Hansen wins gold for Denmark in inaugural men's omnium
New record for Pendleton in sprint qualifying
Men's Omnium
Denmark's Lasse Norman Hansen put forth an impressive final night of racing to bring his country its first cycling gold medal in the inaugural edition of the men's omnium. After a gutsy effort to overcome a crash in the scratch race and chase down a breakaway of eight that had lapped the field, Hansen was able to ride the second fastest kilometer time trial to secure his overall victory by two points over Frenchman Bryan Coquard.
"It feels weird. I still cannot believe it," Hansen said afterward. "It's so unreal. It's the biggest thing that you can ever achieve for an omnium rider, so it's just a crazy feeling."
Great Britain's gold medal winning team pursuiter Ed Clancy was the fastest against the clock in the final event, even touching the Olympic kilometer record with a remarkable time of 1:00.981, but it wasn't enough to make up for his relatively poor showings in the mass start events and he took the bronze.
Sitting in fifth place heading into the second half of the omnium, Hansen rode a spectacular individual pursuit to beat Clancy by a mere two-tenths of a second - a result that moved him into third overall behind Australian Glenn O'Shea and Clancy.
The critical race of the night for Hansen proved to be the scratch race, where a dangerous group of eight riders escaped to lap the field, leaving him, O'Shea and Clancy behind. Hansen, ever attentive, was preparing to jump across with Clancy when the breakaway ahead was just being established, but crashed. He was allowed to restart, and then went on to solo away from the field as the breakaway was taking a lap.
"I had a really bad feeling after the crash. I think the adrenaline just came in, to kick in the wheel, to finish it," Hansen said. "It's really important getting back up. And gaining a lap was unreal. It gave me the belief in finishing. I actually didn't believe in myself after the crash, but I got back up and took the lap. I just got the final power.
"When I landed on my back, I thought it was over. Then I got back up and was really lucky and fought hard for the lap. I really thought, 'now I cannot miss it'. When I saw after the race I was in the lead, I just went in the box, pulling inside myself."
That group included Coquard, Italian Elia Viviani and German Roger Kluge, and Hansen knew he could not afford to let them go and settle for ninth at best. He attacked away from the field and rode solo until he, too, gained a lap, pulling even with his foes. In the final sprint, Hansen took sixth place, good enough to take the lead heading into the final event, tied on points with Viviani and Coquard, with Kluge and Clancy three and four points in arrears.
The night came down to the race of truth: a lung-busting all-out four-lap effort against the clock that would separate the top contenders. Clancy and O'Shea were the third to last heat off, but by far the most intense race of the night.
The British rider crushed the time of all the rest, but the omnium is not about one race: it is all about consistency, and Hansen showed he can do it all. His time was good enough for second place, although he was nearly two seconds slower than Clancy.
Coquard's fourth place secured the silver, his individual pursuit his only weak point of the night.
"It's a dream come true," the Frenchman said of his silver medal. "Even in my craziest dreams I couldn't imagine it. I thought of all the sacrifices I made to be here. This medal is the result of a four-year plan. I have been junior world champion twice, then it wasn't easy moving to the elite, but everything worked just perfectly."
Coquard put in top five performances in everything except the individual pursuit, which was his weakness. Even though he was 12th in the pursuit here, it was an improvement over a 15th place at the Worlds.
"I'm one of the fastest in the sprint events, but in the endurance events I had some difficulties. After the world championships in March (April in Melbourne) I worked on it with my staff. I had five people just for me. I thank them all, it was the ideal omnium for me."
Clancy admitted that he put most of his focus into the team pursuit in London, and was just hoping for the best he could get out of the omnium. The problem was, in the points and scratch races he could not match the accelerations of the riders who went on to lap the field.
"In the points race, those guys just tore me apart, but that elimination [where he finished fifth] saved my race. In the scratch, I was in it to win it but I didn't have the legs. I don't know who finished where. I had the form of my life in the kilo, the flying lap and the individual pursuit. I beat them by a mile in all of them. At one point I was looking at getting the gold but, in the scratch, it just slipped away."
