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Pan American Games - JR
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, August 10-17, 2003
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Day 4 - August 13: Track
USA lands gold and two silvers on second track day
Team USA report by Kelly Walker
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The U.S. Pan American Cycling Team added three more medals to the medal count Wednesday starting off with a silver medal ride in the women's 500m time trial by Chris Witty. The winning momentum continued later in the afternoon when sprinters Tanya Lindenmuth and Giddeon Massie each won medals in the keirin.
Witty, who was an Olympic medalist in speed skating, found her form on the track and stayed steady throughout the 500m test to clinch the silver medal in 36.304. Nancy Contreras (Mexico) won the event in 35.463. Yumari Gonzalez (Cuba) was third clocking a 36.559.
Witty's silver at the Pan Am Games is the 28 year-old's first medal in international competition. "It went okay - I knew when I finished that it would be a 35 that would beat Nancy today," said Witty.
"For my second race since Sydney (2000 Olympics) I 'd say it went good for mixed reasons. Every time you race it's a learning experience. The 500 is a relatively new distance so it is difficult to know what the optimal gear to use is. What I've learned is that during the whole race it was an even effort. So maybe I look at improving my start and fine-tuning my technique in the first part of the race."
The afternoon session proved to be twice as nice as sprint specialists Tanya Lindenmuth and Giddeon Massie won the gold and silver medals in the women's and men's keirin respectively. Lindenmuth followed her gut in the race and relied on experience and power to propel her to the line ahead of silver medalist Daniela Larreak (Venezuela). Yumari Gonzalez (Cuba) finished third to claim her second bronze medal of the day.
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Lindenmuth was clearly happy with her ride and emotional about the victory. "Before the race, really - I was a little shaky - I didn't feel well at all," said Lindenmuth. "I just kept telling myself to relax. I know I have the speed with all of those girls. I guess it all came down to positive self-talk throughout the whole race. I just went on instinct. I really just stopped over-thinking and analyzing, took my time and stayed sheltered. With three laps to go I moved up and continued to find my position. Coming into the home straight we really started to dig, we heard the bell, everybody got excited and I thought just jump around and get in front.
"I really wanted to hear our anthem, the national anthem, and see our flag on the highest point. I've had a really hard couple of months where I've examined whether I belong on the bike and it's just nice to see it come of out me. I've really soul-searched lately and it's nice for it to come together here. Of course I can't do it without all of our staff here so I'm very humbled by this experience."
Giddeon Massie won the third medal of the day taking the silver immediately after Lindenmuth's gold medal ride. Massie, who came back to win the men's repechage round of the keirin was equally happy with his first Pan Am medal.
"I just wanted to use my speed and not get caught up and on the outside," said Massie. "I'm happy with it, second place, but I also guess it means there's room for improvement. This is a good boost for me mentally going into the sprints .It's not going to be easy. It will get tougher from here on out so I'll concentrate on taking care of myself and doing the best I can."
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Massie qualified for the semi-final of the men's sprint in the morning session beating Genaro Cespedes (Dominican Republic) with a time of 11.509. Massie's teammate Stephen Alfred also qualified for the semi-finals with a victory over Ricardo Lynch (Jamaica).
"So far, so good," said Alfred. "I'm a little disappointed with the qualifying round, but I put that behind me. I'm looking at a very tough Colombian rider in the semi-final - he is very crafty and I will have to give it every thing I've got. The South Americans, they treat this like their biggest championships, like it's the World Championships; they take it very seriously and I take nothing for granted."
Coach Des Dickie was also pleased to see his riders on the podium. "I'm really happy with the performances today," said Dickie. "We came back from the world championships really pretty dejected and not feeling very good about ourselves and we knew we worked very hard going into the world's at our camp. Our performances here are showing the athletes that they can perform like world-class competitors. We are competing with some really excellent riders and our performances are world-class so we are certainly happy with the medal count."
Massie and Alfred will both ride in the semi-finals of the men's sprint Thursday morning with the finals set for Friday night beginning at 5:00 p.m. Team sprint qualifying is also on tap for Thursday's morning session with the men's points race slated for the evening session.
Photos
Images by AFP
- Tanya Lindenmuth sings the national anthem after receiving her gold medal for the Keirin
- Daniela Larreal (Ven) and Tanya Lindenmuth (USA) race during the Keirin
- Daniela Larreal (Ven) Silver, Tanya Lindenmuth (USA) Gold and Yumari Gonzalez (Cub) Bronze on the podium for the Keirin
- Tanya Lindenmuth waves after winning the gold medal in the keirin
- Christine Witty (USA) Silver, Nancy Contreras (Mex) Gold and Yumari Gonzalez (Cub) Bronze on the podium for the 500M TT
Images by Andy Lee/
- Chilean fans watch the action
- Bernard Kocis lends a helping hand after a Canadian rider broke his chain in the team pursuit.
