"Her spectacular time of 3.38.24 slashed three seconds off her previous best posted at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, where she claimed the silver medal. She is only two seconds off the world record set by American Rebecca Twigg to win the world title at altitude in Colombia last year. Watt has been under pressure to convinve Olympic selectors she can be competitive in the event in Atlanta after three years of injury problems had left her well off the pace of the world's top pursuiters. But Watt says she was riding well within herself and believes she can go even faster."
It seems that Watt has almost guaranteed her pursuit place at Atlanta, but the national coach Charlie Walsh (who has had some famous run-ins with Watt over the years) "continues to question whether Watt can perform at her best in three events over the two weeks."
He said "her time has been an extraordinary good time and it was a huge step for Kathy to break the 3 min 40s barrier. But she may still find herself in a position of having to choose between the track and the road, because it's a huge ask to expect her to perform in the ind. road race, pursuit and then the ITT."
Sheers reports that "Watt has rejected suggestions she should abandon any event, claiming the schedule allows plenty of recovery time. Her claim is backed up by national women's road coach Andrew Logan, who believes the pursuit will provide perfect preparation for the time trial, to be raced six days later, the event in which Watt won the bronze medal in Colombia."
Logan said "I think the way it's been scheduled probably does suit her and if anything she might be compromising her performance in the road race because of the training for the other two events."
Logan would not comment on Walsh's claims that the three events were probably too much for Watt to excel in. "Meanwhile, reigning world sprint champion Darryn Hill made light work fo qualifying for the men's sprint, setting an Australian indoor record of 10.38s over 200. Hill should have no trouble taking out the title after the withdrawal of Gary Neiwand with a hamstring injury.
Hill said "it's a disappointment Gary's not here as I would have liked to see how he was going at this time of the year so I could judge how he'd go in Atlanta. I came back from Colombia and was just cruising around and doing what I wanted and it didn't work. Mexico allowed me to get my mind on the job and say that's all over and done with and it's a whole new ball game, because everyone's looking to beat me this year." Hill was referring to the fact that he just spent several weeks with the track squad at altitude in Mexico.
"Olympic road-race cycling champion Kathy Watt left her critics red-faced in Perth yesterday by clocking a near world record time in the Australian ind. pursuit title. Watt ...easily beat Lucy Tyler-Sharman, who suffered and asthma attack before finishing second in 3.41.64. Watt's time was 3 s better than her previous best and marked the first time she has bettered the elusive 3m40s barrier."
"Meanwhile, Australia's world sprint champion, Western Australia's Darryn Hill, gave his rivals a lesson in what winning a world title is about. He was the fastest qualifier from 16 starters in 10.38 and won his first round easily before contesting last night's quarter finals."
Tour of Malaysia Home Page - it is excrutiatingly slow but pretty. This is the road team's first race after announcing it intended to become a professional team and chase UCI points. I will bring brief reports when I can.