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World Track Championships - CM
Melbourne, Australia, May 26-30, 2004
Event program and results Live report Results
Men's 1km time trial - report
The flying Scotsman bags the gold
By Karen Forman
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The men's 1km time trial (kilo) was a happy hunting ground for the flying Scotsman, Chris Hoy, who bagged the gold for the Great Britain team, while the omnipresent Arnaud Tournant (France) took home the silver and the Dutch superstar of the future, Theo Bos, took the bronze.
Another near capacity crowd was on hand to watch one of the premier events of track cycling and the riders responded affirmatively, with the times getting faster with every new round of the track. Stunning times were posted in the first seven rounds - with still the top 10 ranked riders to go.
Hoy said he had been fairly confident before the start based on his ride in Sydney, but knew the competition would be tough. He said the team had decided not to ride him in the first two rounds of the teams sprint on Wednesday night - which had "raised questions" - but the rest had helped him tonight.
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"I rode the same gear as usual and did the same preparation. I feel very satisfied." Hoy said his emphasis and focus was on Athens. "The key to our success has been getting here early and it's going to be very warm in Athens but I hope to break 1.01."
Bos, who is just 20, said he was very happy with what was his first "elite" podium (also a personal best). "I knew my form was good because of the team sprint yesterday and I hoped I would get a medal but I didn't expect it.
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"I was a little bit nervous before it, but it is good to be nervous. Then I was really feeling good and I built it up with every lap. The last lap was my best ever."
Australia's hopes to forge a second berth for the men's' kilo at the Athens Olympics - and Ben Kersten's Olympic dream - were tragically shattered in when neither Kersten or Shane Kelly finished in the top four of the world championship event.
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While Kelly had grabbed one spot for Australia with his teams sprint sixth place on Wednesday, either he or Kersten had to finish top four in the kilo tonight to ensure a second berth. For Sydney rider Kersten, the second berth was crucial to his dream to ride for Australia at the Athens Olympic Games.
After missing selection for Sydney 2000 and then retiring in despair, he was lured back to the sport by head coach Martain Barras and has spent the past three years at least training with one single goal in mind - qualifying to ride the kilo in Athens.
Men's 1km time trial - live report
Mulder fastest at halfway point
By Gerard Knapp
20:00 EST - Racing is underway in the men's 1km time trial and Dutchman, Teun Mulder, has recorded the fastest time so far with a 1.02.681.
The big guns are still to come.
20:09 EST - Great Britain's Craig McLean has just gone through in 1.02.743.
20:12 EST - Germany's Sören Lausberg started slowly, but is coming home strongly - he's just done a 1.02.452! Lausberg goes into the lead!
20:14 EST - Young Theo Bos (Ned) jumps away with the Dutch staff screaming loudly - the young rider has lots of promise. He flies through the first lap with the best time so far this evening, but with one to go he'd slowed ever so slightly, but comes home in 1.02.055 - we have a new leader!
20:17 EST - Next rider up is Ben Kersten, the first of the Australians, as the triple world champion Shane Kelly waits his turn. Ben has not ridden under 1.02 before so the pressure is on. The crowd comes alive as he is introduced.
20:18 EST - The gun fires and the crowd roars - away goes Kersten with the fastest first lap so far! The crowd's intensity builds to help the young rider home as he continues to set the fastest lap - Kersten finishes with a 1.02.299 - second-fastest so far.
20:21 EST - The flying Scotsman - indeed, the Great Britain team's second flying Scotsman along with Craig MacLean - Chris Hoy, is in the starter's gate. Hoy sets the fastest first lap and continues to build, over three-tenths of a second faster. He hits the bell now over half a second faster and comes home in 1.01.599 - we have a new leader!
20:24 EST - Here is the French monster, the brute, the king of the kilo, Arnaud Tournant! The crowd shows its respect to the king and he settles in the gate. Earlier this evening, Arnaud fell off the rollers just behind our commentary position, and it felt like a jumbo had landed.
He's slower on his first lap but recovers slighly on the second, then hits the bell only thousands off the fastest time but crosses at 1.01.957, some 0.358 behind. Hoy's lead is safe - for now.
