Holland’s Kirsten Wild on Friday won her second gold medal at the International Cycling Union (UCI) Track Cycling World Championships when she added the omnium title to her win in the scratch final, but the third day of the tournament was overshadowed by a horror on-track collision which left an official unconscious.
The 35-year-old Wild saw off Denmark’s Amalie Didericksen and Rushlee Buchanan of New Zealand in the four-discipline omnium.
She won the scratch and the elimination, was fifth in the tempo and then took first place in the points race.
Wild can add to her tally at the championships over the weekend when she is entered in the points race and Madison.
“I focused all my winter preparation on these worlds. I am in the shape of my life,” said Wild after being cheered on by the 5,000-strong home crowd.
Earlier in the exhausting omnium race, a jury official sustained what appeared to be a serious head injury when he got caught up in a high-speed collision on the track.
The UCI official ran onto the oval track to retrieve a bib dropped by a rider, but was then accidentally hit by Hong Kong rider Diao Xiaojuan at full speed.
After being treated and stabilized on the track for 15 minutes, the official was taken away on a stretcher, unconscious and bleeding from the head.
Diao, 32, who was taking part in the scratch leg of the four-part omnium, was herself also taken away in a wheelchair in pain and in floods of tears.
“The commissioner who was injured underwent a series of tests and is in a stable condition,” said a UCI statement on Friday. “He will remain in hospital under observation and his condition will be re-evaluated tomorrow.”
Germany’s Kristina Vogel won the women’s sprint title ahead of Australia’s Stephanie Morton.
Pauline Sophie Brabosch, also of Germany, took bronze with Hong Kong’s Sarah Lee Wai Sze the rider to miss out.
Vogel, the 27-year-old Olympic champion, had also won gold as part of the German team sprint on Wednesday and will look to make it a treble today when she goes in the keirin.
Italy’s Filippo Ganna claimed victory in the men’s individual pursuit with the 21-year-old seeing off Portugal’s Ivo Oliveira in the final.
Russia’s Alexander Evtushenko took bronze after getting the better of Britain’s Charlie Tanfield.
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