| U.S. OPENS 2007 UCI TRACK WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS THURSDAY |
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| Written by USA Cycling | |
| Wednesday, 28 March 2007 | |
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Hammer Chases History, Huff to Open Competition for USA in New Omnium Event Palma de Mallora, Spain (March 28, 2007)-The United States Cycling Team opens the 2007 UCI Track World Championships Thursday as defending world champion Sarah Hammer (Temecula, Calif./Ouch Pro Cycling) leads the medal hopes for a small but focused American squad that features six riders. Last year's gold medalist in the women's three-kilometer individual pursuit, Hammer looks to become the first American woman to successfully defend her rainbow jersey on the track since Rebecca Twigg accomplished the feat over twenty years ago at the 1984 and '85 world championships, also in the pursuit. Hammer begins her quest in Friday morning's qualifying session at 10:00 a.m. where one of the top-two fastest times in the race against the clock will send her to the gold medal final. Since last year's world championships in Bordeaux, Hammer has been consistently improving her times at all major competitions in which she's competed, proving she's on pace to again stand atop the podium. A year ago, she clocked a then-personal best time of 3:37.194 in the qualifying round before edging Olga Slyusareva of Russia for the world title. Eight months later at the USA Cycling Elite Track National Championships, Hammer lowered her personal best to 3:32.865 to break an 11-year-old national record and set a track record at the ADT Event Center Velodrome - a facility that's hosted its share of world class events including the 2005 World Championships and three UCI World Cup races. In January, Hammer eclipsed the mark once more, clocking a gold medal time of 3:32.058 at the third round of the 2006-07 UCI Track World Cup series. Last year, Hammer entered the pursuit relatively unknown with little international results to speak of, but this year will be different. "It's obviously a little different coming in as the defending champion," explains Hammer. "There are more eyes focused on me compared to last year when I was kind of flying under the radar. I knew what I could do because of the times I was putting up in training, but others didn't know what to expect then. My training has been awesome though and the track is fast, so I think you will see some fast times this week." In Palma, Hammer will face strong competition from several contenders including defending bronze medalist and 2004 Olympic silver medalist Katie Mactier and Kate Bates of Australia, two-time 2006-07 UCI World Cup winner Wendy Houvanhagel (GBR), Rebecca Romero (GBR) and Sluyusareva. "I don't like to look at myself as the defending champion, because that puts me on the defensive," continued Hammer. Instead, I just look at it as trying to be the next world champion." In chasing history, Hammer will also have an opportunity to become the first woman in American track cycling history to win two world titles in the same year. Should she capture the gold medal in the pursuit on Friday, then a victory in Sunday's points race will be only the second time any American has accomplished the feat after Marty Nothstein took a gold in the sprint and keirin in 1994. A five-time world champion from 2001-05, Slyusareva will be Hammer's biggest threat in the points race from a pool that also includes world cup winners this season, Giorgia Bronzini (ITA), Yoanka Gonzalez Perez (CUB) and Bates, however Hammer has already proved that she can win multiple events in the same world-class competition, having tripled up at the Los Angeles World Cup two months ago with victories in the pursuit, points race and scratch race. Joining Hammer in the medal hunt in women's endurance events is veteran Becky Quinn (Quakertown, Pa.). A consistent medalist on the international circuit, Quinn will contest the women's 10-kilometer scratch race on Saturday with the qualifying heats scheduled for 10:00 a.m. and the finals at 7:00 p.m. Unlike most of the individual events on the program, the women's scratch race doesn't feature a clear-cut favorite with several riders expected to contend for the podium including 2006-07 UCI World Cup gold medalists Vera Koedooder (NED), Annalisa Cucinotta (ITA) and Jianlang Wang (CHN), as well as Yoanka Gonzalez Perez (CUB), Yumari Gonzales Valduieso (CUB), Adrie Visser (NED), Charlotte Becker (GER), Belinda Goss (AUS) and Alena Pubnikova (RUS). Quinn's best result this season was a silver medal in the scratch race at the third round of the world cup series. With Hammer and Quinn leading the way for the women in the endurance events, Jennie Reed (Kirkland, Wash.) is the lone American sprinter on the squad this year and will line up for the sprint and the keirin. The 2004 world championship bronze medalist in the keirin, Reed also has two world cup medals to her credit this season - a silver at the world cup opener in Sydney and a bronze in Los Angeles. In another deep discipline, Reed will face several top sprinters in both events as Shuang Guo (CHN), Anna Meares (AUS), Victoria Pendleton (GBR), Natalia Tsylinskaya (BLR) and Clara Sanchez (FRA) lead the list of decorated favorites. Guo medaled in both the sprint and the keirin at last year's world championships while defending champions - Christin Muche (GER) in the keirin and Tslyinskaya in the sprint - look to defend their titles. Pendleton collected four world cup medals this season, two each in the sprint and keirin, with three of them gold. Reed opens her competition Friday with the flying 200-meter qualifying heat of the sprint at 10:00 a.m. If she clocks one of the 16 fastest times, Reed will advance to the first round, also scheduled for Friday's morning session. The first round of the keirin will take place at 10:00 a.m. Sunday. In a new event on the world championship program, Brad Huff (Fair Grove, Mo./Slipstream-Chipotle) will use his all-around skills in the omnium event. Best described as cycling's decathlon, the omnium will consist of five events - a 200-meter time trial, a five-kilometer scratch race, a three-kilometer individual pursuit, a 15-kilometer points race and a kilometer time trial - all tied together by a points system that will name one world champion. Huff will be the first American in action and the only one Thursday as the first three legs of the omnium will occur during the 10:00 a.m. morning session and the last two during the 7:00 p.m. evening session. Joining Huff on the men's squad is Michael Creed (Colorado Springs, Colo./Slipstream-Chipotle), who will compete Saturday in the men's points race with qualifying heats scheduled for 10:00 a.m. and the final at 7:00 p.m. The veteran road pro will face a competitive field that features perennial overwhelming favorite Mikhail Ignatiev (RUS). Also competing for the U.S. this weekend will be first-time world championship competitor Neva Day (Manhattan Beach, Calif./South Bay Wheelmen). Like Hammer, Day will compete against a deep field in the women's individual pursuit in which the fastest four times advance a rider to the medal rounds. The qualifying round of the women's pursuit is scheduled for 10:00 a.m. Friday with the finals later that evening at 7:00 p.m. 2007 UCI Track World Championships Palma de Mallorca, Spain March 29-April 1 Americans Up Next: Thursday, March 29 What: Omnium (200-meter time trial, 5-kilometer scratch race, 3-kilometer individual pursuit) When: 10:00 a.m. local time (4:00 a.m. E.S.T.) Who: Brad Huff (Fair Grove, Mo.) What: Omnium (15-kilometer points race, kilometer time trial) When: 7:00 p.m. local time (1:00 p.m. E.S.T.) Who: Brad Huff For complete reports on the progress of the U.S. Team and daily photo galleries, visit http://www.usacycling.org/. To watch all the action live on the internet, visit http://www.wcsn.com/ <http://www.wcsn.com/> , the official home of all the UCI World Championships.
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| Last Updated ( Wednesday, 28 March 2007 ) |
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