- Giddeon Massie (USA) and Mario Contreras (Mexico) in the Men's sprint 1/8-final
- Stephen Alford and his pearlescent bike
- The Women's Keirin is underway
- And away the Women's Keirin field go
- Tanya Lindenmuth cries tears of joy after winning the Women's Kierin final
- Giddeon Massie (USA) gets his silver medal in the Men's Kierin
- Giddeon Massie (USA) silver, Barry Forde (Bar) gold and Ruben Osorio (Ven) bronze in the Men's Kierin
Results
Women's Kierin final 1 Tanya Lindenmuth (USA) 2 Daniela Larreal (Venezuela) 3 Yumari Gonzalez (Cuba) 4 Diana García (Colombia) 5 Graciela Martínez (Argentina) 6 Hilda Castillo (Dominican Republic) Men's Kierin final 1 Barry Forde (Barbados) 2 Giddeon Massie (USA) 3 Ruben Osorio (Venezuela) 4 Jose Sochon (Guatemala) DQ Mario Contreras (Mexico) DNF Jonathan Marin (Colombia) Men's keirin 9-16 1 Luis Saez (Chile) 2 Ricardo Lynch (Jamaica) DNS Yuamani Pol (Cuba) DNS Genaro Cespedes (Dominican Republic) DNS Michel Rodriguez (Puerto Rico) DNS Carlos Murillo (Equador) DNS Rodson Ribeiro (Brazil) Women's 3000m individual pursuit final 1 Maria Calle (Colombia) 3.47.422 (47.4876km/h) 2 Yoanka Gonzalez (Cuba) 3.49.338 (47.0916km/h) 3 Clara Hudges (Canada) 3.58.241 (45.3312km/h) 4 Evelyn Garcia (El Salvador) 4.01.755 (44.6724km/h) Men's 4000m individual pursuit final 1 Edgardo Simon (Argentina) 4.38.036 (51.7896km/h) 2 Marco Arriagada (Chile) 4.38.737 (51.6600km/h) 3 Alexander Gonzalez (Colombia) 4.50.780 (49.5216km/h) 4 Tomas Gil (Venezuela) 4.55.860 (48.6684km/h) Women's 500m time trial final 1 Nanci Contreras (Mexico) 35.463 (50.7564km/h) 2 Christine Witty (USA) 36.304 (49.5792km/h) 3 Yumari Gonzalez (Cuba) 36.559 (49.2336km/h) 4 Diana Garcia (Colombia) 36.843 (48.8556km/h) 5 Juana Fernandez (Dominican Republic) 40.797 (44.1180km/h) 6 Claudia Aravena (Chile) 41.086 (43.8084km/h) 7 Bella Veloz (Equador) 41.734 (43.1280km/h) Men's sprint first round 1 Barry Forde (Barbados) 13.103 (54.9468km/h) 2 Jose Piedra (Equador) 1 Alexander Cornieles (Venezuela) DNS Michel Rodriguez (Puerto Rico) 1 Jonathan Marin (Colombia) 11.356 (63.3996km/h) 2 Vladimir Esteves (Dominican Republic) 1 Jhonny Hernandez (Venezuela) 11.960 (60.1992km/h) 2 Luis Saenz (Chile) 1 Giddeon Massie (USA) 11.509 (62.5572km/h) 2 Genaro Cespedes (Dominican Republic) 1 Alfred Stephen (USA) 11.393 (63.1944km/h) 2 Ricardo Lynch (Jamaica) 1 Reinier Cartaya (Cuba) 12.032 (59.8392km/h) 2 Carlos Fetzer (Guatemala) 1 Mario Contreras (Mexico) 11.670 (61.6932km/h) 2 Benjamin Martinez (Bolivia) 1 Leonardo Narvaez (Colombia) 11.917 (60.4152km/h) 2 Jose Sochon (Guatemala) Men's sprint first round repechage 1 Ricardo Lynch (Jamaica) 11.337 (63.5076km/h) 2 Jose Piedra (Equador) 3 Jose Sochon (Guatemala) 1 Genaro Cespedes (Dominican Republic) 11.479 (62.7228km/h) 2 Carlos Fetzer (Guatemala) DNS Michel Rodriguez (Puerto Rico) 1 Benjamin Martinez (Bolivia) 11.601 (62.0604km/h) 2 Vladimir Esteves (Dominican Republic) 3 Luis Saenz (Chile) Men's sprint 1/8-final 1 Barry Forde (Barbados) 12.117 (59.4180km/h) 2 Benjamin Martinez (Bolivia) 1 Alexander Cornieles (Venezuela) 11.329 (63.5508km/h) 2 Genaro Cespedes (Dominican Republic) 1 Jonathan Marin (Colombia) 11.450 (62.8812km/h) 2 Ricardo Lynch (Jamaica) 1 Jhonny Hernandez (Venezuela) 11.723 (61.4160km/h) 2 Leonardo Narvaez (Colombia) 1 Giddeon Massie (USA) 11.281 (63.8208km/h) 2 Mario Contreras (Mexico) 1 Stephen Alfred (USA) 11.570 (62.2296km/h) 2 Reinier Cartaya (Cuba) Men's sprint 1/8-final repechages 1 Leonardo Narvaez (Colombia) 11.423 (63.0288km/h) 2 Benjamin Martinez (Bolivia) DNS Reinier Cartaya (Cuba) 1 Ricardo Lynch (Jamaica) 11.415 (63.0720km/h) 2 Genaro Cespedes (Dominican Republic) 3 Mario Contreras (Mexico) Team pursuit qualifying 1 Chile 4.20.960 (55.1808km/h) Luis Sepulveda Marco Arriagada Antonio Cabrera Enzo Cesareo 2 Argentina 4.27.330 (53.8632km/h) Maximiliano Richeze Angel Colla Guillermo Brunetta Walter Perez 3 Colombia 4.30.950 (53.1432km/h) Alexander Gonzalez Jose Serpa Arles Castro Juan Forero 4 Cuba 4.31.640 (53.0100km/h) Yosvani Gutierre Reinaldo Rodriguez Yoel Mariño Luis Romero 5 Venezuela 4.31.890 (52.9596km/h) Raul Chacon Tomas Gil Richard Ochoa Jose Araque 6 Canada 4.32.450 (52.8516km/h) Marck Ernsting Jean Laroche Alexander Cloutier Gilbert Martin 7 Brazil 4.33.470 (52.6536km/h) Gohr Soelito Sidoti Breno Armando Camargo Marcos Novello 8 Dominican Republic 4.42.810 (50.9148km/h) Jorge Cordero Benigno De La Cruz Jorge Perez Augusto Sanchez
