World Junior Track Cycling Championships - CDM

Australia, August 21-25 2002

Team Pursuit - It's payback, over 20 years later

By Karen Forman In Melbourne

Gold for the Russians
Photo: © Tom Balks

It was a strange sight . . . at least for those who didn't know the story behind it. The Russian team had just won the 2002 World Junior team pursuit gold medal. Beating Australia. And there was Australian coach Gary Sutton in the in-field of Melbourne's Vodafone Arena velodrome, hugging Russian coach Victor Manakov.

"This is his revenge," Sutton said with a sheepish grin on his face. "Revenge for what I did in Moscow in 1980".

He was referring to Sutton's own gold medal in the points race in the world championships two weeks before the Olympics, when he beat then Soviet Union rider Manakov, who took the silver medal. Tonight's win by the Russian team was a bit of a turnaround. . . and both former riders were delighted.

After recording the third fastest time in qualifying despite Mikhail Ignatiev losing his seat and having to drop out, it was a hard-earned win for the Russians - Iliya Kresianinov, Serguei Kulakov, Nikolai Troussov and Ignatiev.

Naturally, the Australians - Mark Jamieson, Sean Finning, Nicholas Sanderson and Christopher Sutton - were a tad disappointed that they didn't manage to add another gold to an already glittering cache collected during this championships.

However, there was no doubt the medal went to the best team of the night in what announcer Stewart Doyle dubbed a "trouble-free run" for the Russians. They completed the four kilometres in 4.14.535 (the Australians in 4.15.545).

The Aussies pull tight for silver
Photo: © Tom Balks

At first the two teams appeared evenly matched. With nine laps to go, the Russians were slightly ahead butthe Australians were coming back. It became clear the Australians needed to pull something out of the hat very quickly if they hoped to bridge the gap and create one of their own.

The Russians retained their lead with seven laps to go, but the with Jamieson on the front of the Australian quartet, the newly crowned individual pursuit champion helped reduce it to 0.437.

They were tiring, however, possibly due to the larger gears team coach Gary Sutton decided to put them onto as an "all or nothing" measure and at the bell lap were down one second. And, despite putting in an impressive sprint in the last half a lap, with both teams losing their fourth rider with just metres to go, the Australian team just couldn't make up the distance.

The bronze medal went to Czech Republic over Germany in 4.18.365 (4.18.968) in a very close match. Germany was reduced to three riders by 3.22 but held a narrow lead, while their opponents retained four and appeared to be making ground.

Jamieson, as Australian team spokesman, was delighted with the silver. "You have to be happy with what you can get. We went in with high hopes. We knew the Russians would be quick. That if they put it together and pushed us . . . the Russians deserve it. We put it all on the line and are richer for the experience.

"We take away the experience. Sean Finning has next year to push them again and the rest of us guys take the experience into the senior ranks."

First round

Prior to the finals and the start up event of the Friday evening session was the men's team pursuit first round, which determines the teams who enter the finals. It saw some fairly unevenly matched squads and interesting racing.

France rode against Czech Republic and Czech had the upper hand throughout to score in 4.17.156. Russia - the team which lost first a saddle then a rider in qualifying the previous day but still finished with the third fastest time - rode against New Zealand.

Russia had been faster than the Kiwis previously, but New Zealand was out to even the score and took an early advantage. Not for long. Russia moved ahead after the first lap - and luck for a change was on their side. They got ahead by 1.53.

The Russians quickly moved up on the Kiwis in machine-like precision and came around the Kiwis in the third minute. However they broke up. Only two riders got ahead with third and fourth rider still behind the kiwis. They took a lap before the third rider joined them and then within half a lap, the Russians became completely mixed up with the kiwis.

The New Zealanders rode away at the bell. It looked like a bunch sprint and was an unbelievable spectacle for a team pursuit. Eventually the Russians won with an adjusted time of 4.17.024 and New Zealand 4.24.721.

When Netherlands and Germany met it was a false start. The Netherlands fourth rider started poorly, pulling his foot out of the pedal. Restarted, the team was two seconds down in the first minute of the event. Germany picked up another second in two more laps and by a minute and a half were on the same side of the track and making ground with the Czechs well in sight. They caught them at 2.15 and wasted no time in going around the outside in perfect team formation, quite a contrast to the Russians when they overtook the New Zealanders the heat before.

