World Track Championships - CM

Melbourne, Australia, May 26-30, 2004

Event program and results    Qualifying & Round 1    Finals   Start list

Men's Team Sprint final - May 26

French domination continues

By Mal Sawford

Team France
Photo ©: Mark Gunter

Seventeen teams contested the three lap dash, with the contenders expected to come from the strong Australian, German, French and Great British teams. The pressure was on all teams to do well, as a top ten finish would earn Olympic starts in three events: the Sprint, Keirin and Teams Sprint.

The Australian combination of Sean 'Big Man' Eadie, Jobie Dajka and Shane Kelly were the early pace setters after a false start, moving into the lead in the qualifying round with a time of 45.136.

The British squad were the first to crack the 45 second barrier, with Craig McLean, Jason Queally and Jamie Staff producing a 44.482, before the French team of Mickael Bourgain, Laurent Gane and Arnaud Tournant topped the qualifying round with a 44.422.

Spain were the surprise packet, also producing a sub 45 second time to qualify ahead of Germany, the Netherlands, Australia, Japan and Poland, and setting up a Round 1 match up against the home team. Although not moving on to the next round, the Slovakian and Greek teams ranked ninth and tenth, giving them the precious Olympic qualifications.

Ryan Bailey replaced Kelly as the final rider in the Australian line up and after the bearded Eadie nudged the magic 18 second mark for the starting lap, the locals broke the 45 second mark, but were still out-gunned by the flying Spaniards. José Antonio Escuredo, Salvador Melia and José Antonio Villanueva produced a sensational 44.548 to qualify for the Gold Medal ride off. The other Round 1 match ups went as expected, with France fastest, from Spain, a slightly sluggish Great Britain and Germany.

Team USA
Photo ©: Mark Gunter

Great Britain substituted Chris Hoy for Queally in the ride off for the Bronze medal against Germany. After a loose handle bar contributed to a false start, the British team recovered to take the Bronze, but was once again unable to match their initial qualifying time.

France has dominated the event since its inception in 1995, and with the fastest ride of the night at 44.394, claimed its sixth World Title in dominant fashion, while the second placed Spanish team, despite fading slightly and recording the slowest ride in the Finals, was delighted with their Silver Medals.

Photography

Images by Mark Gunter

• Team USA gives it everything in the team sprint
• Team France stormed to victory in the team sprint
• Team France goes hard
• Team France takes a lap of honour after the team sprint

Results

 

Finals
 
Bronze medal final     Lap 1 (position)    Lap 2     Final (Av. speed)
 
1 Great Britain          17.887 (1)   31.140 (2)   44.620 (60.510km/h)
   Craig Mclean
   Chris Hoy
   Jamie Staff
2 Germany                18.029 (2)   31.122 (1)   44.765 (60.314km/h)
   Carsten Bergemann
   Jens Fiedler
   Matthias John
 
Gold medal final
 
1 France                 17.691 (1)   30.810 (1)   44.394 (60.819km/h)
   Mickaël Bourgain
   Laurent Gane
   Arnaud Tournant
2 Spain                  18.030 (2)   31.193 (2)   44.824 (60.235km/h)
   José Antonio Escuredo Raimondez
   Salvador Melia
   José Antonio Villanueva Trinidad

Start list

Heat 1
 
Russia
  Denis Dmitriev
  Vladimir Kiriltsev
  Stoyan Vasev
 
Heat 2
 
United States
  Adam Duvendeck
  Giddeon Massie
  Christian Stahl
Czech Republic
  Pavel Buran
  Arnost Drcmanek
  Alois Kankovsky
 
Heat 3
 
Slovakia
  Peter Bazalik
  Jaroslav Jerabek
  Jan Lepka
New Zealand
  Daniel Beatson
  Anthony Peden
  Jonathan Hamlin
 
Heat 4
 
Poland
  Rafai Furman
  Grzegorz Krejner
  Damian Zielinski
Cuba
  Reinier Cartaya Jorge
  Julio Cesar Herrera Cabrera
  Ahmed Lopez Naranjo
 
Heat 5
 
Australia
  Shane Kelly
  Jobie Dajka
  Sean Eadie
Greece
  Georgios Chimonetos
  Dimitris Georgalis
  Athanasios Mantzoyranis
 
Heat 6
 
Great Britain
  Craig Mclean
  Jason Queally
  Jamie Staff
Japan
  Tomohiro Nagatsuka
  Toshiaki Fushimi
  Kiyofumi Nagai
 
Heat 7
 
France
  Mickaël Bourgain
  Laurent Gane
  Arnaud Tournant
Spain
  José Antonio Escuredo Raimondez
  Salvador Melia
  José Antonio Villanueva Trinidad
 
Heat 8
 
Germany
  Carsten Bergemann
  Jens Fiedler
  Matthias John
Netherlands
  Jan Bos
  Theo Bos
  Teun Mulder