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2009 UCI Track Cycling World Championships - CM
Pruszkow, Poland, March 25-29, 2009
Main Page Results Overall standings Next Stage
Session 1 - March 25: Men: Team sprint (qualifying, final), Points race; Women: Individual pursuit (qualifying, final), 500m Time Trial
Meyer leaves 'em gasping
By Gerry McManus in Pruszkow, Poland
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Australia's Cameron Meyer won the tough battle in the points race to be crowned World Champion in Poland on Wednesday. The 21-year-old Garmin-Slipstream professional took the second half of the race by the scruff of the neck and pushed Denmark's Daniel Keutzfeldt into second spot and Britain's Chris Newton into third.
Newton took an early lead in the 160 lap race but he was forced to do a lot of work pulling back breakaway groups intent on taking a lap. Meyer was in a lot of the attacking action as was Colby Pearce (USA), Kam Po Wong (Hong Kong) and 2008 champion Vasili Kirienka (Belarus). Meyer managed to break away in a group containing Germany's Roger Kluge, Pearce and Kirienka and the leaders mopped up the sprint points. Meyer took most of the points in four of the last sprints.
"I really wanted the rainbow jersey," said Meyer. "I was so hungry for it tonight. I didn't want to come fourth again. I have gone out and picked up early points in the last few points races I have done so this time I sort of sat back a little.
"There were a lot of tired legs at the halfway stage and I had the legs when the move went and to come away with the jersey is unbelievable," he added.
Shanks turns the tables on Houvenaghel
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Kiwi Alison Shanks reversed the positions from the pursuit qualification when she out gunned Wendy Houvenaghel (Great Britain) to win the gold medal in the Women's 3,000m Individual Pursuit. Houvenaghel had the lead after 1,000m but Shanks scorched round the track to win by over 1.5 seconds with the British girl not able to live up to her position as pre-race favourite.
"It felt good today," said Shanks. "We went out there with a game plan to ride my own race for the first six laps to make sure I had enough left in the tank to race in the second half and it worked tonight.
"Over the past few years I have always gone faster in the second round and I realised that if I nailed it technically and didn't blow myself up, that I would be able to fight for it in the last four laps where it counts," she added.
Vilija Sereikaite (Lithuania) beat British youngster Joanna Rowsell in the bronze medal final.
In qualifying Houvenaghel went fastest in the first event of the UCI Track Cycling World Championships in Pruszkow, Poland. Houvenaghel zipped round the warm track while outside the snow lay on the ground in temperatures dropping to below zero.
Alison Shanks (New Zealand) needed to improve by a least a second and a half if she was to beat the British rider in the final of the Women's 3,000m Individual Pursuit. When the pair met in the same qualifying ride, Houvenaghel led from the first kilometre and appeared in no danger of losing. Edyta Jasinska finished off the first qualifying session after the Polish rider got a restart after crashing earlier during qualifying.
Krupeckaite shows World Record breaking perfection
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Simona Krupeckaite (Lithuania) blasted round the 250m Polish track to smash the World Record and emerge the gold medal winner in the Women's 500m time trial. Australia's Anna Meares had set the early time to beat when she recorded 33.796 seconds and this time stayed top of the board before it was challenged.
Britain's golden girl Victoria Pendleton could only manage 34.102 but that was enough to give her the bronze medal. The Lithuanian's winning time was half a second faster than Meares.
France back on top
The French trio of Gregory Bauge, Mickael Bourgain and Kevin Sireau won the Men's Team Sprint final against Great Britain. The British team was without triple Olympic medallist Chris Hoy, but any country would be proud to have Matt Crampton, Jason Kenny and Jamie Staff in their line up.
The French team got off to an amazing start when they edged the British team, led off by fast starter Jamie Staff on the first lap. The French trio held on to win the gold.
Germany beat Australia in the bronze medal ride off. The Aussies had started slightly quicker and were ahead after the first two laps but German team just managed to claw their way back to take the final podium place.
Photography
For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here
Images by AFP Photo
- Australia's Cameron Meyer won the tough battle in the points race to be crowned World Champion in Poland.
- Wendy Houvenaghel (Great Britain) opened the British team's account with a first place in the qualifying round of the women's pursuit.
- Now former world record holder Anna Meares (Australia) heads out for her silver medal winning ride.
- Simona Krupeckaite (Lithuania) after winning the 500m world championship.
- Simona Krupeckaite (Lithuania) lets out a cry of joy after breaking the world record in the 500.
Images by Gerry McManus/www.gerrymcmanus.co.uk
- Poland's Edyta Jasinska on her qualifying run in the Women's 3000m Individual Pursuit.
- Lots of local support from the Polish contingent.
- Great Britain's Wendy Houvenaghel on her way to qualifying fastest in the Women's 3000m Individual Pursuit.
- New Zealand's Alison Shanks went second fastest in qualifying for the Women's 3000m Individual Pursuit.
- Wendy Houvenaghel (Great Britain) puts the hammer down to ensure she made the gold medal final in the Women’s 3000m Individual Pursuit.
