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2006 Commonwealth Games - JR
Melbourne, Australia, March 16-26, 2006
Main Page Results Previous event Next Event
March 16: Men’s 4,000m individual pursuit
Manning tops England 1-2-3
By Mal Sawford with additional reporting by Rob Jones
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The first two gold medals may have gone Australia's way at the velodrome, but the powerful English team bounced back with a clean sweep of the podium in the individual pursuit, fulfilling the predictions by a quietly confident team management.
Eventual winner Paul Manning and Rob Hayles qualified for the gold medal rider after both recording times under 4.22, with New Zealand's Jason Allen an impressive third fastest qualifier. Steven Cummings was the only finalist to lower his time second time round, knocking off close to a win the bronze medal ride against Allen, who wasn't able to match his earlier efforts. Cummings admitted to not doing a lot of specific training for the event, saying, "It's only my second pursuit in two years. I did a standing one k yesterday, that was about it".
Cummings' relied on his road racing fitness to get him through, having finished second in the Trophy Laigueglia last month. He still sees room for improvement, noting that "I still had a bit left at the end. I need to learn to pace myself better."
The gold medal final saw the two compatriots evenly matched to the half way mark, before Manning pulled away. Hayles had set himself for another 4.22 schedule, but found "it was a little bit quick. I tried to hang on but it's hard to get back on top of the gear once your revs drop. Still, it gives us confidence for the team's pursuit: we've got the top three guys here, and Chris Newton to come in…."
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We asked Paul Manning if he was concerned that Hayles had matched him to the half way mark, but the winner advised he never worried about his opponent until the final laps. "You stick to the schedule. It gets you where it gets you. Don't look at the competition: the only time you look at the competition is towards the end to see if you need to pick up the pace." There will be no big celebration for Team England tonight, Manning acknowledging that "We've got a lot more races to do, so we'll get a chance to enjoy it together later, but this probably is my best result ever."
Australia's two entrants, Mark Jamieson and Peter Dawson, weren't able to step up to fill the void left by the absence of three time winner Brad McGee, and finished well off the pace. The home town crowd certainly hopes the boys were deliberately leaving a little in the tank for the team's pursuit, as England is surely red hot favourite after tonight's performances.
Photography
For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here
Images by AFP Photo
- Paul Manning (England) powers his way to the individual pursuit gold
- England's Rob Hayles en route to second place
- Paul Manning (England) flies around the velodrome
- Paul Manning (England) acknowledges the crowd after his victory
Images by Shane Goss/www.licoricegallery.com
- Paul Manning (Great Britain) thumps the air after winning gold in the men's Individual Pursuit at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne
- The all England podium from the men's Individual Pursuit, (L-R): Robert Hayles (Silver), Paul Manning (Gold), and Stephen Cummings (Bronze)
Images by Rob Jones/www.canadiancyclist.com
- Svein Tuft (Canada) would qualify 11th
- Faces of starters on the big screen
- Zack Bell (Canada) qualified eighth
- Peter Dawson (Australia) - a surprising eighth
- Paul Manning (England) - fastest qualifier and fastest in the final too
- Amirrudin Jamaludin (Malaysia) - lots of potential a nation that has just started to take track seriously
- Rupert Rheeder (South Africa) qualified 12th
- Mark Jamieson (Australia) was hoping for better than seventh
- Rob Hayles (England) came up against Manning in an all-England final
- Jason Allen (New Zealand) - the only rider not from England to make the finals
- Michael Hutchinson (Northern Ireland) on the way to sixth in qualifying
- Steven Cummings (England) improved on his qualifying ride to take the bronze
- Peter Dawson (Australia)
- Steven Cummings (England)
- Steven Cummings (England)
- Hayden Roulston (New Zealand) qualified eighth
- Paul Manning catches Hayden Roulston in qualifying
- Mark Jamieson (Australia) gets underway in qualifying
- Rob Hayles (England)
- Rob Hayles passes Mark Jamieson in qualifying
- A clean sweep for England in the men's pursuit
Results
Qualification 1 Paul Manning (England) 4.21.801 (55.003 km/h) 2 Rob Hayles (England) 4.21.837 3 Jason Allen (New Zealand) 4.22.941 4 Steven Cummings (England) 4.25.570 5 Mark Ryan (New Zealand) 4.26.773 6 Michael Hutchinson (Northern Ireland) 4.28.862 7 Mark Jamieson (Australia) 4.30.399 8 Hayden Roulston (New Zealand) 4.30.747 9 Zack Bell (Canada) 4.31.831 10 Peter Dawson (Australia) 4.34.269 11 Svein Tuft (Canada) 4.36.390 12 Rupert Rheeder (South Africa) 3.36.458 13 Muhammad Fauzan Ahmad Lufti (Malaysia) 4.46.271 14 Amirrudin Jamaludin (Malaysia) 4.49.106 Finals For bronze 3 Steven Cummings (England) 4.24.767 (54.387 km/h) 4 Jason Allen (New Zealand) 4.30.319 For gold and silver 1 Paul Manning (England) 4.23.799 (54.587 km/h) 2 Rob Hayles (England) 4.28.616
