World Cup Sydney

A record number of 395 riders were entered in this past weekend’s world cup,  including 15 reigning world champions.  Everyone’s goal in mind is to pursue important points toward Olympic qualification.  My goal leading up to this was to make the keirin final and make PB’s in the 200m sprint and team sprint.

On Friday, our Malaysian team of Junaidi, Azizul and myself lined up for the team sprint.  There were 26 teams which is about double of what it usually is.  Our goal was to end up in the middle somwhere and make a national record.  We just missed out on our national record by a tenth of a second which was a disappointment.  We ended up 17th with a time of 46.39.  Our goal was a mid 45 seconds which we are very capable of.

My pet event, the keirin was held on Saturday.  When I saw the start list, I had to swallow a big lump in my throat.  There were 6 heats totalling 37 riders and only the winners of each heat and each repecharge would make it through the semi finals!  Usually the first 2 riders make it through but it had to be cut down to only winners because of the amount of riders starting.   I dread heat five which included two strong riders from Japan and Ukraine.   I fought for the bike and tried to control it from the front.  The move came with a lap and a half to go and the Ukraine rider choped my front wheel.  I narrowly avoided crashing by backing off and made my move on the back straight.  I sitll had a lot of power left and managed to cross the line second to the Ukraine rider but I knew he would most probably be relegated for his dangerous move.  My assumption was confirmed five minutes later and I breathed a sigh of relief.  In the semi finals, I drew the first heat which included the reigning world champion, Chris Hoy of GB, Stephan Nimke from Germany, Michael Bourgain from France, Vinokurov from Ukraine (again!)  and a good sized Chinese.  I fought for the motor again and won but Chris wanted it as well.  I gladly obliged!  I thought to myself at the time oh this is so perfect.  I also had to remind myself do hold on for dear life and glue myself to his wheel!  I did a great job and he took me all the way to the line to qualify for the finals!  I was jubilant!

Just to give you an idea of the depth in the keirin field here, the two top Germans, Australians, and French didn’t make it to the final.  Superstar Gregory Bourge of France didn’t even make it out of the first round!

The final consisted of the three reigning world championship medalists Hoy, Edgar, and Bos.  Roberto Chiappa, Andrey Vinokurov and myself weren’t really a factor in the final as Hoy and Edgar teamed up to stretch it out as soon as the motor pulled off.  Even the superstar Theo Bos didn’t have an answer to their sheer genius.   I still have a bit of work to do before I can have a good impact in that field with that horsepower.

Having done so well in the keirin motivated me for the 200m qualifying the next day.  There was an unbelievable 67 starters!  Yet another world cup or world championship record.  Beforehand, I spoke to my coach, John Beasley and we thought that the cut-off would be in the high 10.3’s to be top 16.  I normally go about 10.5 on a good day!  So I had to make a perfect run just to qualify.  I did just that, and qualified in a time of 10.38.  I felt pretty good about that until I found out that I was 17th!   Thats absurd that a 10.38 can’t even get me in the sprint rounds.   The trade team rule screws riders like me because it allows the big powerhouse countries like France, German, GB, and Australia to field their entire sprint teams! 

Well, I made my personal best on a 250m track so there isn’t much else I can do except try again at the next world cup.  I’m off to Beijing today. Wish me more luck!  Cheers.