World Track Championships - CMManchester, October 25-29, 2000Main page M World Hour Record W IP M Sprint W 500m TT Day 3 - October 27Men's World Hour Record attemptBoardman breaks Merckx mark
Chris Boardman became the first male cyclist to successfully attempt the men's Hour Record under the new UCI rules when he rode 49.441 kilometres, marginally beating the nominal standard of 49.431 kilometres set by Eddy Merckx in 1972. However, he had to fight until the end, falling 0.1 km/h behind with just five minutes to go. An amazing last three laps, which he called "the hardest three laps of my life" pushed him up over the average, so that he finished 10 metres "ahead" of Merckx. Afterwards, he nearly collapsed and had to be assisted in stepping off the bike by his team manager Roger Legeay and wife Sally-Anne. "I've never been in so much pain after a race," he said, attributing it to riding in a crouched position on the drop handlebars. The same pain was experienced by Anna Wilson 10 days ago. "If I had known how hard it would be, I would never have attempted it. I now know how much pain Merckx felt." He affirmed that it was the last race of his career, and it was certainly an impressive and gutsy way to go out. It could so easily have gone the other way. "I'm glad every one walked away happy," he said. There was some controversy surrounding the ride, as Boardman had previously thought that whatever distance he rode would be accepted as the new standard. However, the UCI confirmed that Merckx' 1972 mark was the record just two and a half hours before he started his ride, placing extra pressure on him. The previous day, he had said that "40 kilometres would still be a new record," although he was still aiming for 49.5 kilometres for the sake of honour. Boardman's business manager, Peter Woodworth described him as "very upset" at the "last minute" revelation that he would need to beat Eddy Merckx' mark for it to be considered a record. Hein Verbruggen (UCI president) even telephoned Roger Legeay on the day to clarify things. It could have been embarrassing and unfortunate if the 10 metre difference had been the other way, as then both parties would have had some explaining to do, especially regarding the legality of Merckx' bike. Boardman added that future record attempts should be made at sea level in order to keep the conditions similar. He now holds both UCI recognised records, the "Best Hour Performance" at 56.375 kilometres, and the Hour Record, at 49.444 kilometres, with the latter subject to ratification by the UCI over the next few weeks. Data for the attempt km time
5 6.04.016
10 12.03.889
15 18.04.635
20 24.06.975
25 30.11.663
30 36.18.409
35 42.27.043
40 48.33.402
45 54.40.588
46 55.53.916
47 57.06.713
48 58.17.899
49 59.29.264
49.25 59.46.661 (lap 197)
49.50 60.04.041 (lap 198)
Last lap time: 17.380 s
Last lap time fraction: 13.339 s
Distance = 250 x 13.339/17.380
= 191.872 m
Official distance: 49.441872 km
Women's Individual PursuitArndt v Mcgregor in final
The finals of the women's 3000m individual pursuit look set to be tightly contested tomorrow evening in Manchester, after the top four fastest qualifiers progressed through the second round to face off in the finals. In the morning, hometown favourite and Olympic bronze medallist Yvonne McGregor (GBr) rode 3.36.553 to qualify fastest, 0.5 sec in front of Frenchwoman Marion Clignet. The consistent Judith Arndt (Ger) was third, with Russian Elena Tchalykh in fourth, over two seconds behind McGregor. Round two saw these four riders all comfortably account for their rivals, with McGregor again posting the best time of 3.36.145 to beat Lada Kozlikova (Cze). Judith Arndt was the next fastest, beating Rasa Mazeikyte (Ltu) in 3.36.935, and she will face McGregor in tomorrow's final for the gold and silver, while Clignet will ride against Tchalykh for the bronze medal. There are no semi-finals of the women's individual pursuit, and a fast time in the second round is critical to secure a top spot in the final. Qualifying Splits: 1 km 2 km 3 km 1 Yvonne McGregor (GBr) 1.16.244 2.26.215 3.36.553 (49.872 km/h) 2 Marion Clignet (Fra) 1.15.221 2.25.336 3.37.055 3 Judith Arndt (Ger) 1.15.293 2.26.628 3.37.666 4 Elena Tchalykh (Rus) 1.12.429 2.23.953 3.38.860 5 Maria Luisa Calle (Col) 1.16.968 2.28.566 3.40.314 6 Rasa Mazeikyte (Ltu) 1.14.874 2.25.952 3.41.508 7 Anouska Van Der Zee (Ned) 1.15.920 2.29.212 3.44.427 8 Lada Kozlikova (Cze) 1.16.041 2.30.493 3.44.911 9 Erin Mirabella (USA) 1.17.624 2.31.963 3.46.249 10 Haijuan Zhao (Chn) 1.17.283 2.31.159 3.47.129 11 Erin Carter (Can) 1.17.450 2.31.253 3.47.525 12 Annalysa Kaye Farrel (NZl) 1.17.287 2.33.189 3.50.804 13 Luisa Tamanini (Ita) 1.18.554 2.35.896 3.54.223 Round 2 Splits: 1 km 2 km 3 km Heat 1 1 Elena Tchalykh (Rus) 1.14.471 2.25.914 3.39.845 (49.126 km/h) 2 Maria Luisa Calle (Col) 1.17.363 2.30.069 3.43.921 Heat 2 1 Judith Arndt (Ger) 1.14.835 2.25.794 3.36.935 (49.784 km/h) 2 Rasa Mazeikyte (Ltu) 1.16.422 2.29.074 3.42.820 Heat 3 1 Marion Clignet (Fra) 1.14.815 2.25.583 3.38.200 (49.496 km/h) 2 Anouska Van Der Zee (Ned) 1.17.197 2.30.425 3.45.394 Heat 4 1 Yvonne McGregor (GBr) 1.16.269 2.26.176 3.36.145 (49.966 km/h) 2 Lada Kozlikova (Cze) 1.14.461 2.28.858 3.43.206 Men's SprintVan Eijden gets his first title
Cyclingnews.com correspondent at the Manchester Velodrome, Nick Rosenthal, reports that German Jan Van Eijden rode to his first ever World Championship gold when he beat Frenchman, Laurent Gane in straight heats in the final. However, it was the semi-finals that attracted the most interest, with a pair of "unconventional" rides. In the first semi, Gane was up against Roberto Chiappa (Ita), whom he beat in three rounds after losing to the Italian in the first. At the finish of the third match which could be described as "robust", Gane made some gestures toward Chiappa after crossing the line. At the completion of the next warm down lap, Chiappa swerved from the top of the track into Gane, pushing him off his bike.
