Track World Championships: Gold for Kenny and Gaviria on day 4

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The penultimate day of the London Track World Championships saw further success for the home nation as Jason Kenny recaptured the form that has seen him claim three Olympic gold medals. The men's and women's omnium events made up for the majority of racing on Saturday in the nation capital, thrilling another packed out crowd in the Lee Valley VeloPark.

Kenny raises the roof with sprint gold

Just as he did at the Olympic Games in 2012, Jason Kenny blew the roof off the Lee Valley Velodrome on Saturday night, taking a thrilling comeback victory over Australia's Matthew Glaetzer in the individual sprint final. 

The 27-year-old had it all to do when 23-year-old Glaetzer, who had looked strong throughout the competition, took the first heat in the best-of-three final by virtue of a bike throw and photo finish. Kenny came back in the second round after coming from behind in the final lap, and the same scenario played out in the decider. Glaetzer lead it out and when he got a gap going into the final lap Kenny had work to do, but once again he stormed up the back straight and came through around the final bend. 

After a somewhat disappointing couple of seasons, Kenny once again displayed his propensity to come good at the important junctures in the Olympic cycle and hopes will have been raised considerably ahead of Rio this summer.

Denis Dmitriev of Russia, who was dumped out by Glaetzer 2-0 in the semi final, took a convincing 2-0 victory of his own over Poland's Damian Zielinski to take the bronze medal.

Gaviria defends Omnium title after thrilling finale

The men’s Omnium reached a thrilling conclusion in the evening session, with Fernando Gaviria taking his second straight gold medal in the discipline. After six events, the win came down to the very last sprint in the concluding points race.

After 160 nail-biting laps of the velodrome, there was a three-way tie between Gaviria, Roger Kluge (Germany), and Glenn O’Shea (Australia), with Kluge and O'Shea having surged in the rankings thanks to taking two laps on the field to add 40 points to their overall tally. The victory was awarded to Gaviria by virtue of his superior position in the finishing sprint, while Kluge took silver and O’Shea bronze.

Elia Viviani (Italy) went into the final event in the overall lead but rode a passive race and ended up out of the medals in fourth. Olympic champion Lasse Norman Hansen (Denmark) rode an aggressive race and took a lap to move up to fourth, while Mark Cavendish was prominent in the sprints but missed all of the successful breakaways, and failed to rise up the standings, finishing sixth overall.

Neck and neck at the halfway mark of the women's Omnium

Laura Trott and Sarah Hammer went toe-to-toe in the elimination race, the third event of the Omnium, with the Briton and the American emerging as the last riders standing to create space below them on the overall ranking. 

It was Hammer who struck at the end of the race, comfortably beating Trott to the final sprint to draw dead level with her rival at the top of the overall standings at the halfway mark. Hammer punched the air as she crossed the line, delighted with the small but significant blow she landed. 

The pair are tied on 112 points, with Hammer currently top thanks to her victory in the individual pursuit round, where Trott was third. The final three events of the Omnium take place on Sunday and it's nicely poised.

Women's points race title goes to Pawlowska

Katarzyna Pawlowska of Poland won her third World Championships title by triumphing in a women’s points race that was marred by a late crash.

Caroline Ryan (Ireland) came off worst of the three riders involved and was lying stricken at the bottom of the banking while the others contested a rather subdued final sprint. Ryan was put in a neck brace but was conscious and responsive and has been taken to hospital with what looked very much like a broken collarbone.

On the final sprint, Jasmin Glaesser of Canada pipped Arlenis Sierra Canadilla to third to sneak the silver medal and force the aggressive Cuban to settle for bronze.

Pawlowska, who has won world titles in the scratch race before, didn’t take a lap, but won the seventh sprint and triumphed by virtue of consistency. No rider placed in more sprints than her (five).

Afternoon and morning sessions

Women's Individual Sprint early rounds

Stephanie Morton (Australia) sent out a strong message in the sprint qualifying round first thing on day four of the Track World Championships, setting the quickest time of the round. She stopped the clock at 10.760 a time that was just short of the velodrome record set by Victoria Pendleton at the 2012 Olympic Games.

Morton, who had admitted to not being at her best in the team pursuit earlier in the week, was one of nine riders to break the 11-second barrier over the 200 metres. China’s Tianshi Zhong pushed her close, going just 1 hundredths of a second slower, with two-time defending champion Kristina Vogel going third fastest.

After setting the fastest time in the qualifying round, Morton eased through into the second round as did Vogel, Varnish, Voinova while Mears. The second round however, threw up some surprises with Voinova and Mears being forced into the repechages.

The Australian, Meares stormed to victory in her repechage heat against Varnish and Virginie Cueff (France). The same couldn’t be said for 500m time trial champion Voinova. The Russian took to the front with a lap to go and look like she would take the heat but a late surge from Canada’s Kate O’Brien sent her out of the competition.