Men's Omnium - 4km Individual Pursuit
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
---|---|---|
1 | Lasse Norman Hansen (Denmark) | 0:04:20.674 |
2 | Edward Clancy (Great Britain) | 0:04:20.853 |
3 | Glenn O'Shea (Australia) | 0:04:24.811 |
4 | Juan Esteban Arango Carvajal (Colombia) | 0:04:25.477 |
5 | Roger Kluge (Germany) | 0:04:25.554 |
6 | Shane Archbold (New Zealand) | 0:04:26.581 |
7 | Elia Viviani (Italy) | 0:04:28.499 |
8 | Zachary Bell (Canada) | 0:04:29.411 |
9 | Eloy Teruel Rovira (Spain) | 0:04:29.874 |
10 | Gijs Van Hoecke (Belgium) | 0:04:29.992 |
11 | Bobby Lea (United States of America) | 0:04:30.127 |
12 | Bryan Coquard (France) | 0:04:30.780 |
13 | Hosung Cho (Republic of Korea) | 0:04:32.382 |
14 | Martyn Irvine (Ireland) | 0:04:32.948 |
15 | Walter Fernando Perez (Argentina) | 0:04:33.532 |
16 | Carlos Daniel Linarez Zambrano (Venezuela) | 0:04:36.477 |
17 | Ki Ho Choi (Hong Kong, China) | 0:04:38.707 |
18 | Luis Mansilla (Chile) | 0:04:53.230 |
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result | Header Cell - Column 3 |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Glenn O'Shea (Australia) | 17 | pts |
2 | Edward Clancy (Great Britain) | 19 | Row 1 - Cell 3 |
3 | Lasse Norman Hansen (Denmark) | 19 | Row 2 - Cell 3 |
4 | Elia Viviani (Italy) | 20 | Row 3 - Cell 3 |
5 | Bryan Coquard (France) | 22 | Row 4 - Cell 3 |
6 | Roger Kluge (Germany) | 24 | Row 5 - Cell 3 |
7 | Shane Archbold (New Zealand) | 29 | Row 6 - Cell 3 |
8 | Zachary Bell (Canada) | 38 | Row 7 - Cell 3 |
9 | Bobby Lea (United States of America) | 41 | Row 8 - Cell 3 |
10 | Juan Esteban Arango Carvajal (Colombia) | 42 | Row 9 - Cell 3 |
11 | Eloy Teruel Rovira (Spain) | 43 | Row 10 - Cell 3 |
12 | Walter Fernando Perez (Argentina) | 43 | Row 11 - Cell 3 |
13 | Hosung Cho (Republic of Korea) | 44 | Row 12 - Cell 3 |
14 | Martyn Irvine (Ireland) | 44 | Row 13 - Cell 3 |
15 | Gijs Van Hoecke (Belgium) | 50 | Row 14 - Cell 3 |
16 | Ki Ho Choi (Hong Kong, China) | 57 | Row 15 - Cell 3 |
17 | Carlos Daniel Linarez Zambrano (Venezuela) | 62 | Row 16 - Cell 3 |
18 | Luis Mansilla (Chile) | 70 | Row 17 - Cell 3 |
1 | Zachary Bell (Canada) | Row 0 - Cell 2 |
2 | Eloy Teruel Rovira (Spain) | Row 1 - Cell 2 |
3 | Bryan Coquard (France) | Row 2 - Cell 2 |
4 | Roger Kluge (Germany) | Row 3 - Cell 2 |
5 | Elia Viviani (Italy) | Row 4 - Cell 2 |
6 | Lasse Norman Hansen (Denmark) | Row 5 - Cell 2 |
7 | Bobby Lea (United States of America) | Row 6 - Cell 2 |
8 | Cho Hosung (Republic of Korea) | Row 7 - Cell 2 |
