Whitten repeats with flawless omnium

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Canadian Tara Whitten took her second consecutive title in the women's omnium - probably the most difficult event in which to achieve a repeat victory. She topped American Sarah Hammer, who won the omnium in two World Cups this season, and hometown favourite Kirsten Wild (Netherlands).

With six events, up from last year's five, including an individual pursuit a full kilometre longer and the elimination race, the challenge of a repeat title was daunting. But through consistenly strong timed events and an aggressive move in the scratch race, Whitten secured the win and the only medal of the championships for Canada.

"I wanted to win, obviously that's what I came here to do. I thought it would be harder the second time - I thought there would be different dynamics. I'm just so happy to repeat."

After taking second in the 250m flying lap, then a reasonable eighth in a difficult points race, Whitten nearly lost her chance at the gold medal in the early part of the elimination race. With 17 riders still in the race, the Canadian found herself at the tail end of the race and had to make a late surge. The decision on who was last across the line came to a photo finish, and luckily Whitten made it through and stayed in the race to take fourth.

"The pace was pretty high, and the tactic was to just conserve as much energy as possible. Coming over the top takes a big effort, but that was a little too close for comfort."

Next up was the individual pursuit, a specialty of Whitten's, and she finished second only to Hammer, but because of the American's 11th place finish in the points race, Whitten still had a fairly secure lead in the competition.

In the following scratch race, she could have raced more conservatively, but instead escaped the field by following a move by points race world champion Tatsiana Sharakova (Belarus). The two succeeded in lapping the field, and Whitten ended with a second place. Hammer led the last two laps at such a high pace that no one except New Zealand's Joanne Kiesanowski could come around.

"I didn't want to fall into the trap of watching the people I was in contention with," Whitten said of her aggressive rideing. If the opportunity came up I wanted to take advantage of it to put myself in a more comfortable position for the 500."

Hammer, on the other hand, took a purposefully conservative stance knowing she could try to challenge Whitten, but with just one race remaining and a two point gap to make up on Wild for silver but seven points between her and Whitten, it would be too risky.

"At that point, with the position I was in I couldn't get greedy and go only for gold. Tara had a good margin on me, and if you get greedy for gold you can lose everything. The girl I was really watching was the Polish girl (Malgorzata Wojtyra, who came in fourth overall). She was an important one for me at that point, because she's a good 500 rider.

Whitten, also a formidable 500m time trialist, came in fifth in the race, on place behind Hammer to claim the overall win, while Wild plummeted to third with a 16th place finish.

"That 500 took a lot out of me," Hammer said after topping Wild by 1.3 seconds over the two-lap race. "I had a much better second day of racing. I'm really excited - the goal was top three, and you can't argue with Tara's performance. Hands down she is without a doubt the world's best at this.

"I've had a really good run for the past two World Cups. I was preparing for if I wasn't in the position to be leading. I was happy with how I held it together, especially after the points race, I was pretty down on myself.

"That's the nature of the omnium, being able to hold it together when you do have bad performances."

Whitten's only flaw of the two days was her points race, where she took a few minor placings in the sprints, but missed the winning moves that succeeded in lapping the field.

"The points race is funny for me, it can go really well or I can make some pretty big mistakes. I never know what to expect, but that's what the omnium is, every event something new can happen. This year that was my worst event, but I know it can be good in the future.

"I'm sure the dynamics will change leading up to the Olympics. I expect everyone to get better in everything.

"But I'm going to appreciate this right now, and in a couple weeks I will start to think about how to get better for next year."Race 1 - 200m flying lap

Race 2 - points race

Race 3 - elimination race

Standings after 3 races

Race 4 - individual pursuit

Standings after 4 races

Race 5 - Scratch race

Race 6 - 500m time trial

Final standings