Solid qualifying result sets up next day's medal rounds
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Sarah Hammer (USA) is a top favourite for the Omnium(Image credit: Daniel Simms)
The US team of Lauren Tamayo, Dotsie Bausch and Sarah Hammer were all smiles after breaking the world record.(Image credit: Wenceslao Rodriguez/ WRS IMAGENES)
Jennie Reed (USA) goes for a long one in the women's keirin(Image credit: Gerry McManus)
Team USA qualified 2nd in women's team pursuit(Image credit: Tour of Japan)
They once held the world record for the women's team pursuit, but since that day in May of 2010, Sarah Hammer, Dotsie Bausch and Lauren Tamayo have been unable to match the progression of teams such as Great Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. That all changed on the debut night of the event at the 2012 Olympic Games in London, where team USA qualified second fastest to advance to the first round.
Three-time Olympian Jennie Reed was the team's third rider in place of Tamayo for the qualifying round. Despite a mistake in the last half lap that saw Hammer riding away from Reed and Bausch, with the time taken on the third rider, they still went quicker than all but Great Britain, who broke its own world record to top the standings.
Hammer, who raced the individual pursuit in Beijing in the 2008 Games, said the race felt amazing. "Everything we've been training for the last four years is on the line. We executed amazingly, got a new American record, which is always a great feeling and qualified second. The first is step complete; a great position to be in. Tomorrow I believe we are racing the Australians, so we're focused on winning that. It is all about making it to that gold medal round.
Benjamin Sharp, the USA Cycling Track Endurance Director, was happy with the team's execution of its race. "They stuck to the plan and executed it very well," Sharp said. "I think we can make some adjustments for tomorrow and maybe even have a slightly faster time. I think all of the teams tonight performed at their maximum, so I don't really expect to see many faster times, except for maybe Great Britain."
In qualifying, each team competed on the track alone. In tomorrow's round 1, USA will go up against Australia, who qualified third best, three tenths of a second slower than the Americans, while Canada was just 0.4 seconds behind.
"Even without a perfect ride, we were able to qualify second and as a coach I'm pleased to know that there is a little bit of an adjustment we can make and probably go even faster for the next round," Sharp said.
The coaches are staying mum on the line-up for the rounds tomorrow, but they have Tamayo in reserve, and she is ready if called upon to bring her team to the medal rounds. "I'm really excited and focused for our ride tomorrow. The girls did an amazing job today qualifying second. Our coaching staff coming in to this has had a strategic plan to get us into the gold medal ride and so far everything is on task and that is what we're looking forward to tomorrow."
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Laura Weislo has been with Cyclingnews since 2006 after making a switch from a career in science. As Managing Editor, she coordinates coverage for North American events and global news. As former elite-level road racer who dabbled in cyclo-cross and track, Laura has a passion for all three disciplines. When not working she likes to go camping and explore lesser traveled roads, paths and gravel tracks. Laura specialises in covering doping, anti-doping, UCI governance and performing data analysis.
