1997 UCI World Track Championships

Neiwand sprint hopes dashed

Australia's chances of successfully defending its world Olympic sprint title have been thrown into a state of flux following top sprinter Gary Neiwand's withdrawal from the event.

Neiwand has also pulled out of the sprint after a less than inspiring performance in the qualifying rounds of the keirin at the world track cycling championships in Perth yesterday.

After struggling to finish second in his heat, Neiwand said his injured ankle had not responded to pain-killing injections.

"I can't go from a standing start to accelerating," he said. "It's OK in the keirin, but it would be a bit suss for the sprint and Olympic sprint. Bloody oath I'm disappointed."

Neiwand combined with compatriots Shane Kelly and Darryn Hill to win the Olympic sprint event at the world titles in Manchester last year.

In the women's section, it took less than three minutes for world and Olympic women's sprint champion Felicia Ballanger to put into perspective the national record performance of Australian Michelle Ferris in qualifying.

But the euphoria of Ferris's top-two ranking for the sprint rounds today and tomorrow behind the Frenchwoman was tempered by the failure of Stuart O'Grady to qualify for the quarter-finals of the 4,000m individual pursuit.

O'Grady, of Adelaide, finished a shock 15th in the event's qualifying section, clocking a time 12s slower than that he had scheduled with Australian head coach Charlie Walsh.

A perplexed O'Grady said his performance was a result of a combination of factors - the euphoria and resulting pressure from a successful Tour de France, where he was second in one stage and in fifth place overall for most of the first week of the race; and the effects of the flu.

O'Grady, 25, had to suffer the humiliation of being overtaken on the track by his opponent, Philippe Ermenault of France, who ended up qualifying third fastest in 4min24.857s, behind Russian Alexai Markov (4:24.448) and Italian Olympic champion Andrea Collinelli (4:24.578).

Yet Melbourne-based Ferris had no such drawbacks, blitzing her way around the Midvale Velodrome and clocking her fastest time this year for the flying 200m - 11.476s - an average speed of 62.74km/h.

Not surprisingly, the 20-year-old Ferris was happy with her effort, quietly clenching both hands against her ribs in a private celebration before riding in front of the crowd and proudly pointing her finger in the "No1" signal.

It was Ferris's fastest time of the year, and only her qualifying time of 11.212s at the Atlanta Olympic Games has been faster.

For a brief time at least she had wrested the national all-comers' record from Ballanger, who had set it in 1995 during a World Cup round.

However, Ballanger, who has admitted to finding this year tough after such a triumphant 1996, came onto the track just after Ferris and quickly reduced the mark further.

Ballanger clocked 11.305s, 0.171s faster than the Australian.

"That was the best time of the year for me," Ballanger said afterwards. "I was very happy with it, as I have had difficulty getting motivated after the Olympic Games. I saw Ferris ride a great time - I think she will be the one to beat here."

O'Grady distraught after rank failure

It was little more than a month ago that Stuart O'Grady was living a boyhood dream. Not merely riding in his first Tour de France, but competing in it. Fulfilling his role as a buffer for the GAN team's leading riders, but also driving himself to fifth place overall after the seventh stage.

From there, O'Grady faded but still completed the race. Suddenly, a rider whose consistency and hard work on the track had often been overlooked had emerged as a star of the road.

After that experience, and the inevitable consequences, O'Grady went to Perth with all manner of reasons to anticipate failure in the world championships. There was the great unknown - the effect a gruelling first tour would have on his body. The extra attention he has received and commitments he has had to fulfil in the three weeks since his return home.

And, if all that had not left him feeling flat, a bout of flu overtook O'Grady on the last day of the World Cup meeting in Adelaide, causing him to puff and pant while completing what little track preparation he was able to do.

Still, none of those reasonable excuses prepared O'Grady for the disappointment he suffered yesterday when he was not merely eliminated from the individual pursuit but expelled.

O'Grady was overtaken in a qualifying race by the Frenchman Philippe Ermenault, and his time of 4min 38.22s was about 14s slower than his best.

"It is definitely not a confidence-booster when you ride 4:38 [the world record is 4:11.114], it's not even an Australian-standard time," said O'Grady, a pursuit bronze medallist in 1995.

"That's what's disappointed me most. I could have ridden that time out on the road on a mountain bike."