- Wendy Houvenaghel (Great Britain) puts 100% into her starting effort from the start gate in the qualifying round of the Womens 3000m Individual Pursuit.
- Wendy Houvenaghel (Great Britain) focussed ahead of her qualifying round in the Women’s 3000m Individual Pursuit.
- The Dutch coach gives Eleonora Van Dijk encouragement in qualifying in the Women's 3000m Individual Pursuit.
- Vilija Sereikaite (Lithuania) flies round to take third in qualifying to set up a bronze medal final against Britain's Joanna Rowsell in the Women's 3000m Individual Pursuit.
- Australia's Josephine Tomic just missed out on the finals by qualifying in fifth place.
- Belgium's Jolien D'Hoore qualifying in the Women's 3000m Individual Pursuit.
- Alison Shanks (New Zealand) raised her game in the final.
- Wendy Houvenaghel (Great Britain), unable to repeat her qualifying performance, had to settle for second.
- Delight for Alison Shanks (New Zealand) as winning the gold sinks in.
- Simona Krupeckaite (Lithuania) was delighted to win gold in the 500 metre time trial and in record time.
- Australian Cameron Meyer was jubilant on the podium.
- Cameron Meyer (Australia) just can't stop smiling after he wins gold in the points race.
- Cameron Meyer's commitment to track racing early in the season paid off as he won gold in the points race.
- An emotional moment for Cameron Meyer during the Australian national anthem.
- Alison Shanks (New Zealand) was happy in the rainbow jersey after winning the pursuit.
- Australia's Anna Meares is back in action and on the podium.
- Simona Krupeckaite (Lithuania) pulled out all the stops to break the world record.
- Chris Newton (Great Britain) and Cameron Meyer (Australia) watch each other in the points race.
- First blood to Chris Newton (Great Britain) in the points race.
- Things getting serious in the points race.
- USA's Colby Pearce on the attack.
- Cameron Meyer (Australia) delighted to win.
Results
Men's Team sprint
Qualifying 1 France 0.43.614 (61.906 km/h) Grégory Bauge (France) Michaël d'Almeida (France) Kévin Sireau (France) 2 Great Britain 0.43.738 Matthew Crampton (Great Britain) Jason Kenny (Great Britain) Jamie Staff (Great Britain) 3 Germany 0.43.911 Rene Enders (Germany) Robert Forstemann (Germany) Stefan Nimke (Germany) 4 Australia 0.44.115 Daniel Ellis (Australia) Shane Perkins (Australia) Scott Sunderland (Australia) 5 Poland 0.44.865 Maciej Bielecki (Poland) Kamil Kuczynski (Poland) Lukasz Kwiatkowski (Poland) 6 Malaysia 0.44.996 Azizulhasni Awang (Malaysia) Josiah Ng Onn Lam (Malaysia) Mohd Rizal Tisin (Malaysia) 7 Netherlands 0.44.999 Teun Mulder (Netherlands) Yondi Schmidt (Netherlands) Tim Veldt (Netherlands) 8 Japan 0.45.139 Kazuya Narita (Japan) Yudai Nitta (Japan) Kazunari Watanabe (Japan) 9 People's Republic of China 0.45.201 Wen Hao Li (People's Republic of China) Lei Zhang (People's Republic of China) Zixiang Zhang (People's Republic of China) 10 Russian Federation 0.45.513 Sergey Borisov (Russian Federation) Sergey Kucherov (Russian Federation) Valentin Savitskiy (Russian Federation) 11 Ukraine 0.45.713 Yevhen Bolibrukh (Ukraine) Yuriy Tsyupyk (Ukraine) Andrii Vynokurov (Ukraine) 12 Spain 0.45.771 David Alonso Castillo (Spain) Alvaro Alonso Rubio (Spain) Hodei Mazquiaran Uria (Spain) 13 Greece 0.46.578 Sotirios Bretas (Greece) Christos Volikakis (Greece) Zafeirios Volikakis (Greece) 14 Czech Republic 0.46.594 Tomas Babek (Czech Republic) Filip Ditzel (Czech Republic) Adam Ptacnik (Czech Republic) 15 Colombia 0.46.729 Jonathan Marin Cermeno (Colombia) Leonardo Alfredo Narvaez Romero (Colombia) Hernan Sanchez Castillo (Colombia) DNS Trinidad and Tobago Azikiwe Kellar (Trinidad and Tobago) Christopher Sellier (Trinidad and Tobago) Haseem Mclean (Trinidad and Tobago) Final 1 France 0.43.510 (62.054 km/h) Grégory Bauge (France) Mickaël Bourgain (France) Kévin Sireau (France) 2 Great Britain 0.43.869 Matthew Crampton (Great Britain) Jason Kenny (Great Britain) Jamie Staff (Great Britain) 3 Germany 0.43.912 Rene Enders (Germany) Robert Forstemann (Germany) Stefan Nimke (Germany) 4 Australia 0.43.986 Daniel Ellis (Australia) Shane Perkins (Australia) Scott Sunderland (Australia)
