photo credits @ UCI
Russia topped the medal table on Saturday, the penultimate day of the 2017 UCI Track Cycling World Championships presented by Tissot, in Hong Kong, winning two world titles and a bronze medal. Three other world titles were awarded, to France, Belgium and the United States.
After winning the Women’s Team Sprint on the opening day of competition, the Russian duo both appeared on the podium again for the 500 meter Time Trial. Daria Shmeleva won the gold medal with a time of 33.282 seconds, with her team mate Anastasiia Voinova taking the bronze. Miriam Welte of Germany won the silver medal.
The first ever World Championship for the Women’s Madison saw a close battle for the first half of the race between three teams – Belgium, Great Britain and Australia. Two crashes put Australia out of contention for gold or silver, but they battled back to take the bronze medal. Belgium and Great Britain were within a point of each other until the final ten kilometers, when Belgium pulled away by winning the last two sprints.
The focus then shifted to the Women’s Individual Pursuit, where American Chloe Dygert-Owen won her second world title of the Championships, after anchoring the U.S. team in their Team Pursuit victory. In qualifying, Dygert-Owen was only seven-tenths of a second off the world record, and she decisively won the final against Ashlee Ankudinoff of Australia. The 21 year old Dygert-Owen now holds five world titles – three on the track and two on the road. Dygert’s team mate, Kelly Caitlin, took the bronze.
In the four event Men’s Omnium, Spain’s Albert Torres led going into the final Points Race, but constant attacks in the Points Race from New Zealand’s Aaron Gates put Torres into difficulty, as the Kiwi rider took two laps on the field. However, Gates was closely shadowed by Benjamin Thomas of France on his second lap, and the French rider proved to be faster in the intermediate sprints. The pair went into the final double-point sprint tied at 145 points apiece, but Thomas was able to finish one spot ahead of Gates in that last sprint to take the title.
Racing concluded with the Men’s Sprint, where Russia’s Denis Dmitriev proved to be the dominant rider. Dmitriev came into the 2017 world championships with two silver medals and two bronzes in the past four years. He efficiently dispatched all rivals in straight rides, setting up a final against newcomer Harrie Lavreysen of the Netherlands. Dmitriev showed impressive power against Lavreysen to win his first title. Ethan Mitchell of New Zealand won the bronze medal.
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