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World Track Championships - CM
Stuttgart, Germany, July 30 - August 3, 2003
Event program and results Qualifying First Round Finals
Men's 4000m Team Pursuit
Australians smash World Record to win gold
By Valkerie Mangnall in Stuttgart, Germany
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Australia smashed its own world record on the way to winning gold at the world track cycling championships today. The quartet of Graeme Brown, Brett Lancaster, Luke Roberts and Peter Dawson clocked a stunning three minutes 57.280 seconds to beat Great Britain in the ride off for gold and silver.
The Australians' time was well inside the world record of 3:59.583 posted by Brown, Dawson, Roberts and Mark Renshaw at last year's Commonwealth Games in Manchester.
When it was suggested such a record, set in incredibly hot and humid conditions could stand for quite a while, the team said they were determined to break it again next year.
Brown said: "(Australian) sprint coach Martin Barras has done studies on it and he believes the Olympic championship will be won in 3:55." Brown said. "I told him he was an idiot when he first said it but now I think it's quite possible. Athens is fast and we're fast so put the two together and 3:55 is quite a possibility."
The team overcame a false start, in which Lancaster came off his bike, to lead their opponents after at each kilometre. British rider Bryan Steel pulled out after 2000m as Robert Hayles, Paul Manning and Bradley Wiggins continued on, the team posting an impressive time of 4:00.629.
Photos
Qualifying
Images by Hennes Roth/www.roth-foto.de
- The Bielorussian squad in action at Stuttgart
- Steve Wooldridge does a turn at the front of the Australian team, which qualified fastest
- Graeme Brown leads the Aussies out for their qualifying run
- Brad Wiggins (2nd) helped guide the British team into second place in the qualifying round
- The British riders in full swing, on their way to second in the qualifying round
- France managed a solid third place in the qualifiers
- Back in black the Kiwis qualified fourth fastest in the team pursuit
- The Danish team looked great, but only finished 10th
- The Dutch quartet just missed out on making the next round, qualifying 9th
- The Italians did not impress anyone, finishing 15th of the 15 teams
- The Russian team during qualification
- Robert Bartko dicusses the team pursuit situation with German federation president Sylvia Schenk and coach Berndt Dittert
- Jens Lehmann interviewed by German TV about the selection affair
- Jens Lehmann in the stands looking rather miffed about the whole team pursuit selection conflict
Finals
Images by Hennes Roth/www.roth-foto.de
- The Australian team pursuiters smashed their own World Record in Stuttgart
- Australia beat Britain with a winning time of 3.57.28
- Britain's Bryan Steel, Robert Hayles, Paul Manning and Bradley Wiggins rode to a silver medal time of 4.00.629
- The French powerhouse could muster only bronze this year
- The Aussies rejoice after their record-setting ride
- The celebrating begins for the Australian pursuit team
- On the podium, world champions
- The full team pursuit podium: a crowded affair
Images by AFP
- Graeme Brown (Australia) deep in concentration before the start of the final of the team pursuit.
- The new awesome foursome - Graeme Brown, Brett Lancaster, Luke Roberts and Peter Dawson.
- Australia's Peter Dawson delighted with his effort after the Aussie quartet smashed their previous world record.
- Air France - the French quartet in full flight at the Schleyer Hall, on their way to a bronze medal.
- French coach Jacky Mourioux proudly stands with his bronze medal winning team pursuit squad of (from L to R) Franck Perque, Fabien Sanchez, Jerome Neuville and Fabien Merciri.
Results
Qualifying 1 Australia 4.03.26 (59.19 km/h) Graeme Brown Peter Dawson Ashley Hutchinson Stephen Wooldridge 2 Great Britain 4.05.244 Robert Hayles Paul Manning Bryan Steel Bradley Wiggins 3 France 4.07.406 Fabien Merciris Jérôme Neuville Franck Perque Fabien Sanchez 4 New Zealand 4.08.063 Heath Blackgrove Peter Latham Hayden Roulston Marc Ryan 5 Russia 4.08.366 Alexey Markov Mikhail Mikheev Serguei Klimov Alexander Serov 6 Lithuania 4.09.278 Linas Balciunas Aivaras Baranauskas Tomas Vaitkus Raimondas Vilcinskas 7 Spain 4.09.494 Carlos Castano Panadero Sergi Escobar Roure Guillermo Ferrer Garcia Asier Maeztu 8 Belarus 4.10.839 Dzmitry Aulasenka Vasili Kiryienka Kanstantin Siutsou Yauheni Sobal 9 Netherlands 4.11.193 Jens Mouris Robert Slippens Jeroen Straathof Wilco Zuijderwijk 10 Denmark 4.12.870 Morten Voss Christiansen Jimmy Hansen Jens Erik Madsen Alex Rasmussen 11 Czech Republic 4.14.213 Martin Blaha Libor Hlavac Petr Lazar Richard Ondryas 12 Poland 4.14.308 Rafal Ratajczyk Jaroslaw Rebiewski Przemyslaw Tokarski Pawel Zugaj 13 Colombia 4.15.179 Arles Antonio Castro Laverde Juan Pablo Forero Carreno Alexander Gonzalez Jose Serpa 14 Greece 4.17.154 Vasilis Anastopoulos Vasilos Gianniosis Elpidofos Potouridis Ioannis Tsakouridis 15 Italy 4.19.563 Angelo Ciccone Stefano Marenco Claudio Masnata Francesco Giuliani Round 1 Heat 1 1 Russia 4.06.22 (58.483 km/h) Alexey Markov Mikhail Mikheev Serguei Klimov Alexander Serov 2 New Zealand 4.08.295 Heath Blackgrove Peter Latham Hayden Roulston Marc Ryan Heat 2 1 France 4.04.92 (58.794 km/h) Fabien Merciris Jérôme Neuville Franck Perque Fabien Sanchez 2 Lithuania 4.06.483 Linas Balciunas Aivaras Baranauskas Tomas Vaitkus Raimondas Vilcinskas Heat 3 1 Great Britain 4.02.72 (59.327 km/h) Robert Hayles Paul Manning Bryan Steel Bradley Wiggins 2 Spain 4.09.170 Carlos Castano Panadero Sergi Escobar Roure Guillermo Ferrer Garcia Asier Maeztu Heat 4 1 Australia 4.01.36 (59.659 km/h) Graeme Brown Brett Lancaster Luke Roberts Stephen Wooldridge 2 Belarus 4.09.460 Dzmitry Aulasenka Vasili Kiryienka Kanstantin Siutsou Yauheni Sobal Finals For gold and silver 1 Australia Wr 3.57.28 (60.687 km/h)* Graeme Brown Peter Dawson Brett Lancaster Luke Roberts 2 Great Britain 4.00.629 Robert Hayles Paul Manning Bryan Steel Bradley Wiggins *World Record For bronze 3 France 4.04.11 (58.987 km/h) Fabien Merciris Jérôme Neuville Franck Perque Fabien Sanchez 4 Russia 4.04.903 Alexey Markov Mikhail Mikheev Serguei Klimov Alexander Serov