20:27 EST - As Shane Kelly walks up the stairs to the velodrome apron, the crowd erupts - the local hero has arrived! As the countdown goes, you can hear a pin drop, but once the gun fires it's constant noise all-around - Kelly is away!
Kelly is only 0.021 off the fastest time on the first lap and the crowd is cheering him home. Can he do it? No. He crosses in 1.02.314, the fifth fastest time so far.
20:31 EST - The final rider for this evening is Stefan Nimke from Germany. He'll have to flying this evening to beat Hoy. However, he takes some time to settle into the gate. He's out and gone but his first lap is slower. He takes the bell over half a second slower. He comes home in 1.02.238 - the Scotsman is world champion! Well done Chris Hoy - world champion again!
Official results
250m 500m 750m 1000m (Av) 1 Chris Hoy (Great Britain) 18.330 (1) 32.073 (2) 46.405 (1) 1.01.599 (58.442km/h) 2 Arnaud Tournant (France) 18.555 (5) 32.201 (4) 46.424 (2) 1.01.957 (58.104km/h) 3 Theo Bos (Netherlands) 18.486 (4) 32.420 (6) 46.927 (7) 1.02.055 (58.013km/h) 4 Stefan Nimke (Germany) 19.093 (14) 32.671 (9) 46.914 (6) 1.02.238 (57.842km/h) 5 Ben Kersten (Australia) 18.355 (3) 31.921 (1) 46.446 (3) 1.02.299 (57.785km/h) 6 Shane Kelly (Australia) 18.582 (6) 32.094 (3) 46.513 (4) 1.02.314 (57.771km/h) 7 Sören Lausberg (Germany) 18.973 (10) 32.565 (7) 46.870 (5) 1.02.452 (57.644km/h) 8 Teun Mulder (Netherlands) 18.681 (8) 32.575 (8) 47.008 (9) 1.02.681 (57.433km/h) 9 Carsten Bergemann (Germany) 19.214 (16) 33.200 (14) 47.600 (12) 1.02.723 (57.395km/h) 10 François Pervis (France) 18.347 (2) 32.282 (5) 46.933 (8) 1.02.742 (57.377km/h) 11 Craig McLean (Great Britain) 18.802 (9) 32.827 (10) 47.151 (10) 1.02.743 (57.376km/h) 12 Alois Kankovsky (Czech Republic) 19.167 (15) 32.855 (12) 47.247 (11) 1.02.763 (57.358km/h) 13 Masaki Inoue (Japan) 18.671 (7) 32.836 (11) 47.649 (13) 1.03.910 (56.329km/h) 14 Grzegorz Krejner (Poland) 19.330 (18) 33.341 (16) 48.125 (15) 1.04.132 (56.134km/h) 15 Ruben Donet Gregori (Spain) 19.060 (13) 33.164 (13) 47.957 (14) 1.04.318 (55.971km/h) 16 Kamil Kuczynski (Poland) 18.993 (11) 33.316 (15) 48.486 (16) 1.04.733 (55.613km/h) 17 Keiichiro Yaguchi (Japan) 19.005 (12) 33.365 (17) 48.668 (17) 1.04.827 (55.532km/h) 18 Christian Stahl (USA) 19.300 (17) 33.600 (18) 48.899 (18) 1.05.452 (55.002km/h) 19 Radoslav Konstantinov (Bulgaria) 20.094 (19) 35.271 (19) 51.163 (19) 1.08.064 (52.891km/h) Start list
1 Radoslav Konstantinov (Bulgaria) 2 Grzegorz Krejner (Poland) 3 Carsten Bergemann (Germany) 4 Keiichiro Yaguchi (Japan) 5 Teun Mulder (Netherlands) 6 Ruben Donet Gregori (Spain) 7 Alois Kankovsky (Czech Republic) 8 Christian Stahl (USA) 9 Kamil Kuczynski (Poland) 10 François Pervis (France) 11 Masaki Inoue (Japan) 12 Craig McLean (Great Britain) 13 Sören Lausberg (Germany) 14 Theo Bos (Netherlands) 15 Ben Kersten (Australia) 16 Chris Hoy (Great Britain) 17 Arnaud Tournant (France) 18 Shane Kelly (Australia) 19 Stefan Nimke (Germany)
