Trott wins gold medal in the points race

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The medals reigned down on the final day of the track at the Commonwealth Games. Australia continued their dominance of anything two-wheeled and Laura Trott (England) came back from a kidney infection to take gold in the points race. The effervescent English rider beat Elinor Barker (Wales), with whom she won team pursuit gold with at the World Championships earlier this year.

After their dominance throughout this week, Australia looked like a shoe-in for the title once again. However, Amy Cure was the only one left in the running as the only Australian in a group of eight that went on to take a lap. Trott and Barker were part of the eight and traded blows in the sprints. The pair both finished on 37 points, however, Trott’s better finishing position was the deciding factor.

Scotland’s Katie Archibald made it a home nations 1-2-3 by taking bronze with a furious sprint to take top points on the finish line. The sprint was enough to put her one point ahead of Cure, pushing the Australian out of the medals.

Stephanie Morton caused an upset in the sprint competition, when she beat her Australian teammate and reigning Olympic sprint champion Anna Meares. The pair dominated the earlier rounds to set up the all-Aussie final.

With her pedigree, Meares was the favourite going into the race. However, it was Morton who had looked the stronger of the two as they went through each round. Morton had set the early benchmark as the only rider to dip under the 11-second mark during Saturday’s qualifying. She carried on this performance into the final, as she beat Meares in two. She took up both sprints from the front and forced Meares to chase, but the more experienced of the two didn’t have the legs to pass her.

Morton’s day was made even better as she met one of her heroes not long after she’d stepped in the track, sprinting legend Victoria Pendleton. Morton was almost rendered speechless by the meeting.

On the men’s side of things, Matthew Glaetzer (Australia) finally got his gold at the Commonwealth Games, with victory in the men’s keirin. Sam Webster (New Zealand) won the silver, taking it on the photo finish, ahead of Malaysia’s Azizulhasni Awang.

Australia and New Zealand filled all but one spot in the final, with Awang the only rider not from the Oceanic Nations. There was no home representation, after Jason Kenny (England) went out in the opening round. Matt Crampton (England) and John Paul (Scotland) made it as far as the semi finals, but no further.

Moments after the derny pulled off with three laps to go, Edward Dawkins flew off the front. The Kiwi pushed hard, but was eventually caught as the riders hit the final bend. It looked like it was going to be a fight between Webster, Glaetzer and his teammate Shane Perkins, who were riding shoulder to shoulder around the bend. However, the pocket rocket Awang managed to muscle his way in and take the final spot for himself. Glaetzer’s medal makes it seven golds and 18 in total for Australia.

Shane Archbold (New Zealand) took gold in a fast and furious 20-kilometre points race. The pace was high from the gun and flurry of attacks set the theme for the 80 laps. Eventually a group of six riders, including race favourites Archbold, Martyn Irvine (Northern Ireland) and Glenn O’Shea (Australia) managed to distance the main group.

The six men had to work hard, with the pack not letting up in their pursuit of them. The work paid off and they gained a lap, whittling the competition between themselves. A few riders tried to join, but the selection had already been made. The lap had taken a lot of effort and ultimately ended the race for Wales’ John Mould. Irvine soon lost his lap too, bringing the contest down to four riders – consisting of O’Shea, Archbold, Mark Christian (Isle of Man) and Remi Pelletier-Roy (Canada).

Christian attempted to get the jump on the other riders, but was soon swamped by the faster men. Pelletier looked like he was in trouble going into the last corner, but slipped in to take the bronze medal.

The medal positions for the women’s tandem time trial was an exact repeat of the of the sprint competition on the opening day of the track programme. Australia’s Brandie and Breanna Hargrave took the bronze, while home heroes Aileen McGlynn and Louise Haston of Scotland finished with another silver medal. However, nobody could touch the English pairing of Sophie Thornhill and Helen Scott. The pair completed the kilometre in a storming time of 1.08.187, well over a minute faster than the Scottish duo and beating them for the second time this week.

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