CYCLING – TRACK: The six-day Rio Olympic track competition gets underway on Thursday 11 August with one gold on offer - the men’s team sprint, while both team pursuit events get underway with the qualifying rounds.
In the men’s team sprint, Australia has one of the youngest and most explosive teams at the Games.
Debutant Nathan Hart, who has recorded the fastest first wheel in Australian history, will lead the team around for the first of three laps. London 2012 Olympian Matt Glaetzer will fire for lap two, while on the final lap rookie Patrick Constable will aim to power Australia to just the second team sprint medal since it was introduced in 2000.
The trio finished an agonising one-thousandth of a second off the medal round at this year’s World Championships which was won by New Zealand. The Netherlands and Germany filled the podium, and with Australia and France, are expected to be the main medal contenders in Rio.
In the team pursuit, Australia once again will be major contenders in both events as the current women’s world record holders and reigning men’s world champions.
The women’s quintet of Annette Edmondson, Ashlee Ankudinoff, Melissa Hoskins, Amy Cure and Georgia Baker suffered a setback just days leading into the games, after crashing heavily during training on Monday.
Hoskins was rushed to hospital, with scans clearing her of major injury. Amazingly, Hoskins has been named in the four-rider team with Edmondson, Cure and Baker for Thursday’s qualifying.
The women’s team pursuit competition is predicted to be one of the toughest and deepest competitions in Rio, with at least five teams in contention for the title including reigning world champions USA, Great Britain and Canada.
In the men’s event, Australia will be going for gold with a perfectly blended team headlined by triple Olympian Jack Bobridge. In Thursday’s qualifying, Bobridge and fellow 2012 London 2012 silver medallist MIchael Hepburn, will be joined by Alexander Edmondson and debutant Sam Welsford.
Once again, it is predicted to be an ‘Ashes on the track’ battle between Australia and Great Britain with the two countries staging an epic battle at the 2016 world championships, and in the final at the London 2012 Games.
Both competitions feature a qualifying round to determine an initial ranking, before teams progress to round 1, the four fastest teams will race against each other (1st v 4th; 2nd v 3rd) with the winners of each heat moving through to the gold medal round.
Men’s team sprint: qualifying begins at 4pm (5am AEST) with the final at approximately 6.20pm (7am AEST August 12).
Women’s team pursuit: qualifying at 4.20pm on August 11 (5.20am AEST August 12), first round at 11.20am on August 13 (12.20am August 14); final at 4.50pm on August 13 (5.50am August 14)
Men’s team pursuit: qualifying at 5.20pm on August 11 (6.20am AEST August 12); first round at 4.50pm on August 12 (5.50am August 13); final at 6.20pm on August 12 (7.20am August 13).
The track cycling campaign begins on day six of competition with ten events to be contested across six days, including six sprint and four endurance events at the Rio Olympic Velodrome.
Amy McCann
olympics.com.au
