Oceania Games - CCSydney, Australia, December 8-16, 1999 |
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Men Ind. Pursuit (Oce.) Men Ind. Pursuit (Int.) U19 Team Pursuit Women 500m TT Men 1km (Oce.) Men 1km (Int.) Track Day 1 - December 8, 1999Oceania men individual pursuitAustralia qualified for a second position in the men's 4000 m individual pursuit at the Sydney Olympics when Graeme Brown and Brad McGee won both semifinals of the event at the Oceania Games tonight. Dual Olympic bronze medallist McGee overtook New Zealand's Anthony Chapman just over halfway in his race, while Brown accounted for Matthew Randall, also of New Zealand. In the final, McGee rode very strongly to record a time of 4.27.051, catching Brown on the last lap for the win. He was very happy to win, considering the pressure placed upon him to do well in the off-season. Also, his time was only one second off the Australian Olympic qualifying time which pleased him greatly. McGee, who used a 52x14 in his ride said "I didn't think it (a 4.27) was possible at this time of year. I've only had five days on the track this year." He also praised the new track: "I had a slower start, but really powered out of the bends. This track is one of the best I've ridden on - Ron Webb has really got the balance right between the banks and the straights." Finally, he commented on his season and future by saying "these past two years have been a really good learning period with La Francaise des Jeux. I've signed for two more years which is great, and what's more, they've even given me three and a half months off next year to prepare for the Olympics. This is incredible coming from a professional road team, and I'm really looking forward to it." Qualifying round 1 Bradley McGee (Aus) 4.30.648 2 Graham Brown (Aus) 4.34.686 3 Mathew Randall (NZ) 4.38.371 4 Anthony Chapman (NZ) 4.39.286 5 Nigel Grigg (Aus) 4.41.854 6 Shane Melrose (NZ) 4.46.651 Semi finals Graham Brown (Aus) 4.34.424 beat Mathew Randall (NZ) 4.37.586 Bradley McGee (Aus) caught Anthony Chapman (NZ) Finals 1 Bradley McGee (Aus) 4.27.051 beat 2 Graham Brown (Aus) 4.35.398 3 Mathew Randall (NZ) 4.34.185 caught 4 Anthony Chapman (NZ)International men individual pursuit Qualifying round 1 Damien Pommerau (Fra) 4.29.344 2 Alexei Markov (Rus) 4.31.140 3 Mike Tillman (USA) 4.36.161 4 Edouard Gritsoune (Rus) 4.38.137 5 Brent Dawson (Aus) 4.38.281 6 Luke Roberts (Aus) 4.38.401 7 Kam Po Wong (HKg) 4.54.496 Semi-finals Alexei Markov (Rus) caught Mike Tillman (USA) Damien Pommerau (Fra) 4.36.530 beat Edouard Gritsoune (Rus) 4.43.460 Finals 1 Alexei Markov (Rus) 4.30.996 beat 2 Damien Pommerau (Fra) 4.31.822 3 Mike Tillman (USA) 4.37.370 beat 4 Edouard Gritsoune (Rus) 4.38.442U19 team pursuit Qualifying 1 New Zealand 4.24.981 2 Australia 4.26.462 3 New Caledonia 4.33.481 Final 1 Australia 4.22.263 (Davis, Leonard, Mason, Renshaw) 2 New Zealand 4.25.199 (Roulston, Ryan, Allen, Boerson) 3 New Caledonia (Bousquet, Clavier, Honore, Nagle)Women 500 m TT The women's 500m time trial saw Australia qualify another rider position for the Olympics, despite not winning the event. Lyndelle Higginson rode a time of 36.169 to win the silver and the qualifying spot, but the gold went to China's Cuihua Jiang in 35.622 seconds. Jiang's time was a new Australian record, beating bronze medallist, Michelle Ferris' 1996 mark of 35.700. In a strange quirk of the rules, it is possible for foreign riders to hold Australian records by competing on Australian soil. This fact displeased Ferris, who pointed out that such was not the case overseas. However, Ferris was relatively happy with her bronze, in a time of 36.368 seconds: "Yeah, I'm happy because I've done slower times when I've been at peak fitness." "I'm not surprised at Jiang - it's her strongest event. She doesn't do anything but 500m TT's. I've seen what she has done in the past, even at the recent World Championships where she put in a great performance," she said. Higginson was surprised to win the silver "because I have been working out at the gym and on the road and have done little work on the track," she said. 1 Cuihua Jiang (Chn) 35.622 2 Lyndell Higginson (Aus) 36.169 3 Michelle Ferris (Aus) 36.386 4 Tanya Dubnicoff (Canada) 36.556 5 Tanya Lindenmuth (USA) 36.558 6 Kerrie Meares (Aus) 36.681 7 Elisabeth Williams (NZ) 36.929 8 Magali Faure-Humbert (Fra) 37.042 9 Fiona Ramage (NZ) 37.170 10 Joanne Kiesanowski (NZ) 37.307 11 Rahna Demarte (Aus) 37.393 12 Rosealee Hubbard (Aus) 37.667 13 Becky Quinn (USA) 38.479Men 1,000 m Time Trial - Oceania 1 Ashley Hutchinson (Aus) 1.04.390 2 Jeff Hopkins (Aus) 1.05.160 3 Olivier Haas (NCal) 1.05.366 4 Mathew Sinton (NZ) 1.05.572 Mathew Anderson (NZ) DNFMen 1,000 m Time Trial - International The international event was billed as a revenge match between World Champion, Arnaud Tournant (Fra), and silver medallist, Shane Kelly (Aus). Both are in their off seasons, however each had their own reasons for winning - Tournant to maintain his unbeaten record, and Kelly to try and gain a psychological edge against his rival. However, it was not to be for Kelly, who rode a 1.03.964 before Tournant came on and blew him away with a 1.02.397, over 1.5 seconds faster. Afterwards, Kelly described himself as being happy with the time, for this time of the year, however he was amazed at Tournant's effort. "He's just so consistent all year round," said an amazed Kelly. "I felt good, and the crowd was good, and I'm pretty happy with my time," he added. When asked about the fact that foreigners can hold the Australian record, he replied "In a way it's disappointing, but it's not about records. It's not the end of the world." On Tournant: "He's definitely not unbeatable. I was two tenths of a second behind him at the World's. It's like me a couple of years ago, when people thought I was unbeatable." For his part, Tournant said that "he was very happy because it was the same time that I rode in Berlin(!), also I haven't been training much so yeah, I'm happy. I enjoy racing against Shane because there's a lot of competition between us. I enjoy winning events where there is good competition. That's what Shane provides." 1 Arnaud Tournant (Fra) 1.02.397 2 Shane Kelly (Aus) 1.03.964 3 Grzegorz Krejner (Pol) 1.05.383 4 Domenico Mei (Ita) 1.06.514 5 Mattia Vecchi (Ita) 1.08.416 6 Kam Po Wong (HKg) 1.08.757 7 Xinzhu Cheng (Chn) 1.10.901 8 Denis Smyslov (Rus) 1.10.991 9 Yunsheng Yang (Chn) 1.11.963 10 Jinhong Gao (Chn) 1.15.317 |