9 | Martyn Irvine (Ireland) | Row 8 - Cell 2 |
10 | Edward Clancy (Great Britain) | -1lap |
11 | Juan Esteban Arango Carvajal (Colombia) | Row 10 - Cell 2 |
12 | Walter Fernando Perez (Argentina) | Row 11 - Cell 2 |
13 | Shane Archbold (New Zealand) | Row 12 - Cell 2 |
14 | Glenn O'Shea (Australia) | Row 13 - Cell 2 |
15 | Gijs van Hoecke (Belgium) | Row 14 - Cell 2 |
16 | Luis Mansilla (Chile) | Row 15 - Cell 2 |
17 | Choi Ki Ho (Hong Kong, China) | Row 16 - Cell 2 |
18 | Carlos Daniel Linarez Zambrano (Venezuela) | -2laps |
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result | Header Cell - Column 3 |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Lasse Norman Hansen (Denmark) | 25 | pts |
2 | Elia Viviani (Italy) | 25 | Row 1 - Cell 3 |
3 | Bryan Coquard (France) | 25 | Row 2 - Cell 3 |
4 | Roger Kluge (Germany) | 28 | Row 3 - Cell 3 |
5 | Edward Clancy (Great Britain) | 29 | Row 4 - Cell 3 |
6 | Glenn O'Shea (Australia) | 31 | Row 5 - Cell 3 |
7 | Zachary Bell (Canada) | 39 | Row 6 - Cell 3 |
8 | Shane Archbold (New Zealand) | 42 | Row 7 - Cell 3 |
9 | Eloy Teruel Rovira (Spain) | 45 | Row 8 - Cell 3 |
10 | Bobby Lea (United States of America) | 48 | Row 9 - Cell 3 |
11 | Hosung Cho (Republic of Korea) | 52 | Row 10 - Cell 3 |
12 | Juan Esteban Arango Carvajal (Colombia) | 53 | Row 11 - Cell 3 |
13 | Martyn Irvine (Ireland) | 53 | Row 12 - Cell 3 |
14 | Walter Fernando Perez (Argentina) | 55 | Row 13 - Cell 3 |
15 | Gijs Hoecke (Belgium van) | 65 | Row 14 - Cell 3 |
16 | Ki Ho Choi (Hong Kong, China) | 74 | Row 15 - Cell 3 |
17 | Carlos Daniel Linarez Zambrano (Venezuela) | 80 | Row 16 - Cell 3 |
18 | Luis Mansilla (Chile) | 86 | Row 17 - Cell 3 |
1 | Edward Clancy (Great Britain) | 0:01:00.981 |
2 | Lasse Norman Hansen (Denmark) | 0:01:02.314 |
3 | Glenn O'Shea (Australia) | 0:01:02.513 |
4 | Bryan Coquard (France) | 0:01:03.078 |
5 | Roger Kluge (Germany) | 0:01:03.144 |
6 | Shane Archbold (New Zealand) | 0:01:03.290 |
7 | Juan Esteban Arango Carvajal (Colombia) | 0:01:03.793 |
8 | Cho Hosung (Republic of Korea) | 0:01:04.150 |
9 | Elia Viviani (Italy) | 0:01:04.239 |
10 | Zachary Bell (Canada) | 0:01:04.328 |
11 | Martyn Irvine (Ireland) | 0:01:04.558 |
12 | Gijs van Hoecke (Belgium) | 0:01:04.748 |
13 | Bobby Lea (United States of America) | 0:01:04.853 |
14 | Eloy Teruel Rovira (Spain) | 0:01:05.463 |
15 | Choi Ki Ho (Hong Kong, China) | 0:01:06.071 |
16 | Carlos Daniel Linarez Zambrano (Venezuela) | 0:01:06.773 |
17 | Walter Fernando Perez (Argentina) | 0:01:07.523 |
