COMM GAMES CYCLING: Australia collected two gold medals through Anna Meares and the men's team pursuit quartet and bagged three Games records in a five medal haul on the opening day of the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games track cycling competition held at the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome on Thursday.
Women's Time Trial - Gold & Silver
Anna MEARES OAM (30, SA / Formerly QLD) posted 33.435secs to break the Commonwealth Games record and claim Australia's first gold medal of the Games. Fellow South Australian Stephanie MORTON OAM (23, SA) won silver in her Games debut (34.079).
Meares' third consecutive gold in the event makes her the first female cyclist in history to win the same Commonwealth Games cycling event three times. It is also Meares' seventh career Games medal - equalling Katty Watt's tally - with the Rockhampton cyclist needing just one more to equal the all time record.
She is also the first athlete to earn a track cycling award at four editions of the quadrennial event, and also draws her level with McGee for most Games track cycling gold medals.
"I wanted to come here and have fun and worrying about expectation and I really wanted to go sub-33.5, but I wasn't sure how fast this track would be," said Meares. "I looked up to my husband Mark and gave him a wave and took a deep breath and got into it.
"I know the boys went very fast this morning so I was quite eager, I was just happy I got a good clean start out of the gate, held a nice line and technically was efficient."
Meares was delighted to share the podium with her training partner and Games room mate Morton.
"It was good fun, it was really good fun," Mears said. "She was funny, she said to me this afternoon 'I'm really excited for you Mearesy, I can't wait to watch you ride the 500 tonight'. And I'm like 'Steph, you're riding the 500 too mate!", added Meares who now, with Morton, turns to defending her gold medal in the women's sprint.
** This is no longer an Olympic event **
Men's Team Pursuit - Gold
The Australian quartet of Jack BOBRIDGE (25, SA), Luke DAVISON (24, SA / Formerly NSW), Alexander EDMONDSON (20, SA) and Glenn O'SHEA (24, SA / Formerly VIC) put on a dominant performance in front of a parochial British home crowd to defend their 4000m team pursuit gold medal.
In the 'Ashes on the Track', the reigning world champions lead for nearly the entire 16 lap race and crossed the line in a Games record time of 3mins 54.851secs, almost six seconds ahead of the British team lead by Sir Bradley Wiggins (4:00.136).
It was Bobridge's second gold in the team pursuit, equalling fellow Australians McGee, Kevin Nichols and Luke Roberts for most golds in the event.
"To step back on the boards with just two weeks to go with these guys, it shows with Tim Decker the work they've put in since I've been out of it," said Bobridge. "So to be able to ride with these guys and win is special for me."
"It's going to take us a long way in the next few years heading into Rio. Hopefully we can keep moving forward," he added.
"We knew it was going to be a hard race, but we had to back ourselves," said Alex Edmondson. "We knew with Luke doing a good peel and that sort of thing [that] we were on them.
"To be able to come away and beat those guys, it's one step on the way to Rio. To come here, we have ticked this one off now."
Reigning world champion in the individual pursuit Edmondson and Bobridge will now focus on the IP which takes place on day two.
Men's Team Sprint - Bronze
The trio of Shane PERKINS (27, VIC), Matthew GLAETZER (21, SA) and Nathan HART (21, ACT) took the bronze medal after posting 43.709secs ahead of Canada (45.054). It was a blistering opening lap from Hart (17.381secs) - the fastest by an Australian in team sprint history.
New Zealand (43.181) took the gold over England, breaking the Games record in both qualifying and in the final.
"Unfortunately we couldn't put it together in qualifying and that is what cost us the gold or silver," said Perkins. "It was a great atmosphere here. It was really good to see everyone getting behind the riders no matter what colour they were wearing."
Men's Sprint - Qualifying
Matthew GLAETZER (21, SA) blistered the track in afternoon qualifying, breaking the Commonwealth Games record with a scorching time of 9.779secs. Peter LEWIS (24, NSW) was in fourth with 9.975, after also setting a Games record before being eclipsed by Glaetzer.
Both moved through the first round and will continue the quarter-finals on Friday. Defending champion Shane PERKINS (27, VIC) withdrew from the sprint earlier in the week.
Cycling Australia