The women’s sprint competition will resume on the final day with the quarter finals.

Women's Omnium – scratch race

The women’s omnium finally got under way on the penultimate day, with the scratch race first up. Reigning omnium champion Annette Edmondon (Australia) was back to defend her title along with last year’s other medallists Laura Trott (Great Britain) and Kirsten Wild (Netherlands).

It was a cagey affair to start as the riders sized up the opposition, with many of the favourites staying near the back. It wasn’t until the final 10 laps that the race ignited with Amalie Dideriksen (Denmark) and Simona Frapporti (Italy) jumping off the front. There was no immediate move from the group but when they still had a clear gap with just five laps remaining that the chase began.

Sarah Hammer, who was part of the USA’s history-making team pursuit squad, was the rider that did most of the work to bring it back but Dideriksen and Frapporti had too much of an advantage. In the end, it was the two-time junior road world champion Dideriksen that had the sprint to take the victory and move her to the top of the omnium standings. Trott ran in for third place with Hammer taking fifth.

Men’s Omnium – Kilometre time trial

After a disappointing performance in the elimination race, Lasse Norman Hansen (Denmark) hit back to take victory in round four of the omnium the kilometre time trial. Fernando Gaviria (Colombia) put in the second quickest time, just 0.008 slower than the Dane, to continue his impressive run so far.

Gaviria started the day two points down on Elia Viviani but is now equal with the Italian at the top of the standings with two more rounds to go. Viviani has kept the Colombian at close quarters by going third in the kilo and they’re now both on 140 points. Roger Kluge (Germany) moved himself into third while Thomas Boudat (France) slipped down one place into fourth.

With the flying lap and the points race still to come in the afternoon and evening sessions, Mark Cavendish (Great Britain) is also still in contention for a medal with 102 points, he is sitting equal with former omnium world champion Glenn O’Shea (Australia).

Men’s sprint

The afternoon session saw the sprinters back once again for the quarter finals, the first of the best-of-three duels. First up was the battle of the titans with defending champion Gregory Bauge (France) going up against number one ranked Matthew Glaetzer (Australia). Glaetzer showed why he is number one as he beat the Frenchman in two straight rides. He came from behind in the first after going around Bauge, and held Bauge off in the second after taking the initiative.

Home favourite Jason Kenny went up against Commonwealth champion Sam Webster (New Zealand) in the second heat. Like Glaetzer before him, Kenny booked his place in the semi-final with two consecutive victories, beating Webster comfortably in both. In the third heat, Poland’s Damian Zielinski beat Colombia’s Fabian Hernando Puerta in two clean bouts as well.

The fourth heat between Denis Dmitriev (Russia) and Callum Skinner (Great Britain) was the only one to go to a third and decisive competition. Dmitriev comfortably took the victory in the first round, passing Skinner in the final corner. The British rider got his own back in the next round when Dmitriev tried the same move around the outside, he was wise to it and held him off to push it to a third round. Dmitriev wasn't going to be outdone by Skinner for a second time and he came around the youngster to take the final spot in the semi-final.

Men’s Omnium – Flying Lap

Elia Viviani regained control of the omnium after taking victory in the penultimate round, the flying lap. As joint leader, Viviani went off second to last in the heat, using his sprint speed to post a time of 13.149. Fernando Gaviria, who went into the event on the same points as Viviani, was the last rider to go off. After impressive showings in the elimination race and the kilometre, he faltered for the first time only finishing with the ninth quickest time. He is still second in the overall standings but there is now a 14-point gap between himself and Viviani.

Australian Glenn O’Shea had a disappointing start to the competition but he went second quickest in the flying lap. The result has jumped him from eighth to fourth in the overall standings and just four points off a medal. Tim Veldt is third behind Viviani and Gaviria after going third fastest in the flying lap. Mark Cavendish also remains in contention with the fourth fastest time in the event.

The final round of the omnium will be the points race, which will take place on Saturday evening.

Women’s Omnium – Individual Pursuit

After the scratch race in the morning, the omnium riders faced the three-kilometre individual pursuit. Sarah Hammer and Laura Trott, who both medalled in the team event, were in their element going first and second fastest respectively. Hammer looked supreme as she went almost four seconds faster than Trott.

Trott’s third place in the scratch race means that she goes into the third event, the elimination race, with a two-point lead over Hammer. Scratch race winner Amalie Dideriksen kept herself in a medal spot with a solid performance to take the sixth fastest time. Defending champion Annette Edmondson will be disappointed with her ride, finishing in 11th and over 10 seconds slower than Hammer. She sits eighth place in the overall standings with 46 points compared to Hammer’s 74.

The elimination race will be the final event of Saturday’s evening session.

Results

Men's Omnium Flying Lap