18 | Luis Mansilla (Chile) | 0:01:08.517 |
1 | Lasse Norman Hansen (Denmark) | 27 | pts |
2 | Bryan Coquard (France) | 29 | Row 1 - Cell 3 |
3 | Edward Clancy (Great Britain) | 30 | Row 2 - Cell 3 |
4 | Roger Kluge (Germany) | 33 | Row 3 - Cell 3 |
5 | Glenn O'Shea (Australia) | 34 | Row 4 - Cell 3 |
6 | Elia Viviani (Italy) | 34 | Row 5 - Cell 3 |
7 | Shane Archbold (New Zealand) | 48 | Row 6 - Cell 3 |
8 | Zachary Bell (Canada) | 49 | Row 7 - Cell 3 |
9 | Eloy Teruel Rovira (Spain) | 59 | Row 8 - Cell 3 |
10 | Juan Esteban Arango Carvajal (Colombia) | 60 | Row 9 - Cell 3 |
11 | Cho Hosung (Republic of Korea) | 60 | Row 10 - Cell 3 |
12 | Bobby Lea (United States of America) | 61 | Row 11 - Cell 3 |
13 | Martyn Irvine (Ireland) | 64 | Row 12 - Cell 3 |
14 | Walter Fernando Perez (Argentina) | 72 | Row 13 - Cell 3 |
15 | Gijs van Hoecke (Belgium) | 77 | Row 14 - Cell 3 |
16 | Choi Ki Ho (Hong Kong, China) | 89 | Row 15 - Cell 3 |
17 | Carlos Daniel Linarez Zambrano (Venezuela) | 96 | Row 16 - Cell 3 |
18 | Luis Mansilla (Chile) | 104 | Row 17 - Cell 3 |
Women's Individual Sprint
In the qualifying round of the women's sprint, home favourite Victoria Pendleton picked up where her compatriot Jason Kenny left off, coming in quickest with a new Olympic Record - 10.724 seconds for the 200m flying lap.
Anna Meares (Australia) came in second with a strong ride, having to face a wall of silence rather than the thunderous roar that Pendleton enjoyed. She topped Guo Shuang, with German Kristina Vogel coming in a close fourth.
The 1/16 rounds were a straightforward affair, with the top eight qualifiers advancing easily. However, in the final heat New Zealand's Natasha Hansen was pushed into repechage by Ukraine's Lyobov Shulika, who attacked early heading into the bell and held off the acceleration of the Kiwi. Hansen was able to advance out of the repechage rounds, however, along with Monique Sullivan (Canada) and Willy Kanis (Netherlands).
Pendleton, Meares, Guo and Vogel cruised through their 1/8 finals, but the races became much tighter in the final two heats: Simona Krupeckaite (Lithuania) made mincemeat of Olga Panarina in their heat, while the scrappy Cuban Lisandra Guerra Rodriguez barely escaped relegation with a warning in her victory over Honk Kong's Lee Wai Sze.
Shulika and Panarina got their second chance through the repechage round, and advanced to the quarterfinal. In the race for 9th-12 places, it was Dutchwoman Kanis who won over Lee, with Sullivan and Hansen rounding out the match.
