Both sprint and endurance women were in action today at the new velodrome in Mallorca, in the world championships which are regarded by all as part of the preparation for the Beijing Olympics in 2008.
SPRINT
For the women's sprint squad of Vicky Pendleton and Anna Blythe today was all about sprint qualifying, a 200m flying time trial and then the early rounds of the match sprint.
The better you qualify, the easier the early sudden death rounds will be, as the fastest qualifier rides off against the slowest qualifier, so it is important to 'get it all out' for this opening event. Riders have 3 laps of the track to get up to speed and are then timed over the last 200 meters of the final lap, after they have climbed to the very top of the banking to give themselves all the assistance gravity can give them in getting up to full speed before hitting that last 200m.
Pendleton is looking to recapture the title she won in 2005 but lost to Natallia Tsylinskaya (Belarus) in 2006 and it is interesting to note that both Tsylinskaya and Shuang Guo (China), two of her main rivals, did not ride the team sprint competition yesterday, in which Pendleton and Reade took gold.
There is no doubt the match sprint is the more prestigious of the two, as it is an Olympic event and Pendleton has been quoted as saying that the new track, with long fast bends and short straights, will suit her.
In fact some of the team have reportedly been picking splinters out of their tyres after warm up sessions, but last night the track seemed to be holding together just fine.
Last year's bronze medallist Guo (China) qualified fastest with 11.149, but Pendleton was not far behind with 11.194, which put her 3rd and set her up nicely for the early heats. Blythe meanwhile rode a respectable 11.497 to qualify 10th. From 25 starters, 24 went forward to the first round.
Both Brit women dispatched their opponents in the first round, which then left them to ride against each other in the 1/8 final. Not surprisingly, Pendleton took the win, leaving Blythe to the mercy of a repechage, which sadly she did not get through, ending her sprint event.
From the 1/4 finals onwards progress is decided on the best of three rides and interestingly Pendleton met the defending sprint champion, Tsylinskaya at this stage. It was in fact a re-run of the 2006 final, except that back then Pendleton when down by two rides to zero. This time around Pendleton turned the tables and put Tsylinskaya out in straight rides to book her place in the semi-finals on Saturday.
The four women who go forward to contest the medals are:
Shuang Guo (China)
Lisandra Guerra Rodriguez (Cuba)
Victoria Pendleton (Great Britain)
Anna Meares (Australia)
PURSUIT
Of course it is warm in Mallorca and that makes for fast times on the track and certainly the times for the women's pursuit were astonishingly fast.
Defending champion, Sarah Hammer (USA), threw down a huge marker when she qualified fastest, riding almost 6 seconds quicker than she did last year, but the real sensation from the morning session was the qualifying ride from GB's ex Olympic silver medal winning oarswoman Rebecca Romero, who rode over 4 seconds faster than she ever has before to set a new British record with 3:31:894 and earn herself a place in the ride off for gold.
Romero has never before beaten GB team-mate Wendy Houvenaghel, who is likely to be disappointed with her qualifying time of 3:35:289, one and a half seconds slower than her World Cup winning performance at Manchester last month. Rumour has it that she strained an intercostal muscle in training yesterday and it looks like this has affected her performance.
Houvenaghel did however qualify for the bronze medal ride off against Katie Mactier (Australia), but with just 2 tenths of a second separating them, it was always going to be a test of nerve and strength. Let's not forget Mactier put Houvenaghel out of the hunt for a medal in her first international competition, the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, 2006, when fast starter Mactier actually caught Houvenaghel.
Houvenaghel has made no secret of the fact that she was in the hunt for a medal at these championships but sadly it was not to be. Mactier, riding a smaller gear, went out fast and never seemed to slow. The margin at the end was 1.1 seconds in favour of Mactier who rode 3:36:306.
And in the gold medal ride off, it was to be silver for Romero who looked very smooth by comparison with Hammer's brutal, but evidently very effective riding style. Hammer rode 3:30:213 to beat Romero by over 3 seconds.
And what about the boys?
Well the team pursuit, including Bradley Wiggins on fire from his individual pursuit title taken last night, qualified fastest and then took gold in the final from the Ukraine. GB were the only team to go under 4 minutes and they set a new British record on the way with 3:57:468. In the Keirin Hoy won his first round heat while Edgar had to ride a repechage to progress, but incredibly Hoy went on to take gold with Edgar bronze in an amazing display of sprinting.
We will be bringing you more updates as the championships progress and the schedule is as follows:
Programme of Events for Women
Day 1: 29 March - Women's team sprint
Day 2: 30 March - Women's sprint (qualifying) and individual pursuit
Day 3: 31 March - Women's sprint (final), 500TT, Scratch
Day 4: 1 April - Women's Keirin and Points
