Final day gold to Glaetzer and three silver medals takes tally to nine medals
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Australia’s Matthew Glaetzer celebrates his win
World champion Annette Edmondson of Australia leads the field in the women's omnium
China’s Shaung Guo and Australia’s Anna Meares sprint in the keirin
Glenn O'Shea (Australia) earned the silver medal in the men's omnium(Image credit: Guy Swarbrick)
Australia finished the second round of the Cambridge Track World Cup standings as the top nation as Matthew Glaetzer added another gold medal to the tally in the men's sprint while Annette Edmondson and Anna Meares claimed silver in the omnium and keirin, and Glen O'Shea bronze in the men's omnium.
Nine medals in total saw Australia finish clear on top having also claimed gold in the team pursuit on Saturday, silver in the women's sprint and team sprint, alongside bronze in the men's team sprint.
"It's awesome. It's such a challenge. Max Niederlag pushed me all the way and I had to really execute my racing perfectly to beat him," said Glaetzer who also won bronze in the team sprint. "If I had made a mistake he probably would have won it. I raced really well, one of my best competitions that I have raced and I'm really happy with this result."
Glaetzer was the fastest in qualifying and then saw off Sandor Szalontay (Hungary), Njisane Phillip (Trinidad and Tobago), Peter Constable (Australia) and Edward Dawkins (New Zealand) to reach the final. A late run in race one of the final saw Glaetzer take the advantage and a narrow win on race two then sealed victory.
"In the second race I was at the front. I knew that I would probably keep the front in the race. He kept around me, he got the jump on me a bit at the start but I managed to hold him on the outside," he added.
Despite racing with a back complaint, Meares added to her career World Cup medal haul in the kierin while wearing the world champions rainbow stripes.
"I am so, so happy," said Meares of her silver medal after a late surge by Shuang Guo secured the Chinese rider gold. "I love good races and I love hard races and the final didn't disappoint for me. I left everything out on the track for what I could put out there. I didn't feel the back throughout the race and it was good."
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There was another silver medal for a world champion with Annette Edmondson debuting her rainbow jersey but the 23-year-old expressed her displeasure with missing out on gold.
"Things don't always go to plan and I am disappointed, but I am still happy to come away with a medal in the end," Edmondson said who finished on 188 points, 13 down on Allison Beveridge (Canada).
Edmondson had started the final event of the omnium with a two point lead over Beveridge but explained the points race simply didn't go to plan and she'll learn from the experience.
"I wanted to try to increase my advantage in the points race but I think I had a bit of a brain fade out there and I should have just followed Beveridge so I made a couple of mistakes," Edmondson added. "My legs blew and I had nothing left so it was a grovel just to stay in the mix."
For former omnium world champion O'Shea, a strong performance in the points race saw the 26-year-old improve his position from fourth to third to take home the final medal of the meet for Australia. O'Shea was part of a small group alongside Lasse Norman Hansen (Denmark), Juan Esteban Arango (Colombia) and Christopher Latham (Great Britain) that stole a lap on the field with those 20 points elevating him onto the podium with 165 points.
"I am reasonably happy although I had a pretty poor scratch race and not the best pursuit but I chipped away and rode really well today, I thought and made the most out of a bad situation," O'Shea said. "I'm really happy with how I finished. It is a good stepping stone towards next year."
Hansen took home the omnium gold with 208 points while Sang-Hoon Park leads the World Cup standings.