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
---|---|---|
1 | Victoria Pendleton (Great Britain) | 0:00:10.724 |
2 | Anna Meares (Australia) | 0:00:10.805 |
3 | Shuang Guo (People's Republic of China) | 0:00:11.020 |
4 | Kristina Vogel (Germany) | 0:00:11.027 |
5 | Olga Panarina (Belarus) | 0:00:11.080 |
6 | Lisandra Guerra Rodriguez (Cuba) | 0:00:11.109 |
7 | Wai Sze Lee (Hong Kong, China) | 0:00:11.203 |
8 | Simona Krupeckaite (Lithuania) | 0:00:11.234 |
9 | Natasha Hansen (New Zealand) | 0:00:11.241 |
10 | Lyubov Shulika (Ukraine) | 0:00:11.319 |
11 | Willy Kanis (Netherlands) | 0:00:11.322 |
12 | Monique Sullivan (Canada) | 0:00:11.347 |
13 | Juliana Gaviria Rendon (Colombia) | 0:00:11.376 |
14 | Hyejin Lee (Republic of Korea) | 0:00:11.405 |
15 | Virginie Cueff (France) | 0:00:11.439 |
16 | Daniela Grelui Larreal (Venezuela) | 0:00:11.569 |
17 | Kayono Maeda (Japan) | 0:00:11.600 |
18 | Ekaterina Gnidenko (Russian Federation) | 0:00:11.649 |
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
---|---|---|
1 | Victoria Pendleton (Great Britain) | 0:00:11.775 |
2 | Ekaterina Gnidenko (Russian Federation) | Row 1 - Cell 2 |
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
---|---|---|
1 | Anna Meares (Australia) | 0:00:11.800 |
2 | Kayono Maeda (Japan) | Row 1 - Cell 2 |
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
---|---|---|
1 | Shuang Guo (People's Republic of China) | 0:00:11.371 |
2 | Daniela Grelui Larreal (Venezuela) | Row 1 - Cell 2 |
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
---|---|---|
1 | Kristina Vogel (Germany) | 0:00:11.605 |
2 | Virginie Cueff (France) | Row 1 - Cell 2 |
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
---|---|---|
1 | Olga Panarina (Belarus) | 0:00:11.608 |
2 | Hyejin Lee (Republic of Korea) | Row 1 - Cell 2 |
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
---|---|---|
1 | Lisandra Guerra Rodriguez (Cuba) | 0:00:11.390 |
2 | Juliana Gaviria Rendon (Colombia) | Row 1 - Cell 2 |
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
---|---|---|
1 | Wai Sze Lee (Hong Kong, China) | 0:00:11.300 |
2 | Monique Sullivan (Canada) | Row 1 - Cell 2 |
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
---|---|---|
1 | Simona Krupeckaite (Lithuania) | 0:00:11.528 |
2 | Willy Kanis (Netherlands) | Row 1 - Cell 2 |
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
---|---|---|
1 | Lyubov Shulika (Ukraine) | 0:00:11.808 |
2 | Natasha Hansen (New Zealand) | Row 1 - Cell 2 |
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
---|---|---|
1 | Natasha Hansen (New Zealand) | 0:00:11.882 |
2 | Juliana Gaviria Rendon (Colombia) | Row 1 - Cell 2 |
3 | Ekaterina Gnidenko (Russian Federation) | Row 2 - Cell 2 |
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
---|---|---|
1 | Monique Sullivan (Canada) | 0:00:11.572 |
2 | Hyejin Lee (Republic of Korea) | Row 1 - Cell 2 |
3 | Kayono Maeda (Japan) | Row 2 - Cell 2 |
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
---|---|---|
1 | Willy Kanis (Netherlands) | 0:00:11.643 |
2 | Virginie Cueff (France) | Row 1 - Cell 2 |
3 | Daniela Grelui Larreal (Venezuela) | Row 2 - Cell 2 |
1 | Victoria Pendleton (Great Britain) | 0:00:11.840 |
2 | Willy Kanis (Netherlands) | Row 1 - Cell 2 |
1 | Anna Meares (Australia) | 0:00:11.566 |
2 | Monique Sullivan (Canada) | Row 1 - Cell 2 |
1 | Guo Shuang (People's Republic of China) | 0:00:11.431 |