Men's points race
1 Cameron Meyer (Australia) 24 pts 2 Daniel Kreutzfeldt (Denmark) 22 3 Chris Newton (Great Britain) 21 4 Eloy Teruel Rovira (Spain) 17 5 Vasili Kiryienka (Belarus) 15 6 Colby Pearce (United States Of America) 14 7 Roger Kluge (Germany) 13 8 Kam Po Wong (Hong Kong, China) 8 9 Zachary Bell (Canada) 6 10 Milan Kadlec (Czech Republic) 6 11 Kazuhiro Mori (Japan) 5 12 Kenny De Ketele (Belgium) 5 13 Morgan Kneisky (France) 3 14 Martin Garrido Mayorga (Argentina) 3 15 Volodymyr Rybin (Ukraine) 3 16 Juan Arango Carvajal (Colombia) 2 17 Alexander Aeschbach (Switzerland) 1 18 Elia Viviani (Italy) -20 19 Pim Ligthart (Netherlands) -20 20 Joon Yong Seo (Korea) -35 21 Alexey Lyalko (Kazakhstan) -40 22 Andreas Graf (Austria) -40 DNF Rafal Ratajczyk (Poland) DNF Leonid Krasnov (Russian Federation)
Women's 500m Time Trial
1 Simona Krupeckaite (Lithuania) 0.33.296 (54.060 km/h) * World Record 2 Anna Meares (Australia) 0.33.796 3 Victoria Pendleton (Great Britain) 0.34.102 4 Sandie Clair (France) 0.34.114 5 Willy Kanis (Netherlands) 0.34.258 6 Kaarle Mcculloch (Australia) 0.34.276 7 Lisandra Guerra Rodriguez (Cuba) 0.34.358 8 Olga Panarina (Belarus) 0.34.557 9 Miriam Welte (Germany) 0.34.827 10 Yvonne Hijgenaar (Netherlands) 0.35.054 11 Kristina Vogel (Germany) 0.35.278 12 Elisa Frisoni (Italy) 0.35.409 13 Jinjie Gong (People's Republic of China) 0.35.442 14 Anna Blyth (Great Britain) 0.35.443 15 Olga Streltsova (Russian Federation) 0.35.710 16 Huang Ting Ying (Chinese Taipei) 0.35.924 17 Lulu Zheng (People's Republic of China) 0.35.965 18 Diana Maria Garcia Orrego (Colombia) 0.36.034 19 Wai See Lee (Hong Kong, China) 0.36.103 20 Helena Casas Roige (Spain) 0.36.319 21 Aleksandra Drejgier (Poland) 0.36.475 22 Jutatip Maneephan (Thailand) 0.36.673 23 Cinthia Martinez (Uruguay) 0.38.651
Women's Individual pursuit
Qualifying 1 Wendy Houvenaghel (Great Britain) 3.29.491 (51.553 km/h) 2 Alison Shanks (New Zealand) 3.31.063 3 Vilija Sereikaite (Lithuania) 3.33.935 4 Joanna Rowsell (Great Britain) 3.35.028 5 Josephine Tomic (Australia) 3.37.780 6 Eleonora Van Dijk (Netherlands) 3.38.373 7 Tara Whitten (Canada) 3.38.962 8 Svitlana Galyuk (Ukraine) 3.40.413 9 Leire Olaberria Dorronsoro (Spain) 3.41.176 10 Verena Joos (Germany) 3.42.611 11 Charlotte Becker (Germany) 3.42.821 12 Maria Luisa Calle Williams (Colombia) 3.42.930 13 Jolien d'Hoore (Belgium) 3.43.859 14 Lada Kozlikova (Czech Republic) 3.43.880 15 Ausrine Trebaite (Lithuania) 3.45.160 16 Dalila Rodriguez Hernandez (Cuba) 3.45.956 17 Olga Slyusareva (Russian Federation) 3.47.161 18 Tatsiana Sharakova (Belarus) 3.47.636 19 Edyta Jasinska (Poland) 3.53.744 20 Gema Pascual Torrecilla (Spain) 3.56.365 21 Nontasin Chanpeng (Thailand) 4.01.997 Final 1 Alison Shanks (New Zealand) 3.29.807 (51.475 km/h) 2 Wendy Houvenaghel (Great Britain) 3.32.174 3 Vilija Sereikaite (Lithuania) 3.33.583 4 Joanna Rowsell (Great Britain) 3.35.209 5 Josephine Tomic (Australia) 6 Eleonora Van Dijk (Netherlands) 7 Tara Whitten (Canada) 8 Svitlana Galyuk (Ukraine) 9 Leire Olaberria Dorronsoro (Spain) 10 Verena Joos (Germany) 11 Charlotte Becker (Germany) 12 Maria Luisa Calle Williams (Colombia) 13 Jolien d'Hoore (Belgium) 14 Lada Kozlikova (Czech Republic) 15 Ausrine Trebaite (Lithuania) 16 Dalila Rodriguez Hernandez (Cuba) 17 Olga Slyusareva (Russian Federation) 18 Tatsiana Sharakova (Belarus) 19 Edyta Jasinska (Poland) 20 Gema Pascual Torrecilla (Spain) 21 Nontasin Chanpeng (Thailand)
