Olympic Games 2012: Track Day Two

Welcome to Cyclingnews' live coverage of day two of track cycling in the 2012 Olympic Games in London. Tonight we will have the women's keirin qualifying rounds, the finals of the men's team pursuit and the qualifying heats of the women's team pursuit.

First up is the women's keirin - there will be three heats, six riders in each heat. The top two will move onto the second round.

First heat is Clara Sanchez (Fra), Monique Sullivan (Can), Lisandra Guerra (Cub), Juliana Gaviria, (Col), Kristina Vogel (Ger - gold medal team sprint), and Ekaterina Gnidenko (Rus)

Heat 2: Meares (Aus - bronze team sprint), Pendleton (GBR), Mustapa (Mas), Kanis (Ned), Hansen (NZl) and Shulika (Ukr).

Heat one is behind the derny getting up to speed.

Gnidenko took the lead after the moto pulled off, moving up from the back, marked by Guerra. But Vogel took control in the second lap and never relinquished the lead, easily winning over Gnidenko. Guerra and Gavairia were next across. Sullivan, Sanchez rounded out the heat.

Now for the next head to head between Meares and Pendleton, who are right next to each other on the inside of the lineup. Vicki is first on the inside, Meares, Kanis, Hansen then Mustapa and Shulika on the outside.

Meares takes the moto, shadowed closely by Meares. Crowds let out big cheers as they go by, still getting up to speed.

Pendleton keeping an eye on Meares as Kanis opens a gap. 3 to go.

A little bumping and elbowing between Kanis and Mustapa as the derny pulled off, with Shulika getting in the mix, but Meares and Pendleton timed the surge right - Meares took off at the bell, going the long way around to distance herself and Pendleton. Both will advance. Hansen, Mustapa, Shulika and Kanis in that order.

Next up we have Larreal (Ven) who drew inside, but it's Krupeckiate (Ltu) who gets the moto followed by Guo and Larreal. Panarina is a Lee sandwich in second to last behind the derny.

Krupeckaite is in the lead as moto pulls off as Guo opens a gap. She waits, then surges into the bell lap, kicking again with half a lap to go to hold off the Lithuanian. Larreal, Lee (Hkg), Lee (Kor) and Panarina (Blr) finish in that order.

So our top keirin riders: Meares, Pendleton, Guo, Krupeckaite, Vogel and Gnidenko get extra rest as the others head to repechage.

FIrst up, they will have the men's team pursuit first round where Spain and Colombia will face off in heat 1, Russia and the Netherlands in heat 2, Australia and New Zealand in heat 3 and finally Great Britain and Denmark in the final heat.

Spain is in the same straightaway as Colombia after the Colombians had a bobble. Looks like they will be caught.

Spain lost Muntaner, Colombia lost Quintana - no catch yet with one to go.

Spain goes under four minutes: 3:59.520, while Colombia went a 4:05.485 - that's two seconds slower for the Colombians than yesterday. Spain, on the other hand, was three seconds quicker.

The Dutch team are up against the Russians now. Heimans, Stroetinga, Huizenga and Veldt - the same line as yesterday. Russians have Kovalev pair, Markov and Serov - also the same team.

The Dutch started out strong in the first two laps, but in the second kilometer are over two seconds down on Russia.

The Russians are in the same stretch as the Dutch, but won't catch them with two laps to go. They are in with a 3:57.237, while the Dutch are in with 4:04.029. Russians are a full two seconds quicker than last night.

Kiwis and Aussies are up now - it's an Oceanic battle.

The Kiwis have subbed out Wes Gough, in tonight is Aaron Gate. The Aussies used the same lineup - Bobridge, O'Shea, Dennis and Hepburn. Kiwis have a slight advantage.

Scratch that, the Aussies have a half second advantage, but the Kiwis are closing it down.

Marc Ryan has dropped off, now the Aussies have lost one too - O'Shea is done. But the Aussies are holding on and extending their lead.

The Australians have given it a good effort - 3:54.317, 1.3s quicker than last night. The Kiwis also pulled out a strong ride, 3:56.442, being pushed all the way by Australia.

Both teams are using the same lineups as last night. The British are already more than a second up on Denmark.

The Danes are giving it a good go - at the half they're only 1.5s down.

But it is the second half where the British excelled on night one. They look to be repeating that performance again, now 2.8s ahead.

Thomas lets up in the last two turns and the team go on to nearly match their world record time, going 3:52.743, still 0.2 slower than last night.

