Great Britain outclass USA for first gold

Great Britain claimed their first gold medal of the championships, with a dominant start-to-finish performance over the world record holders in the women's team pursuit.

The result matched their qualifying positions however the final suggested the team from Great Britain - Laura Trott, Wendy Houvenaghel and Danielle King - were in a different class, with a winning time of 3:23.419 to the USA's 3:25.308.

Houvenaghel also explained that her team had taken into account the slow track and formulated their schedule based on that. The challenge for the three, was then to stick to it when it mattered.

"It's fantastic," she said of the dominant performance. "It's really special. It's incredible to be on that top spot on the podium again and that's where we want to stay. It's so encouraging. These girls have come a long way in a short space of time and over the next 16 months there's a lot of leeway to improve a lot more and I'm very excited about the prospect of us performing in London."

Trott and King were making their elite debuts at world championship level. For an "over the moon" King, it's been a dramatic rise to the top.

"The track was really hard to ride," the 20-year-old explained. "I was happy we were able to stick to our schedule and do it. I only started with the pursuit team last November and I've been working so hard."

The trio from the USA, Sarah Hammer, Dotsie Bausch and Jennie Reed were down from the first lap, and by the 1000m mark that had blown out to 1.361. The gap at the 2000m mark was close to 2 seconds. The USA rallied somewhat in the final laps, but then struggled to hold formation while the Great Britain team held steady.

Hammer, who will take on the gruelling schedule of the omnium on Saturday, said she was really proud of her team's efforts.
"We have come a long way in the past couple years," she said. Getting silver is almost harder than taking bronze but that I'm happy with the silver."

In the bronze medal ride-off, the New Zealand team of Alison Shanks, Jaime Nielsen and Kaytee Boyd pipped defending champions Australia in a time of 3:24.065.

Shanks, was slightly disappointed in the end result but could find positives in the ride.

"Bronze wasn't the medal they we came for, but we have to be a little happy getting a world championship medal," she admitted. "We got a bit too excited this morning, so tonight we had to hold back a little in the first half.

"The Aussies really made us race it, and they put up a good fight."

Earlier in qualifying, Great Britain was top of the pops in a time of 3:23.642 while the USA rode a 3:23.965.

Australia, with Amy Cure, Katherine Bates and Josephine Tomic struggled, with Tomic setting too high of a pace. The team posted the fourth fastest time in 3:25.253 which New Zealand bettered with 3:24.701.

 

Women's team pursuit final

Swipe to scroll horizontally
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Great Britain0:03:23.419
Row 1 - Cell 0 Laura TrottRow 1 - Cell 2
Row 2 - Cell 0 Wendy HouvenaghelRow 2 - Cell 2
Row 3 - Cell 0 Danielle KingRow 3 - Cell 2
2United States Of America0:03:25.308
Row 5 - Cell 0 Sarah HammerRow 5 - Cell 2
Row 6 - Cell 0 Dotsie BauschRow 6 - Cell 2
Row 7 - Cell 0 Jennie ReedRow 7 - Cell 2
3New Zealand0:03:24.065
Row 9 - Cell 0 Kaytee BoydRow 9 - Cell 2
Row 10 - Cell 0 Jaime NielsenRow 10 - Cell 2
Row 11 - Cell 0 Alison ShanksRow 11 - Cell 2
4Australia0:03:24.422
Row 13 - Cell 0 Amy CureRow 13 - Cell 2
Row 14 - Cell 0 Katherine BatesRow 14 - Cell 2
Row 15 - Cell 0 Josephine TomicRow 15 - Cell 2