When he dismounted, O'Grady seemed to be in shock. For 25 minutes he sat in the middle of the track with his collar turned up and his cap pulled down over his face, staring into space.

O'Grady's race was the first of the championships, and for an Australian team already struggling with injuries to star performers, it was hardly the start they had hoped for.

"I think it was a bit of a combination," said O'Grady, referring to the flu, the Tour de France and his lack of track preparation.

"I came out of the tour and I hoped things would be going well. I started feeling pretty good in the World Cup, but unfortunately got sick the last day."

However, while the flu symptoms will subside, the other problem - adjusting from road to track - is something with which O'Grady will have to contend regularly in the future, if he is to live a successful double life.

Dreaming of winning both the Tour de France and a track gold medal at the Sydney Olympics means O'Grady must serve two masters. There is the team he calls "my employers" and the country he calls home. Now, it seems, much trial and error will take place before he can perform for both to his own high standards.

O'Grady had hoped the Tour de France would have had the same effect on him that it did on Englishman Chris Boardman, who a month after last year's tour set the pursuit world record in Manchester. Clearly, it didn't.

"It's a path we haven't been down before," said Australian coach Charlie Walsh, who strongly resisted Kathy Watt's attempt to combine track and road cycling.

"We know it is a new direction, and that is one of the reasons we have done a lot of research and testing on our riders this year to try and establish exactly what does happen."

But for O'Grady, the problem this week may be as much mental as physical. With everyone keen to talk about the Tour de France, he said he had a constant battle to stay focused on his events, with the points race and the team pursuit still to come.

"It doesn't feel like a world championships for me," he said. "I'm having problems just trying to psyche myself up for this competition. I've tried the last couple of days, but when you're not there mentally, you're just not in the game."

Other reports

Kelly, 25, rode 1min 3.156sec to beat German Soren Lausberg for the second year running.

"It's the most unbelievable feeling I've probably ever had," Kelly said of his win on the opening night of the world track cycling championships at the Midvale Speed Dome.

Lausberg, who rode immediately before Kelly and clocked 1:03.397, also finished second to Kelly at the world titles in Manchester last year. Fellow German Stefan Nimke was third in 1:03.470.

Kelly's coach, Charlie Walsh, said the ride was one of the most incredible achievements he had seen in sport.

"I'm staggered. I think you've seen one of the greatest ever sportsmen you're ever likely to see, because he did it on character," he said.

The 1992 Olympic silver medallist in this event, Kelly was hot favourite for the gold medal last year in Atlanta but pulled his left foot from its pedal at the start.

Kelly was forced off the bike for several weeks after he crashed while racing in Japan in May. Then, late last month, he suffered serious back spasms during training in the United States and was out for a further three weeks.

"Four weeks ago, I was nearly ready to chuck it in," Kelly said.

"When I started back riding on the track, I could feel I had a bit in my legs, but I probably didn't think I could go that quickly."

Frenchman Frederic Magne won the final of the keirin from Italian Roberto Chiappa, with Perth rider Darryn Hill finishing last in the field of six.

In a dramatic first night of the championships, veteran Australian sprinter Gary Neiwand had to be carried from the track on a stretcher.

Neiwand collided with Japanese competitor Yuichiro Kami-yama at the rear of the six-rider field on the final bend of their second-round keirin race. Officials said later he had sustained cuts and abrasions.

Earlier, Neiwand had pulled out of the sprint and Olympic sprint at the championships because of continuing problems with his injured right ankle.

He made it through the first round of the keirin in the morning session, but felt his sprained ankle would not be able to take the sudden starts needed for the two sprint events.

"Today was the first real test for my ankle and while it's okay to go from half-pace to full-pace I know it just wouldn't stand up to the pressure of getting to a sprint (from) a standing start," said Neiwand.

Olympic silver medallist Michelle Ferris of Victoria qualified second fastest for the sprint behind her French rival and Atlanta Olympic champion Felicia Ballanger as both riders broke the national 200m record.

Half the Australian team was involved in blood testing yesterday morning after cycling's world governing body, UCI, gave the all-clear to take samples from 27 riders - nine each from Australia, Germany and France. The three squads are based at the Vines Resort near the championships venue.

This is the first time blood testing has been conducted at a track world championships, with 50 riders to be randomly tested.