Denmark is in with 3:57.396 - and it's not good enough to make the bronze medal round.

That will go to New Zealand and Russia, while Australia will face Great Britain for silver and gold.

@KatherineLBates Fri, 3rd Aug 2012 16:41:09

Next up is the repechage heat for the women outside top 2 in the keirin round 1. It's Panarina, Sullivan, Gaviria, Guerra, Lee (Hkg) and Kanis in the first heat. Second heat is Sanchez, Lee (Kor), Mustapa, Hansen, Shulika and Larreal

Lee Wai Sze of Hong Kong wins the first repechage heat over Kanis. Both riders move onto the next round. Sullivan, Guerra, Panarina and Gaviria finish 3rd-6th

Clara Sanchez won the second repechage round in fine form over Hansen - now both riders move on to round 2.

Women's team pursuit is going off one at a time currently. Belarus made history as the first female pursuit team to compete in the Olympics. They came in at 3:22.850.

The team from Ukraine came in with a 3:25.160 - so Belarus still holds the inaugural Olympic Record.

The Chinese women's pursuit team is synchronized in their surnames, too - Jiang, Jiang and Liang on deck, but they're coming apart a bit as Jiang Wenwen struggles in an exchange. 

She is dropped on the final two laps. That's going to cost them. 3:26.049 after leading in the first 2km. The time is taken after the third rider, so all three must stay together.

@Vaughters Fri, 3rd Aug 2012 17:09:44

We aren't sure what led to the decision to have women do 3km with three riders instead of 4km with four. But it probably relates to the limited Olympic athlete spots available to each sport. The women are shorted in both team events.

The Dutch team: Kirsten Wild, Amy Pieters, Ellen van Dijk (who did the road race) are on deck setting the fastest time so far. They come in with a 3:21.602 - a very good effort for them, but it's well shy of the world record set by GBR in Melbourne this year.

The current world record is 3:15.720, and if the men's performance is any indication, we expect to see that get broken tonight.

@dnlbenson Fri, 3rd Aug 2012 17:17:14

Germany is on deck: time trial silver medalist Judith Arndt is out with Charlotte Becker and Lisa Brennauer. They are demonstrating power and speed - up a second on the Dutch in the first kilometer.

@KatherineLBates Fri, 3rd Aug 2012 17:17:38

The Germans seemed to fade a bit in the last kilometer relative to the Dutch. Up a full second after one kilo, they were half a second down at the end - 3:22.058

The Danes have opted to put in Mathias Moller Nielsen in for Lasse Norman Hansen in the men's team pursuit final.

The Canadian women's team pursuiters are away - Tara Whitten, Gillian Garleton and Jasmin Glaesser are prime medal hopefuls.

The Canadians had a slow start, going outside the kilo of the Dutch, but are pulling into the lead.

The Canadians come across with the new OR - 3:19.816. Their personal best is 3:18.982, so they're a second off of that - which may be due to the final push to the line where Whitten rode clear by several bike lengths. Time was taken on Carleton's wheel.

USA are on deck with Dotsie Bausch, Jennie Reed and Sarah Hammer. Lauren Tamayo is being kept in reserve for the later rounds, said her husband Mike, who is in the audience.

Reed is a three time Olympian, having made the switch from sprinting to endurance events just for London.

USA is up in the first kilometer. Read about their recent training here

Hammer does a long turn at the front, and they're fastest so far.

Bausch and Reed finish with half laps, Hammer does full laps as the bell rings...

Hammer gives it too much gas in the last half lap, and Bausch can't hold the wheel. They keep a good time, however - 3:19.406. New Olympic Record, and they're on top with three teams to go.

We've gotten news from the AP that track sprinter Victoria Baranova has gone positive for testosterone.

Australia currently on deck, going quicker than the USA.

One kilometer to go and the Australian team of Edmondson, Hoskins and Tomic are outside the USA's time, but that last lap was not good for the USA. The Aussies pull back some time - 3:19.719.

The USA leads with New Zealand and Great Britain to go.

Kiwis are on the track now: Lauren Ellis, Jamie Nielsen and Alison Shanks.

The Kiwis are surprisingly outside of the USA time - 3:20.421. Even with that last half lap blunder by Hammer, the USA women have pulled out a stellar effort here.

@KatherineLBates Fri, 3rd Aug 2012 17:43:59

Great Britain, the world record holders, are on track. The crowds are cheering enthusiastically. One kilometer in, they are almost one second up on the Americans.

British team are pulling out more time: 1.467 faster than the USA at kilometer 2.

