of a second to the Argentinian Lopez in C1 Kilo on day three.
The other highlight ofday two came from GB’s two male tandem pairings who were pitted against each other in the B Kilo Final. Defending Champion Neil Fachie, piloted by Barney Storey, lost his title to Anthony Kappes, piloted by Craig Maclean, by a mere 0.099 of a second.
Kappes commented after the final: “It was a close race last year when Craig was riding with Neil and today was very similar. Our win was marginal.”
Kappes andMacLean also notched up a new world record during the qualification races in BVi Sprint during day four of the competition. The pair went on to win both the semi- and final 2-0 to claim their second gold at L.A.
MultipleWorld and Paralympic Champion Darren Kenny (C3) rode a superb 1km Time Trial (1 :12.496) to win another Championship with a comfortable margin. Kenny had to settle for silver in the C3 3km Pursuit final on day two.
Jody Cundy is unbeaten in the C4 Kilo since 2006 and showed the world he is unlikely to lose that record any time soon. Atime of 1 :06.001 won him the blue riband event with a 3 second margin over his closest opponent.
“It was a hard Kilo” said Cundy, who is used to breaking the world record during his Kilo rides. “It’s pretty tough out there. Still, I’m quite happy to come away with less than a second outside my PB. It will be good to go to London asWorld Champion.”
The most electrifying ride of the day came from defending C5 KiloWorld Champion Jon- Allan Butterworth. Halfway through the time trial, Butterworth’s world record, which he posted inMontichiari last year, was broken by China’s Xingyang Liu.
Butterworth, the last rider to compete, endured the tense wait with calm composure and rode a brilliant time trial. The Brit went on to smash China’s brand new world record with a time of 1 :07.212 and clinched gold in his favourite event.
2012 Para-cyclingWorld Championships
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