Commonwealth Games: Rowsell, Bobridge win pursuits

Day two of the Commonwealth Games was a day of doubles, as Jack Bobridge (Australia) and Sam Webster (New Zealand) took their second gold medals in as many days.

Webster became New Zealand’s first gold medallist in the team sprint, since the inception of the games in 1930. The team sprint world champion did it alone this time, tacking on the might of Jason Kenny (England) over three rounds. The Kiwi proved too strong for Kenny in the first race, catching him off guard and winning by a clear margin. Kenny struck back in the second. However, Webster was too strong again in the final round, holding off a late charge to take the gold.

Race favourite Matthew Glaetzer (Australia) failed to make the medals, after he was beaten by Kenny in the quarter finals. It is the first event on the track that Australia has failed to get a rider in the medals with New Zealand’s Edward Dawkins taking the bronze.

Bobridge was the first of the track cyclists to double up as he took gold in the individual pursuit. The Australian set his stall out in the morning session, beating the rest of the starters by more than a second. His teammate and close friend Alex Edmondson to set up an all Australian final.

Edmondson came out of the traps quickly, possibly too quickly, going two tenths quicker than Bobridge over the first 1000 metres. Bobridge, the more experienced of the two, didn’t panic and brought that gap back and more at the half way mark. The efforts of the opening laps took their toll on Edmondson, who continued to bleed time to his teammate. Bobridge crossed the line in time of 4:19.650, just four tenths slower than he did in the warmer morning session.

Alex wasn’t the only Edmondson out on track. His sister Annette Edmondson also made it into the gold medal round of the women’s individual pursuit. She faced Joanna Rowsell in the final, after the English rider smashed the Commonwealth Games record in the qualifiers. Like her brother, Edmondson had a fast start. However, she was no match for Rowsell once she got into her stride.

The reigning world champion had close the time she had lost by the end of the fourth lap and set about homing in on her rival. She blamed the cooler the cooler air on her slower time, but still put almost four seconds into the Australian by the finish. Rowsell was all smiles as she spoke to the media after receiving her medal, saying that the Commonwealth Games was like the Olympics for the individual pursuit - after the event was taken out of the Olympic programme in 2008.

Home nation Scotland finally got their first medal on the track. Neil Fachie and Craig MacLean beat the Australian duo Kieran Modra and Jason Niblett in the men’s tandem time trial. It was a new event to the games, but attracted a strong field nonetheless. Fachie is the reigning Paralympic champion, while Maclean helped Anthony Kappes to win gold in London in the sprint. The duo were last to go in the event and the crowd erupted as they posted the fastest time of 1.02.098. The pair will be looking for gold again in the sprint event on Saturday.

Results

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Women's Individual Pursuit Qualifying
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Joanna Rowsell (England)0:03:29.038
2Annette Edmondson (Australia)0:03:30.728
3Amy Cure (Australia)0:03:31.543
4Katie Archibald (Scotland)0:03:33.526
5Jaime Nielsen (New Zealand)0:03:34.342
6Laura Trott (England)0:03:35.213
7Elinor Barker (Wales)0:03:36.803
8Dani King (England)0:03:38.084
9Lauren Ellis (New Zealand)0:03:39.716
10Laura Brown (Canada)0:03:40.035
11Jasmin Glaesser (Canada)0:03:40.050
12Anna Turvey (Scotland)0:03:42.525
13Amy Roberts (Wales)0:03:42.623
14Stephanie Roorda (Canada)0:03:42.924
15Ciara Horne (Wales)0:03:45.119
16Georgia Williams (New Zealand)0:03:45.334
17Sunita Yanglem (India)0:04:07.614
18Tamiko Butler (Antigua and Barbuda)0:04:08.979
19Bianca Hernould (Jamaica)0:04:19.202
DNSRahila Bano (Pakistan)Row 19 - Cell 2
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Women's Individual Pursuit Final
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Joanna Rowsell (England)0:03:31.615
2Annette Edmonson (Australia)0:03:35.450
3Amy Cure (Australia)0:03:35.384
4Katie Archibald (Scotland)0:03:37.078
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Men's Individual Pursuit Qualifying
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Jack Bobridge (Australia)0:04:19.211
2Alex Edmondson (Australia)0:04:20.853
3Owain Doull (Wales)0:04:21.369
4Marc Ryan (New Zealand)0:04:22.511
5Andy Tennant (England)0:04:23.723
6Miles Scotson (Australia)0:04:24.819
7Patrick Bevin (New Zealand)0:04:26.909
8Dylan Kennett (New Zealand)0:04:26.930
9Remi Pelletier (Canada)0:04:28.525
10Steven Burke (England)0:04:31.752
11Mark Stewart (Scotland)0:04:32.279
12Ed Veal (Canada)0:04:33.775
13Theuns Van der Bank (South Africa)0:04:40.041
14Morne Van Niekerk (South Africa)0:04:44.415
15Oupa Maluleke (South Africa)0:04:48.368
16Manjeet Singh (India)0:04:55.164
17Sombir (India)0:04:57.202
18Amit Kumar (India)0:04:58.444
19Muhammad Shakeel (Pakistan)Row 18 - Cell 2
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Men's Individual Pursuit Final
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Jack Bobridge (Australia)0:04:19.650
2Alex Edmondson (Australia)0:04:24.620
3Marc Ryan (New Zealand)0:04:23.599
4Owain Doull (Wales)0:04:25.664
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Men's B2 Tandem 1000km Time Trial Final
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Neil Fachie/ Craig MacLean (Scotland)0:01:02.096
2Kieran Modra/ Jason Niblett (Australia)0:01:02.244
3Matthew Ellis/ Ieuan Williams (Wales)0:01:04.095
4Paul Kennedy/ Thomas Clarke (Australia)0:01:05.261
5James Brown/ Dave Readle (Northern Ireland)0:01:09.413
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Men's Sprint Quarterfinal Heat 1
#Rider Name (Country) Team
1Jason Kenny (England)
2Matthew Glaetzer (Australia)
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Men's Sprint Quarterfinal Heat 2
#Rider Name (Country) Team
1Edward Dawkins (New Zealand)
2Matthew Crampton (England)
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Men's Sprint Quarterfinal Heat 3
#Rider Name (Country) Team
1Sam Webster (New Zealand)
2Mohd Azizulhasni Awang (Malaysia)
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Men's Sprint Quarterfinal Heat 4
#Rider Name (Country) Team
1Peter Lewis (Australia)
2Matthew Archibald (New Zealand)
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Men's Sprint 5-8 Final
#Rider Name (Country) Team
1Matthew Glaetzer (Australia)
2Matthew Archibald (New Zealand)
3Mohd Azizulhasni Awang (Malaysia)
4Matthew Crampton (England)
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Men's Sprint Semi-finals Heat 1
#Rider Name (Country) Team
1Jason Kenny (England)
2Peter Lewis (Australia)
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Men's Sprint Semi-finals Heat 2
#Rider Name (Country) Team
1Sam Webster (New Zealand)
2Edward Dawkins (New Zealand)
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Men's Sprint Final
#Rider Name (Country) Team
1Sam Webster (New Zealand)
2Jason Kenny (England)
3Edward Dawkins (New Zealand)
4Peter Lewis (Australia)

 

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Born in Ireland to a cycling family and later moved to the Isle of Man, so there was no surprise when I got into the sport. Studied sports journalism at university before going on to do a Masters in sports broadcast. After university I spent three months interning at Eurosport, where I covered the Tour de France. In 2012 I started at Procycling Magazine, before becoming the deputy editor of Procycling Week. I then joined Cyclingnews, in December 2013.

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