The judges did not take long to disqualify Chiappa from the competition, although he had already lost to Gane. This meant that he was ineligible to ride off for the bronze in the final. The Italians later issued a formal apology on behalf of Chiappa to Gane, the officials and the crowd. The bronze medal ride-off was not to be however, as in the second semi, German Jens Fiedler did not start claiming illness. This allowed his compatriot and teammate, Jan Van Eijden a clean run through to the final, and he was clearly fresher than Gane who had a very physical run against Chiappa. Some observers thought that this may have been a tactical rather than a medical decision from the two German team members. Semi-Finals Heat 1 1 Laurent Gane (Fra) 10.651 10.791 2 Roberto Chiappa (Ita) 10.812* Heat 2 1 Jens Fiedler (Ger) 2 Jan Van Eijden (Ger) DNS** * Roberto Chiappa (Ita) was also disqualified for pushing Gane off his bike after the final ride. He was therefore not eligible for the bronze medal. ** Jens Fiedler (Ger) did not start due to illness. Finals for 5th - 8th 5 Mickael Bourgain (Fra) 11.164 (64.493 km/h) 6 Pavel Buran (Cze) 7 Akihiro Isezaki (Jpn) 8 Jose Antonio Villanueva (Spa) DQ Final 1 Jan Van Eijden (Ger) 11.229 10.680 2 Laurent Gane (Fra) Final ranking: 1 Jan Van Eijden (Ger) 2 Laurent Gane (Fra) 3 4 5 Mickael Bourgain (Fra) 6 Pavel Buran (Cze) 7 Akihiro Isezaki (Jpn) 8 Jose Antonio Villanueva (Spa) 9 Matthias John (Ger) 10 Arnaud Duble (Fra) 11 Domenico Mei (Ita) 12 Jeffrey Labauve (USA) Women's 500m Time TrialMarkovnichenko a surprise winner in the 500
Belorussian Natalia Markovnichenko rode to a remarkable victory in the women's 500 metre time trial, when she clocked 34.828 seconds to beat a pair of Chinese riders Cuihua Jiang and Yan Wang by over 0.5 seconds. Starting first, Markovnichenko had to wait as thirteen riders tried to better her time, and none of them got close. The Belorussian was surprised and delighted afterwards, as she shared the podium with one of the Chinese riders. Unfortunately for the other, a bout of nausea caused her to exit the podium prior to receving her medal (and a kiss on the cheek by Geoff Cooke). So once again it was a two rider podium. Report courtesy of Nick Rosenthal. Finals Splits: 250 m 500 m 1 Natalia Markovnichenko (Blr) 19.841 34.838 (51.668 km/h) 2 Cuihua Jiang (Chn) 19.936 35.461 3 Yan Wang (Chn) 19.826 35.478 4 Katrin Meinke (Ger) 19.824 35.573 5 Lori Ann Muenzer (Can) 20.329 35.711 6 Nancy Contreras Reyes (Mex) 19.798 35.721 7 Ulrike Weichelt (Ger) 20.276 35.885 8 Celine Nivert (Fra) 20.286 35.995 9 Magali Faure (Fra) 20.711 36.027 10 Iryna Yanovych (Ukr) 20.302 36.100 11 Tanya Lindenmuth (USA) 20.698 36.197 12 Julie Forrester (GBr) 20.635 36.279 13 Mandy Poitras (Can) 21.586 37.963 14 Eleftheria Ellinikaki (Gre) 21.711 38.620 DNS Szilvia Szabolcsi (Hun) Results courtesy of www.worldtrackchampionships2000.com |
