Australia upset France in shock gold medal ride-off
Great Britain, Germany disqualified in qualifying
Australia caused a huge upset by beating France to the men's team sprint gold, the host nation’s first world title in the event since 1996.
It was a controversial competition with Australia upgraded from the bronze medal ride-off they were expecting after Great Britain and Germany were both relegated for transitioning outside the designated area on the track. Prior to the ruling, France had been expecting to face Germany while Australia had been set to line up against Great Britain.
The Australian team of Shane Perkins, Scott Sunderland and former pole vaulter Matthew Glaetzer edged ahead of France with Glaetzer making the slightest of gains against Michael D’Almeida on the final lap to clock a time of 43.266, a win by just 0.001.
Perkins celebrated by doing several laps of the track with his son, Aidan.
"All of us cut a tenth [of a second] off our time from qualifying!"he said.</p>
"Then Matty [Glaetzer] with his last lap brought it home for us. It's fantastic. It just worked really well as a team.
"I've definitely got to be happy with that. Especially the home crowd, a lot of pressure, home championships - and with the kind of week I've had," Perkins added, having been clipped by a car while training on the road last Sunday.
"I couldn't ask for anything better."
Gregory Bauge, who's violation of the whereabouts requirements forced France to lose their 2011 world title in the event, said that he was still satisfied with the team's performance.
"This is our absolute best time," he was adamant. "We're happy. It is a little bitter but more importantly, in a few months. The Olympics is the most important [event]."
1 | France | 0:00:43.247 |
Row 1 - Cell 0 | Gregory Bauge (France) | Row 1 - Cell 2 |
Row 2 - Cell 0 | Kevin Sireau (France) | Row 2 - Cell 2 |
Row 3 - Cell 0 | Michael D'Almeida (France) | Row 3 - Cell 2 |
2 | Australia | 0:00:43.512 |
Row 5 - Cell 0 | Shane Perkins (Australia) | Row 5 - Cell 2 |
Row 6 - Cell 0 | Scott Sunderland (Australia) | Row 6 - Cell 2 |
Row 7 - Cell 0 | Matthew Glaetzer (Australia) | Row 7 - Cell 2 |
3 | New Zealand | 0:00:43.742 |
Row 9 - Cell 0 | Ethan Mitchell (New Zealand) | Row 9 - Cell 2 |
Row 10 - Cell 0 | Sam Webster (New Zealand) | Row 10 - Cell 2 |
Row 11 - Cell 0 | Edward Dawkins (New Zealand) | Row 11 - Cell 2 |
4 | Japan | 0:00:44.039 |
Row 13 - Cell 0 | Kazuki Amagai (Japan) | Row 13 - Cell 2 |
Row 14 - Cell 0 | Kazunari Watanabe (Japan) | Row 14 - Cell 2 |
Row 15 - Cell 0 | Seiichiro Nakagawa (Japan) | Row 15 - Cell 2 |
5 | China | 0:00:44.049 |
Row 17 - Cell 0 | Changsong Cheng (People's Republic of China) | Row 17 - Cell 2 |
Row 18 - Cell 0 | Lei Zhang (People's Republic of China) | Row 18 - Cell 2 |
Row 19 - Cell 0 | Miao Zhang (People's Republic of China) | Row 19 - Cell 2 |
6 | Russia | 0:00:44.215 |
Row 21 - Cell 0 | Sergei Kucherov (Russian Federation) | Row 21 - Cell 2 |
Row 22 - Cell 0 | Denis Dmitriev (Russian Federation) | Row 22 - Cell 2 |
Row 23 - Cell 0 | Sergey Borisov (Russian Federation) | Row 23 - Cell 2 |
7 | Netherlands | 0:00:44.282 |
Row 25 - Cell 0 | Roy Van Den Berg (Netherlands) | Row 25 - Cell 2 |
Row 26 - Cell 0 | Teun Mulder (Netherlands) | Row 26 - Cell 2 |
Row 27 - Cell 0 | Hugo Haak (Netherlands) | Row 27 - Cell 2 |
8 | Venezuela | 0:00:44.399 |
Row 29 - Cell 0 | Cesar Mervin Marcano Sanchez (Venezuela) | Row 29 - Cell 2 |
Row 30 - Cell 0 | Hersony Canelon (Venezuela) | Row 30 - Cell 2 |
