Pendleton win women’s sprint title at cycling world championships

Published 4:15 pm Saturday, March 28, 2009

PRUSZKOW, Poland — Victoria Pendleton edged Willy Kanis of the Netherlands to win the women’s individual sprint title Saturday at the track world championships.

It was the third consecutive world sprint crown and fourth overall for Pendleton, but the British sprinter called the victory “one of the greatest accomplishments” of her career.

“This was the hardest world championship title I’ve ever won,” said Pendleton, who broke into tears after the race. “Coming out of the Olympics and going straight back into training was really tough with all the other commitments that you have as an Olympic champion … and I just didn’t think it would be possible.”

Also, the Danish duo of Alex Rasmussen and Michael Morkov won the men’s madison, and Josephine Tomic of Australia won the women’s inaugural omnium.

Pendleton slipped past Kanis on the home stretch to take the first race, before Kanis rallied to win the second and force a decider. The two riders were tied coming out of the final turn, but Pendleton had a final push to edge Kanis by an inch at the line.

Last year’s runner-up Simona Krupeckaite of Lithuania beat Olga Panarina of Belarus for the bronze.

Rasmussen and Morkov, who finished third last year, took control of the madison early and easily outclassed the 18-team field to capture the gold. Australia’s Leigh Howard and Cameron Meyer of Australia gained a lap with 25 to go to capture the silver, and the Czech pair of Martin Blaha and Jiri Hochmann settled for bronze.

“I felt so good in the sprints, so we were still going for them in the middle of the race, but our plan was actually to go for a lap,” said Rasmussen, who added to the gold he won in the team pursuit Friday. “But the way the race unfolded it was so hard at the end, so people were just dropping off and we just made the pace until the end.”

Britain’s talented team of Mark Cavendish and Peter Kennaugh were in contention for a medal until Colombian rider Juan Esteban Arango Carvajal slipped and fell on the turn directly in front Kennaugh on lap 45. Kennaugh tried to swerve to avoid the Colombian, but had nowhere to go and crashed, ripping the front tire off his bike along the way.

“Me and Cav (Cavendish) had just launched our main attack of the race and we were quite clearly away from the field, and the crash just changed the whole course of the race,” Kennaugh said.

Kennaugh got a replacement bike, but Britain was only able to finish sixth.

Meanwhile, Tomic won the women’s omnium, a kind of cycling pentathlon held over a single day that includes two time trials, a scratch race, individual pursuit and a points race.

“This is the first one, so I’ll go down in the record books as the first one to ever win it, so that’s cool,” Tomic said. “It’s a big surprise, especially after the morning when I had a disappointing scratch race and pursuit.”

Tomic sat in fifth place after three events, but won the points race and finished one spot ahead of silver medalist Tara Whitten of Canada in the final event, a 500 meter time-trial, to capture the gold. Yvonne Hijgenaar of the Netherlands took the bronze.

Also Saturday, France again showed its sprinting strength at the 2009 championships, coming out on top against rival Britain in two head-to-head quarterfinal matchups.

France’s Gregory Bauge beat Olympic silver medalist Jason Kenny, while 2008 runner-up Kevin Sireau knocked out Matthew Crampton. Australia’s Shane Perkins and Azizulhasni Awang of Malaysia also advanced to Sunday’s semifinals.

It was the second time the French had gotten the best of their British rivals this week. On Wednesday, Bauge, Sireau and Mickael Bourgain edged Kenny, Crampton and Jamie Staff for the gold medal in the men’s team sprint.