The Netherlands team hung on, however, refusing to be left too far behind. Germany recorded 4.08.935; the Dutch team finished in 4.25.607. The corrected time for Germany was 4.17.062; not as quick as the Russians.

Fastest qualifiers Australia came up against the Taiwanese team. The Australisn featured Mark Jamieson, gold IP medallist at these championships, Sean Finning and three times national champion Nicholas Sanderson and Chris Sutton, Australian road and track champion, so it wasn't a tough match. The Taiwanese were three seconds down at 1.04, the two teams shared the home straight at 1.40 and caught them at 1.51. Sutton led the team around the outside in a smoothly executed take over, at which point Taiwanese lost one rider.

The Australians dropped fourth rider Sanderson at 3.39 - then at the bell lap hit the pedals to eclipse the Russian time by two seconds with 4.15.486. Taiwan finished in 4.32.062.

Photos

• Serguei Ulakov helped to take third place in the Team Pursuit qualifier, without a seat
• Coach Gary Sutton looking over his team
• The German team cruise into second place
• The Australian team await the start
• Russian coach Victor Manakov promts his team on
• An Australian going high in the Team Pursuit
• The Russian team head for gold
• The Aussies getting into line

Qualifying

1 Australia                                         4.17.358 (55.953km/h)
  Jonny Clarke/Mark Jamieson/
  Nicholas Sanderson/Christopher Sutton
2 Germany                                           4.19.189 (55.558km/h)
  Robert Kriegs/Markus Reich/
  Andreas Welsch/Florian Piper
3 Russia                                            4.20.177 (55.347km/h)
  Mkhail Ignatiev/Alexander Khatuntsev/
  Iliya Krestianinov/Serguei Ulakov
4 France                                            4.20.314 (55.318km/h)
  Mathieu Ladagnous/Kevin Lalouette/
  Jonathon Mouchel/Emmanuel Roche
5 Czech Republic                                    4.20.732 (55.229km/h)
  Lubor Kosicka/Petr Lechner/
  Richard Ondryas/David Studnicka
6 New Zealand                                       4.24.738 (54.393km/h)
  Scott Allen/Peter Latham/
  Tim Gudsell/Matthew King
7 Netherlands                                       4.27.319 (53.868km/h)
  Geertjan Jonkman/Wim Stroetinga/
  Gideon De Jong/Kevin Sluimer
8 Taiwan                                            4.35.878 (52.197km/h)
  Chein-Chung Chen/Chi-Seng Huang/
  Kao-An Lee/Hung Wu Po

Quarter Finals

Quarter Final 1

1 Czech Republic                       4.17.156 
2 France                               4.18.166

Quarter Final 2

1 Russia                               4.17.024 
2 New Zealand                          Caught

Quarter Final 3

1 Germany                              4.17.062 
2 4.32.062                             Caught (4.32.062)

Quarter Final 4

1 Australia                            4.15.486
2 Netherlands                          Caught

Final

For 1st and 2nd
                                        1 km      2 km      3 km      4 km
1 Russia                               1.06.753  2.08.542  3.10.553  4.14.535 (56.574 km/h)
  Mkhail Ignatiev/Alexander Khatuntsev/
  Iliya Krestianinov/Serguei Ulakov

2 Australia                            1.06.913  2.09.013  3.11.856  4.15.545 (56.350 km/h)
  Mark Jamieson/Sean Finning/
  Nicholas Sanderson/Christopher Sutton

For 3rd and 4th
                                        1 km      2 km      3 km      4 km
3 Czech Republic                       1.06.924  2.10.521  3.14.884  4.18.362 (55.736 km/h)
  Lubor Kosicka/Petr Lechner/
  Richard Ondryas/David Studnicka

4 Germany                              1.06.194  2.09.758  3.14.129  4.18.949 (55.609 km/h)
  Robert Kriegs/Christian Kux/
  Andreas Welsch/Florian Piper

Final classification

1 Russia
2 Australia
3 Czech Republic
4 Germany
5 France
6 New Zealand
7 Netherlands
8 Taiwan