Row 31 - Cell 0 | Angel Ramiro Pulgar Araujo (Venezuela) | Row 31 - Cell 2 |
9 | Poland | 0:00:44.819 |
Row 33 - Cell 0 | Maciej Bielecki (Poland) | Row 33 - Cell 2 |
Row 34 - Cell 0 | Damian Zielinski (Poland) | Row 34 - Cell 2 |
Row 35 - Cell 0 | Kamil Kuczynski (Poland) | Row 35 - Cell 2 |
10 | Czech Republic | 0:00:45.179 |
Row 37 - Cell 0 | Adam Ptacnik (Czech Republic) | Row 37 - Cell 2 |
Row 38 - Cell 0 | Denis Spicka (Czech Republic) | Row 38 - Cell 2 |
Row 39 - Cell 0 | Filip Ditzel (Czech Republic) | Row 39 - Cell 2 |
11 | Canada | 0:00:45.192 |
Row 41 - Cell 0 | Hugo Barrette (Canada) | Row 41 - Cell 2 |
Row 42 - Cell 0 | Joseph Veloce (Canada) | Row 42 - Cell 2 |
Row 43 - Cell 0 | Travis Smith (Canada) | Row 43 - Cell 2 |
12 | Malaysia | 0:00:45.529 |
Row 45 - Cell 0 | Mohd Fattah Amri Zaid (Malaysia) | Row 45 - Cell 2 |
Row 46 - Cell 0 | Muhammad Edrus Md Yunos (Malaysia) | Row 46 - Cell 2 |
Row 47 - Cell 0 | Josiah Ng Onn Lam (Malaysia) | Row 47 - Cell 2 |
13 | India | 0:00:51.042 |
Row 49 - Cell 0 | Amarjeet Singh (India) | Row 49 - Cell 2 |
Row 50 - Cell 0 | Bikram Singh O. (India) | Row 50 - Cell 2 |
Row 51 - Cell 0 | Amrit Singh (India) | Row 51 - Cell 2 |
REL | Germany | Row 52 - Cell 2 |
Row 53 - Cell 0 | Rene Enders (Germany) | Row 53 - Cell 2 |
Row 54 - Cell 0 | Maximilian Levy (Germany) | Row 54 - Cell 2 |
Row 55 - Cell 0 | Stefan Nimke (Germany) | Row 55 - Cell 2 |
REL | Great Britain | Row 56 - Cell 2 |
Row 57 - Cell 0 | Philip Hindes (Great Britain) | Row 57 - Cell 2 |
Row 58 - Cell 0 | Jason Kenny (Great Britain) | Row 58 - Cell 2 |
Row 59 - Cell 0 | Chris Hoy (Great Britain) | Row 59 - Cell 2 |
REL | United States | Row 60 - Cell 2 |
Row 61 - Cell 0 | Michael Blatchford (United States of America) | Row 61 - Cell 2 |
Row 62 - Cell 0 | Jimmy Watkins (United States of America) | Row 62 - Cell 2 |
Row 63 - Cell 0 | Kevin Mansker (United States of America) | Row 63 - Cell 2 |
REL | Greece | Row 64 - Cell 2 |
Row 65 - Cell 0 | Christos Tserentzoulias (Greece) | Row 65 - Cell 2 |
Row 66 - Cell 0 | Zafeirios Volikakis (Greece) | Row 66 - Cell 2 |
Row 67 - Cell 0 | Christos Volikakis (Greece) | Row 67 - Cell 2 |
1 | Australia | 0:00:43.266 |
Row 1 - Cell 0 | Shane Perkins (Australia) | Row 1 - Cell 2 |
Row 2 - Cell 0 | Scott Sunderland (Australia) | Row 2 - Cell 2 |
Row 3 - Cell 0 | Matthew Glaetzer (Australia) | Row 3 - Cell 2 |
2 | France | 0:00:43.267 |
Row 5 - Cell 0 | Gregory Bauge (France) | Row 5 - Cell 2 |
Row 6 - Cell 0 | Kevin Sireau (France) | Row 6 - Cell 2 |
Row 7 - Cell 0 | Michael D'Almeida (France) | Row 7 - Cell 2 |
3 | New Zealand | 0:00:43.812 |
Row 1 - Cell 0 | Ethan Mitchell (New Zealand) | Row 1 - Cell 2 |
Row 2 - Cell 0 | Sam Webster (New Zealand) | Row 2 - Cell 2 |
Row 3 - Cell 0 | Edward Dawkins (New Zealand) | Row 3 - Cell 2 |
4 | Japan | 0:00:43.896 |
Row 5 - Cell 0 | Kazuki Amagai (Japan) | Row 5 - Cell 2 |
Row 6 - Cell 0 | Kazunari Watanabe (Japan) | Row 6 - Cell 2 |
Row 7 - Cell 0 | Seiichiro Nakagawa (Japan) | Row 7 - Cell 2 |
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As a sports journalist and producer since 1997, Jane has covered Olympic and Commonwealth Games, rugby league, motorsport, cricket, surfing, triathlon, rugby union, and golf for print, radio, television and online. However her enduring passion has been cycling.
Jane is a former Australian Editor of Cyclingnews from 2011 to 2013 and continues to freelance within the cycling industry.
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