New world record! Britain goes 3:15.669 - just barely under their Melbourne mark. It was largely based on a spectacular final kilometer where they pulled out two full seconds on the USA.

Ukraine and China have been eliminated from the women's team pursuit proceedings. The remaining teams will face off in two rounds tomorrow - the first round will determine who races for which medals, and the final round the ending order.

Women's keirin round 1 - Meares goes the long way around to win the heat, with Monique Sullivan (Canada) jumping on the Australian's wheel and riding it to second. Lee Wai Sze (HKg) rode attentively to take third and advance to the gold medal final. The rest, Kanis, Krupeckaite and Vogel will race for the B final.

Keirin heat 2 - top three advance. It's Pendleton drawing second position, with Sanchez (France) on the inside. Guo (Chn) gets the motor.

Venezuela's Larreal is tail-gunning the race on the wheel of Hansen. Gnidenko is sitting in the middle with Sanchez.

Pendleton opens a gap to Guo's wheel, looking around for attacks as the derny puls off. It's Larreal who goes.

Guo closes the gap, but Pendleton makes a big surge on the outside with 1.5 laps go to and holds off a strong challenge from Sanchez to take the heat. Guo gets third to advance.

Gnidekno, Hansen and Larreal will race in the consolation final.

Next up will be the medal finals for the men's team pursuit, but they will have the minor placing face-offs first. NED vs. COL for 7-8th, DEN vs. ESP for 5-6th.

Then the bronze medal final between RUS and NZL and for gold, it's AUS vs. GBR.

@CDNCyclingMag Fri, 3rd Aug 2012 18:04:46

@cdncyclist Fri, 3rd Aug 2012 18:03:53

As you might be able to tell by Twitter, Canada is mighty proud of Sullivan's effort in that second keirin round.

Netherlands are slightly faster than Colombia at the halfway point in the men's team pursuit 7th-8th final. Then are down to three riders each in the final kilo.

The Colombians rallied, but still came up just shy. Netherlands gets 7th in 4:04.569. It's 4:04.772 for Colombia in the closest match up we've seen yet.

The house is silent for the start of Spain versus Denmark.

Spain fought the good fight, but narrowly lost to the Danes for fifth - 4:02.671 for Denmark and 4:02.746 for Spain - another very close heat.

It is time for the bronze medal final between Russia and New Zealand, and there is a big group of Kiwis above turn four chanting away. But nobody's done the haka yet.

The Kiwis were in the lead, but Russia is coming on strong in the final half.

The Kiwis are back in the lead as Ryan lets go of the other three for the final kilometer. The Russians keep four a bit longer.

The New Zealand team has done it! Bronze and a stellar final kilometer - 3:55.952. The Russians come across in 3:58.282.

A surprisingly big cheer for the New Zealanders - or was that a cheer because the British team are heading to the start line? They are about to face up against Australia for gold.

The heat is away - Great Britain takes an immediate 0.4s lead.

The Aussies are bringing the gap back, however. Only 0.295s now.

The famous second half push is underway, and the Britons are pulling out the lead.

The second half was incredible! Great Britain slashed their world record set yesterday, doing a 3:51.659.

Australia put up a good challenge, but in the end they could only manage 3:54.581.

Another gold, another world record for Great Britain's track cyclist - the second after the men's team sprint.

There will be plenty of celebrating, but we still have the women's keirin final to come. Hope the crowds stick around for Pendleton, Meares and the rest.

Bradley Wiggins is here at the velodrome to celebrate his former teammates' gold medal performance.

Now that the podium for the team pursuit has been completed, it's time for the women's keirin consolation final to decide 7th-12th places.

Pendleton starts the women's keirin final at the top of the track in the final again, next to Meares based on the draw. Sullivan is in the middle with Guo, and Lee and Sanchez are at the bottom. Guo takes the motor.

Meares lurks on the wheel of Sanchez, with Pendleton ahead of the Frenchwoman. Sullivan at the back on Meares' wheel

 Meares jumps first and is marked by Guo

Pendleton attacks in the final lap followed by Guo - Meares is swamped! And the British get another gold as Vicky does it - she beats Guo and Lee slots in for bronze.

Not sure what went on with Meares but the judges are reviewing the video.

Meares congratulates Pendleton who was given a British flag but needs to get off her bike before she can fly it.

It looks like Pendleton's win is official - Guo in silver, Lee in bronze over Sanchez, Meares and Sullivan.

That concludes Cyclingnews' coverage of day two of track cycling. Thanks for reading.