Germany set new world record twice en-route to rainbow jersey
Australia's three-year-reign over, China take bronze medal
Germany's Miriam Welte and Kristina Vogel upset the three-time world champions Australia to win gold in the women's team sprint final, setting two new world records in the process.
"I don't know what we did today," a shocked Vogel explained. "It's so amazing and we never believed we could go so fast.
"It's now just a dream and I have to calm down.
"I told Miriam that we wanted to do a new German record but to do a new world record, it's amazing. I don't understand that at the moment."
The Australian pairing of Anna Meares and Kaarle McCulloch were favourites heading into the event but the German's had sent out an early warning lowering the world mark in qualifying (32.754) which had been set in February by Great Britain's Victoria Pendleton and Jessica Varnish at the London World Cup meet. In a powerful performance, Germany's new time in qualifying against Lithuania was 32.630.
Australia had earned their start in the gold medal ride-off after their defeat of Great Britain. Australia was on world record pace but their time when they crossed the line was not enough (32.752) to have the number one seeding for the finals. Great Britain qualified fourth. China then overcame a false start in their heat against France to set a third-best time of 32.937.
Welte and Vogel were forced to fight back in the gold medal match with Australia looking stronger but Germany fought all the way to clock their new world record of 32.549. Australia's time of 32.597 was a personal best.
"I take a lot of confidence out of this ride tonight," explained McCulloch. "There's 115 days to go to the Olympics and I can guarantee you we'll both be faster and we want to stand on that top step on the podium.
"We will be better in London, we aimed to be about 90 per cent here and we'll be 100 per cent in London and we'll be bringing our A game then."
China's Jinjie Gong and Shuang Guo proved too good for Pendleton and Varnish, with the Brits perhaps shocked to be walking away empty-handed.
1 | Germany | 0:00:32.630 |
Row 1 - Cell 0 | Miriam Welte (Germany) | Row 1 - Cell 2 |
Row 2 - Cell 0 | Kristina Vogel (Germany) | Row 2 - Cell 2 |
2 | Australia | 0:00:32.752 |
Row 4 - Cell 0 | Anna Meares (Australia) | Row 4 - Cell 2 |
Row 5 - Cell 0 | Kaarle McCulloch (Australia) | Row 5 - Cell 2 |
3 | China | 0:00:32.937 |
Row 7 - Cell 0 | Jinjie Gong (People's Republic of China) | Row 7 - Cell 2 |
Row 8 - Cell 0 | Shuang Guo (People's Republic of China) | Row 8 - Cell 2 |
4 | Great Britain | 0:00:32.941 |
Row 10 - Cell 0 | Jessica Varnish (Great Britain) | Row 10 - Cell 2 |
Row 11 - Cell 0 | Victoria Pendleton (Great Britain) | Row 11 - Cell 2 |
5 | France | 0:00:33.355 |
Row 13 - Cell 0 | Sandie Clair (France) | Row 13 - Cell 2 |
Row 14 - Cell 0 | Clara Sanchez (France) | Row 14 - Cell 2 |
6 | Russia | 0:00:33.440 |
Row 16 - Cell 0 | Anastasya Voynova (Russian Federation) | Row 16 - Cell 2 |
Row 17 - Cell 0 | Viktoria Baranova (Russian Federation) | Row 17 - Cell 2 |
7 | Netherlands | 0:00:33.571 |
Row 19 - Cell 0 | Willy Kanis (Netherlands) | Row 19 - Cell 2 |
Row 20 - Cell 0 | Yvonne Hijgenaar (Netherlands) | Row 20 - Cell 2 |
8 | Ukraine | 0:00:33.639 |
Row 22 - Cell 0 | Olena Tsos (Ukraine) | Row 22 - Cell 2 |
Row 23 - Cell 0 | Lyubov Shulika (Ukraine) | Row 23 - Cell 2 |
9 | Spain | 0:00:34.276 |
Row 25 - Cell 0 | Tania Calvo Barbero (Spain) | Row 25 - Cell 2 |
Row 26 - Cell 0 | Helena Casas Roige (Spain) | Row 26 - Cell 2 |
10 | New Zealand | 0:00:34.278 |
Row 28 - Cell 0 | Katie Schofield (New Zealand) | Row 28 - Cell 2 |
Row 29 - Cell 0 | Natasha Hansen (New Zealand) | Row 29 - Cell 2 |
11 | Venezuela | 0:00:34.335 |
Row 31 - Cell 0 | Mariesthela Carolina Vilera (Venezuela) | Row 31 - Cell 2 |
Row 32 - Cell 0 | Daniela Grelui Larreal Chirinos (Venezuela) | Row 32 - Cell 2 |
12 | Colombia | 0:00:35.025 |
Row 34 - Cell 0 | Juliana Gaviria (Colombia) | Row 34 - Cell 2 |
Row 35 - Cell 0 | Diana Maria Garcia Orrego (Colombia) | Row 35 - Cell 2 |
13 | Korea | 0:00:35.128 |
Row 37 - Cell 0 | Eunji Lee (Korea) | Row 37 - Cell 2 |
Row 38 - Cell 0 | Hyejin Lee (Korea) | Row 38 - Cell 2 |
14 | Japan | 0:00:35.301 |
Row 40 - Cell 0 | Kayono Maeda (Japan) | Row 40 - Cell 2 |
Row 41 - Cell 0 | Hiroko Ishii (Japan) | Row 41 - Cell 2 |
15 | Hong Kong | 0:00:36.631 |
Row 43 - Cell 0 | Xiao Juan Diao (Hong Kong, China) | Row 43 - Cell 2 |
Row 44 - Cell 0 | Wai Sze Lee (Hong Kong, China) | Row 44 - Cell 2 |
REL | Lithuania | Row 45 - Cell 2 |
Row 46 - Cell 0 | Gintare Gaivenyte (Lithuania) | Row 46 - Cell 2 |
Row 47 - Cell 0 | Simona Krupeckaite (Lithuania) | Row 47 - Cell 2 |
1 | Germany | 0:00:32.549 |
Row 1 - Cell 0 | Miriam Welte (Germany) | Row 1 - Cell 2 |
Row 2 - Cell 0 | Kristina Vogel (Germany) | Row 2 - Cell 2 |
2 | Australia | 0:00:32.597 |
Row 4 - Cell 0 | Anna Meares (Australia) | Row 4 - Cell 2 |
Row 5 - Cell 0 | Kaarle McCulloch (Australia) | Row 5 - Cell 2 |
3 | China | 0:00:32.870 |
Row 1 - Cell 0 | Jinjie Gong (People's Republic of China) | Row 1 - Cell 2 |
Row 2 - Cell 0 | Shuang Guo (People's Republic of China) | Row 2 - Cell 2 |
4 | Great Britain | 0:00:33.160 |
Row 4 - Cell 0 | Jessica Varnish (Great Britain) | Row 4 - Cell 2 |
Row 5 - Cell 0 | Victoria Pendleton (Great Britain) | Row 5 - 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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