2 | Natasha Hansen (New Zealand) | Row 1 - Cell 2 |
1 | Kristina Vogel (Germany) | 0:00:11.547 |
2 | Lyubov Shulika (Ukraine) | Row 1 - Cell 2 |
1 | Simona Krupeckaite (Lithuania) |
2 | Olga Panarina (Belarus) |
1 | Lisandra Guerra Rodriguez (Cuba) | 0:00:11.485 |
2 | Lee Wai Sze (Hong Kong, China) | Row 1 - Cell 2 |
1 | Lyubov Shulika (Ukraine) | 0:00:11.461 |
2 | Lee Wai Sze (Hong Kong, China) | Row 1 - Cell 2 |
3 | Willy Kanis (Netherlands) | Row 2 - Cell 2 |
1 | Olga Panarina (Belarus) | 0:00:11.443 |
2 | Monique Sullivan (Canada) | Row 1 - Cell 2 |
3 | Natasha Hansen (New Zealand) | Row 2 - Cell 2 |
9 | Willy Kanis (Netherlands) | 0:00:11.852 |
10 | Lee Wai Sze (Hong Kong, China) | Row 1 - Cell 2 |
11 | Monique Sullivan (Canada) | Row 2 - Cell 2 |
12 | Natasha Hansen (New Zealand) | Row 3 - Cell 2 |
Men's individual sprint
The men's sprint quarterfinals were decided in two races for each heat, with home favourtie Jason Kenny (Great Britain) easily advancing over Malaysian Awang Azizulhasni. Awang pushed Kenny hard, making the second race one of the fastest match sprints in Olympic history.
German Robert Forstemann was no match for the French world champion Gregory Bauge. It appeared to take far less than the maximum effort for Bauge to send Forstemann packing, and he cruised in after two matches to advance to the semifinal.
Shane Perkins similarly dispatched American Jimmy Watkins, but the matches between Russian Denis Dmitriyev and Njisane Phillip (Trinidad & Tobago) were far closer. Phillip's tactic to push the pace from the front and force the Russian to chase worked to perfection, although his margin of victory was razor thin each time.
Dmitriev went on to win the race for 5th-8th places over Watkins, Forstemann and Awang.
1 | Jason Kenny (Great Britain) | 0:00:10.433 |
2 | Azizulhasni Awang (Malaysia) | Row 1 - Cell 2 |
1 | Jason Kenny (Great Britain) | 0:00:10.030 |
2 | Azizulhasni Awang (Malaysia) | Row 1 - Cell 2 |
1 | Gregory Bauge (France) | 0:00:10.472 |
2 | Robert Forstemann (Germany) | Row 1 - Cell 2 |
1 | Gregory Bauge (France) | 0:00:10.300 |
2 | Robert Forstemann (Germany) | Row 1 - Cell 2 |
1 | Shane Perkins (Australia) | 0:00:10.520 |
2 | Jimmy Watkins (United States of America) | Row 1 - Cell 2 |
1 | Shane Perkins (Australia) | 0:00:10.263 |
2 | Jimmy Watkins (United States of America) | Row 1 - Cell 2 |
1 | Njisane Nicholas Phillip (Trinidad and Tobago) | 0:00:10.545 |
2 | Denis Dmitriev (Russian Federation) | Row 1 - Cell 2 |
1 | Njisane Nicholas Phillip (Trinidad and Tobago) | 0:00:10.300 |
2 | Denis Dmitriev (Russian Federation) | Row 1 - Cell 2 |
5 | Denis Dmitriev (Russian Federation) | 0:00:10.340 |
6 | Jimmy Watkins (United States of America) | Row 1 - Cell 2 |
7 | Robert Forstemann (Germany) | Row 2 - Cell 2 |
8 | Azizulhasni Awang (Malaysia) | Row 3 - Cell 2 |
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Laura Weislo has been with Cyclingnews since 2006 after making a switch from a career in science. As Managing Editor, she coordinates coverage for North American events and global news. As former elite-level road racer who dabbled in cyclo-cross and track, Laura has a passion for all three disciplines. When not working she likes to go camping and explore lesser traveled roads, paths and gravel tracks. Laura specialises in covering doping, anti-doping, UCI governance and performing data analysis.
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