The second day of the UCI Track World Championships in Minsk was undeniably marked by the achievement of Martyn Irvine, who managed to win two medals in less then one hour.
The Irish rider, second in the individual pursuit, then won in the Scratch, thus achieving a remarkable individual performance.
Hong Kong in the spotlight
In the opening event of the meeting, Wai Sze Lee was fastest over the 500 metres. Over the two circuits of the Minsk track, the rider from Hong Kong (33’’973) beat the German rider Miriam Welte, who had won gold the previous day in the team sprint, having already come second in this specialty in 2012 in Melbourne, and the British rider Rebecca Angharad James, at 21 the youngest of the three athletes who got on the podium.
A medal for Switzerland
The holder of the title in the specialty, having made the best time in the qualifying rounds, the Australian Michael Hepburn was the favourite in the individual pursuit, and in fact dominated without too much effort, winning the final (4’16’’733) in front of Martyn Irvine. Coming a brilliant third, the Swiss rider Stefan Küng, only 19, confirmed the quality of the young Swiss team trained by Daniel Gisiger, whose objective is the Olympic Games in Rio in 2016.
Irvine’s masterpiece
Hardly half-an-hour after the pursuit award ceremony, Martyn Irvine was back on his bike to take part in the Scratch. Better known as a specialist in the Omnium, the Irish rider had a dream race, finishing in front of the Austrian Andreas Müller and the Australian Luke Davison. In doing so, Irvine effectively wrote some of the finest pages in the history of track cycling. Well done, Martyn!
First British victory
Defeated on the previous day in the men’s event, Great Britain celebrated its first win in these World Championships, triumphing in the women’s team pursuit. With the double Olympic Champion Laura Trott riding with Dani King and Elinor Baket, twice road World Champion in the Junior category, the British team (3’18’’140) beat the Australians (3’19’’913), who featured Amy Cure, silver medallist in yesterday’s individual event, Annette Edmondson and Melissa Hoskins.
The third place in this specialty was taken by the Canadian team, in front of Poland.
The Germans still the fastest
After winning the gold medal in the women’s event, Germany repeated their exploit in the men’s team sprint. Rene Enders, Stefan Botticher and Maximilian Levy beat the New Zealand team in the final act of the tournament, while France won the play-off for the bronze against Australia.
The Track World Championships 2013 can be followed on the UCI Youtube channel or on the welcome page of the UCI website. For those who miss an event “live”, you will be able to find many highlights on video.
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