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2007 UCI Track Cycling World Championships - CM
Spain, March 29-April 1, 2007
Women's 500m time trial
Meares beats world record
By Shane Stokes in Palma
Olympic and 2004 world champion Anna Meares christened the Palma Arena track this evening, setting the first new world record in the velodrome en route to victory in the women’s 500m time trial. She tore around the two laps in a time of 33.588”, smashing the world record of 33.944” she set during the Sydney World Cup on November 18th 2006.
“I am so happy,” she said. “I got to the event and I was hurting little bit after two days of hard racing in the team sprint and the sprint. The fatigue was setting in, I was getting tired. My coach just sat me down and said, ‘look, you have had two hard days of racing and all I want from you tonight is just one effort. It doesn't matter what else comes from tonight.’ That was just the thought process for me, I was just going to go out and do one effort as hard as I can. And lo and behold, I came up with bronze in the sprint as well.”
New British phenom Shanaze Reade was second to start and led almost to the end of the competition. The 18 year old BMX specialist was riding her first 500 m TT ever – including in training – standing in for Victoria Pendleton, who was up in the women’s sprint shortly after. Given her status as a raw novice, Reade reconfirmed the huge ability she had shown earlier at these worlds when winning team sprint gold, by posting a time of 34.633”.
This time stood as riders came and went, finally being topped when Cuban rider Lisandra Guerra Rodriguez went .618” quicker. She remained in pole position right up until the end when Meares blitzed around, smashing her own record and giving Australia its first gold of these championships.
The Cuban took second and Natallia Tsylinskaya (Belarus) netted bronze with 34.430”. As for Reade, she finished just behind Simona Krupeckaite (Luthuania) in fifth, but was able to see a bright side.
“I must have been training for the lap [she rode the opening lap with Pendleton in the team sprint – ed.] for two months and then to get a 34 in this - I am really happy with it, there is no disappointment there at all. Ok, it was hard to see people go faster [after leading for so long], but to get top five against Olympic champions and world champions is just unreal, really.
“It motivates me to get a bit fitter, really, and see how much further I can go, just do a few more. I really don't know what the future holds for me right now. I am just going to try my best, keep going back and then see.”
Results
1 Anna Meares (Australia) 33.588 (53.590 km/h) 2 Lisandra Guerra Rodriguez (Cuba) 34.015 3 Natallia Tsylinskaya (Belarus) 34.430 4 Simona Krupeckaite (Lithuania) 34.487 5 Shanaze Reade (Great Britain) 34.633 6 Willy Kanis (Netherlands) 34.700 7 Yvonne Hijgenaar (Netherlands) 34.776 8 Anna Blyth (Great Britain) 34.870 9 Sandie Clair (France) 34.892 10 Virginie Cueff (France) 35.159 11 Kristine Bayley (Australia) 35.264 12 Jane Gerisch (Germany) 35.402 13 Fang Tian (People's Republic of China) 35.471 14 Jinjie Gong (People's Republic of China) 35.473 15 Miriam Welte (Germany) 35.619 16 Tamilla Abassova (Russian Federation) 35.625 17 Nancy Contreras Reyes (Mexico) 35.754 18 Diana Maria Garcia Orrego (Colombia) 36.063 19 Lyubov Shulika (Ukraine) 36.272 20 Magdalena Sara (Poland) 36.919 21 Helena Casas Roige (Spain) 37.010
