News for October 18
Atlanta Cycling Invitational, 15 Oct 95
* Mariano Friedick (U.S.) and Rebecca Twigg (U.S.) won their respective
individual pursuit races Sunday in the second day of competition at the
Stone Mtn. Velodrome. Friedick's time of 04:36.388 surpassed that of Andrei
Iasenko (Ukraine) and Phillipe Ermenault (France). Twigg finished in
3:47.542 to defeat Antonella Bellutti (Italy) and Kathy Watt (Australia).
* Jose Moreno (Spain) won the men's sprint with a time of 11.015
seconds. Roberto Chiappa (Italy) was second and Marty Northstein (U.S.)
third.
* In the women's sprint event, Olga Slusareva (Russian Federation)
finished first, Galina Enuhina (Russia) second, and Erika Salumae (Estonia)
was third.
* Svetlana Samochvalova (Russia) won the women's 8-kilometer points race.
* The Ukrainian team won the men's 4-kilometer team pursuit, with the
U.S.A. second and the Russian Federation third.
_________________________________________________________________________
Olympic Track Woes
World-calibre cyclists are criticizing the new Stone Mountain Olympic
velodrome. This weekend, competitors described the track -- made of
materials not previously used for a cycling track -- as slow and "sticky."
The track is made of a marine grade fir which has been coated with a
textured resin.
"The track is considerably slower than average," said American cyclist
Adam Laurent, part of the U.S. team. "This is some kind of textured
particleboard, and most of the surfaces we ride on are hard wood like
Siberian spruce."
Cyclists note the surface is soft and crashes of riders and bikes
occasionally cause dents in the surface.
As for the possibility of any new world records being set on the new
track, Laurent said, "Absolutely, positively not. No way."
Erika Salumae (Estonia) said, "The construction of the track is really
good, but the softness of the surface really reduces the speed."
Fabio Masotti, an Italian rider, said: "It's a very nice track but it's
not very fast."
The maker of the track, Dale Hughes of Rochester, Minn., is not
optimistic about further improvements in the track's performance. He
commented: "It's about 90 percent there, but we have a few things up our
sleeve we could do. The track makes a sound they [cyclists] aren't familiar
with, so they think it's slow. But I think next year the times will be
pretty fast."
The Stone Mountain Olympic velodrome is only the second his company has
manufactured.
________________________________________________________________________
Rominger Reigns
Indurain will not re-attempt at the Hour record today (Monday). Indurain
commented: "I have probably underestimated everything: the preparation, the
altitude, the temperature (+9 degrees Celsius - BO), the wind, my powers of
recuperation, the stress, ...and Tony Rominger's performance."
Later Indurain announced that he is not able to make another big effort
at altitude and will not try again, not tomorrow or in the near future.
Instead he will go straight home to Spain to finish his season there.
Atlanta Cycling Invitational - Medals by Event
Mens Sprint
GOLD MORENO, Jose Spain
SILVER CHIAPPA, Roberto Italy
BRONZE NOTHSTEIN, Marty United States
Womens Sprint
GOLD SLUSAREVA, Olga Russian Federation
SILVER ENUHINA, Galina Russian Federation
BRONZE SALUMAE, Erika Estonia
Mens Individual Pursuit
GOLD FRIEDICK, Mariano United States
SILVER IASENKO, Andrei Ukraine
BRONZE ERMENAULT, Phillipe France
Womens Individual Pursuit
GOLD TWIGG, Rebecca United States
SILVER BELLUTTI, Antonella Italy
BRONZE WATT, Kathy Austrailia
Mens 1KM Time Trial
GOLD LAKOLVEV, Vassili Ukraine
SILVER LLANERAS, Juan Spain
BRONZE BARBARA, Serge France
Womens 8K Points Race
GOLD SAMOCHVALOVA, Svetla Russian Federation
SILVER LANCIEN, Nathlie France
BRONZE QUIGLEY, Janie United States
Mens 4K Team Pursuit
GOLD BONDAREV, Bogdan Ukraine
IASENKO, Andrei
MATVEEV, Serguei
SIMONENKO, Alexandre
SILVER CONRAD, Zac United States
HAMON, Matt
LAURENT, Adam
SUNDQUIST, Carl
BRONZE SHANTIR, Anton Russian Federation
GRITSOUN, Edouard
KUZNETCOV, Nikolai
MARKOV, Alexi
Mens 24K Points Race
GOLD LAKOLVEV, Vassili Ukraine
SILVER LLANERAS, Juan Spain
BRONZE BARBARA, Serge France