Qualifying

Swipe to scroll horizontally
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Great Britain0:03:23.642
Row 1 - Cell 0 Laura TrottRow 1 - Cell 2
Row 2 - Cell 0 Wendy HouvenaghelRow 2 - Cell 2
Row 3 - Cell 0 Danielle KingRow 3 - Cell 2
2United States Of America0:03:23.965
Row 5 - Cell 0 Sarah HammerRow 5 - Cell 2
Row 6 - Cell 0 Dotsie BauschRow 6 - Cell 2
Row 7 - Cell 0 Jennie ReedRow 7 - Cell 2
3New Zealand0:03:24.701
Row 9 - Cell 0 Kaytee BoydRow 9 - Cell 2
Row 10 - Cell 0 Jaime NielsenRow 10 - Cell 2
Row 11 - Cell 0 Alison ShanksRow 11 - Cell 2
4Australia0:03:25.253
Row 13 - Cell 0 Amy CureRow 13 - Cell 2
Row 14 - Cell 0 Katherine BatesRow 14 - Cell 2
Row 15 - Cell 0 Josephine TomicRow 15 - Cell 2
5Netherlands0:03:26.092
Row 17 - Cell 0 Kirsten WildRow 17 - Cell 2
Row 18 - Cell 0 Vera KoedooderRow 18 - Cell 2
Row 19 - Cell 0 Ellen Van DijkRow 19 - Cell 2
6Canada0:03:27.255
Row 21 - Cell 0 Tara WhittenRow 21 - Cell 2
Row 22 - Cell 0 Laura BrownRow 22 - Cell 2
Row 23 - Cell 0 Clara HughesRow 23 - Cell 2
7Germany0:03:27.623
Row 25 - Cell 0 Lisa BrennauerRow 25 - Cell 2
Row 26 - Cell 0 Charlotte BeckerRow 26 - Cell 2
Row 27 - Cell 0 Madeleine SandigRow 27 - Cell 2
8Ukraine0:03:27.756
Row 29 - Cell 0 Svitlana GalyukRow 29 - Cell 2
Row 30 - Cell 0 Lesya KalitovskaRow 30 - Cell 2
Row 31 - Cell 0 Anna SoloveyRow 31 - Cell 2
9People's Republic of China0:03:30.441
Row 33 - Cell 0 Fan JiangRow 33 - Cell 2
Row 34 - Cell 0 Wenwen JiangRow 34 - Cell 2
Row 35 - Cell 0 Jing LiangRow 35 - Cell 2
10Belgium0:03:30.519
Row 37 - Cell 0 Jolien D'HooreRow 37 - Cell 2
Row 38 - Cell 0 Els BelmansRow 38 - Cell 2
Row 39 - Cell 0 Jessie DaamsRow 39 - Cell 2
11Russian Federation0:03:30.650
Row 41 - Cell 0 Evgenya RomanyutaRow 41 - Cell 2
Row 42 - Cell 0 Verena AbsalyamovaRow 42 - Cell 2
Row 43 - Cell 0 Anastasia ChulkovaRow 43 - Cell 2
12Belarus0:03:31.229
Row 45 - Cell 0 Tatsiana SharakovaRow 45 - Cell 2
Row 46 - Cell 0 Alena DylkoRow 46 - Cell 2
Row 47 - Cell 0 Aksana PapkoRow 47 - Cell 2
13Lithuania0:03:31.851
Row 49 - Cell 0 Vilija SereikaiteRow 49 - Cell 2
Row 50 - Cell 0 Vaida PikauskaiteRow 50 - Cell 2
Row 51 - Cell 0 Ausrine TrebaiteRow 51 - Cell 2
14Poland0:03:33.311
Row 53 - Cell 0 Malgorzata WojtyraRow 53 - Cell 2
Row 54 - Cell 0 Edyta JasinskaRow 54 - Cell 2
Row 55 - Cell 0 Katarzyna PawlowskaRow 55 - Cell 2
15Italy0:03:40.434
Row 57 - Cell 0 Monia BaccailleRow 57 - Cell 2
Row 58 - Cell 0 Annalisa CucinottaRow 58 - Cell 2
Row 59 - Cell 0 Tatiana GuderzoRow 59 - Cell 2
16Hong Kong, China0:03:49.438
Row 61 - Cell 0 Xiao Juan DiaoRow 61 - Cell 2
Row 62 - Cell 0 Zhao Juan MengRow 62 - Cell 2
Row 63 - Cell 0 Wan Yiu Jamie WongRow 63 - Cell 2

 

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As a sports journalist and producer since 1997, Jane has covered Olympic and Commonwealth Games, rugby league, motorsport, cricket, surfing, triathlon, rugby union, and golf for print, radio, television and online. However her enduring passion has been cycling.

 

Jane is a former Australian Editor of Cyclingnews from 2011 to 2013 and continues to freelance within the cycling industry.


 

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