One to Watch: Men's Sprint
Chris Hoy and Jason Kenny, a photo by Sum_of_Marc on Flickr.
The big Head to Head of the Weekend? I would say so! And better yet, both are British. Chris Hoy and Jason Kenny. In the Beijing Olympics, Hoy beat Kenny - but at last year's World Championships, it was Kenny who beat Hoy. It is set to be an intense, friendly, rivalry over this year to decided whether Hoy will ride all 3 sprint events in London, or share them with Kenny.
But another very interesting name to throw into the rivalry is Gregory Bauge (France). Jason Kenny is the official World Champion, but in actual fact Bauge beat him in the final. Bauge is also the World Champion from 2010 and 2009, but is set to be the Villain of the Velodrome this year. Why? In November 2011 Bauge was given a one year ban for missing three drugs tests. But he is still eligible to ride here, because that ban was backdated to start from December 2010. He loses his results from the period, but it can hardly be claimed to be much of a ban, it didnt cause Bauge to miss much racing at all.
The format for the Men's sprint is the same as the Women's, as described in detail for the Day 3 preview. Flying lap qualification followed by knockout rounds. But who to look out for beyond Hoy, Kenny and Bauge? There is a 3rd Brit in Matt Crampton, who rides in the Team Sky colours, while the French can field the likes of Mickael Bourgoin and Kevin Sireau. Germany should be strong aswell: Robert Forstemann, Stefan Botticher, Maximilian Levy and Rene Enders have all had at least 1 decent result in the World Cup so far this season.
Jason Kenny and Kevin Sireau, a photo by Sum_of_Marc on Flickr.
The World Cup leader is Russian Denis Dmitriev - who beat Jason Kenny at the astana event, only losing there to Chris Hoy in the final. Philip Njisane (Trinidad and Tobago) and Lei Zhang (China) have also had good a World Cup season but need something special to secure Olympic qualification. Malaysia are also under pressure to earn a qualification spot here. Can Azizulhasni Awang repeat performances such as his World Championship Silver Medal in 2009 to ensure a return here in the summer?
British Gold Chance: Men's Team Pursuit
Team Pursuit: Great Britain, a photo by Sum_of_Marc on Flickr.
It's a chance, but it won't be easy. A Silver is guaranteed for the team of Ed Clancy, Geraint Thomas, Steven Burke and Peter Kennaugh after qualifying 2nd in a time of 3:58.446. The problem? Australia qualified fastest with 3:57.885. Australia arrived with their full strength team afterall - Rohan Dennis, Jack Bobridge, Luke Durbridge and Michael Hepburn.Britain led for most of the first kilometre before Australia took over. Britain's 3rd kilometre was faster, but it wasnt enough to match Australia.
New Zealand and Belgium will ride off for the Bronze medal.
Olympic Event: Women's Omnium
Women's Individual Pursuit, a photo by Sum_of_Marc on Flickr.
The Women's Omnium has it's second half today, with the 3km Individual Pursuit, Scratch Race and 500m Time Trial. Laura Trott, Sarah Hammer (USA) and Tara Whitten (Canada) - the 3 likely favourites if Trott has a strong first day - are all strong at the Individual Pursuit, Sarah Hammer is in fact the World Champion in the event! The Scratch race is more of a lottery, and could prove decisive, while the 500m Time Trial really is Trott's best event. She won it in the Omnium World Championships last year (where she only finished 11th Overall after a dissapointing opening day) and she won it at the Cali World Cup - beating Hammer and Whitten on both occasions. If she is still in contention at this stage, she can really apply the pressure on her rivals.
See the Day 3 Preview for more information on the leading riders in the Women's Omnium.
Olympic Event: Women's Keirin
Women's Keirin, a photo by Sum_of_Marc on Flickr.
The other event of the day is the Women's Keirin - which is set to make it's Olympic debut this year. As with the Men, riders will need to either win their heat, or win their repechage, to make it through to the Semi Finals, with the Top 3 in each Semi making it to the Final. Victoria Pendleton is of course the lead British contender, but guess who is the World Champion in this event? Anna Meares of course! Pendleton only managed 7th at last year's Worlds, but to put it into perspective, Meares was 7th the year before that.
The Women's Keirin is probably the most open of all Olympic Sprint events. Olga Panarina (Belarus), and Clara Sanchez (France) both medalled at the Worlds last year, while Simona Krupeckaite (Lithuania) was the 2010 World Champion, and Shang Guo (China) the 2009 World Champion. Pendleton has only ever been World Champion once, back in 2007.
As World Cup leader, Krupeckaite is the form rider of the season, which included victory in the Cali round. Guo won in Beijing, Sanchez in Astana, while Kristina Vogel (Germany) has taken 2 second players Ekaterina Gnidenko (Russia - riding for the Petroholding Leningrad team) has also been consistently reaching the Final. Daniela Lareal (Venezuela) podiumed in Beijing, while Jess Varnish will also ride in the event.
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That's it for the action in the London Track Cycling World Cup! Sunday will end with the presentation of the overall winner of the London World Cup - with points being scored by results in all events. Then the winning nation of the World Cup season as a whole will be crowned - it's likely to be either Germany or France.
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