British rider Laura Trott blew a kiss at Paul McCartney on Saturday, while the former Beatle waved the Union Flag and sang Hey Jude as they celebrated the host nation’s fourth track cycling gold with a delirious crowd.
Trott, Dani King and Joanna Rowsell had just crushed their own world record to humiliate the US in the team pursuit final, flying along a spine-chilling, ear-splitting wall of noise in the 6,000-capacity London Velodrome.
The trio added to the men’s pursuit and sprint teams titles, as well as Victoria Pendleton’s keirin gold, as Britain continued their utter domination, having broken eight world records and left their rivals only one gold in three days.
Photo: EPA
On Saturday, King, Rowsell and Trott — at 20 years and 102 days the youngest Olympic gold medalist in women’s track cycling — produced an awe-inspiring display of power and poise, and they looked on the verge of lapping the US in the final.
“They [the crowd] kept us going in that last kilometer. You couldn’t even feel your legs, you were just driving forward,” King told reporters.
“It’s mad, I can’t believe it, it’s been my dream since I was eight, we’ve gone and done it. I don’t think we expected it,” Trott said. “It’s unbelievable. We didn’t expect a Beatle to be here. It’s not often that you can say you’ve waved and blown a kiss at a Beatle.”
Photo: Reuters
The last six times the trio took to the track, they broke the world record.
“You never want to be complacent, but we had had a great day and I felt we had more to give coming into the final race,” Rowsell said.
Canada took the bronze by beating Australia, with Melissa Hoskins and Josephine Tomic appearing in tears before the media.
“I feel absolutely devastated. We left everything on the track, so we can walk away with no regrets,” Tomic said.
Australia, Britain’s fiercest rivals on the track, have only collected two medals — the women’s team sprint bronze and the men’s team pursuit silver.
“They’re [Britain] in a league of their own,” US rider Jennie Reed said.
The baby-faced Jason Kenny and triple world champion Gregory Bauge of France had both looked in a class of their own earlier on Saturday as they progressed to the quarter-finals of the individual sprint.
Both riders were without opponents in the last 16.
The enthusiasm surrounding the British track team is such that the Velodrome was already packed for the morning session, which turned into a farce essentially because of abstruse rules.
The International Cycling Union felt it needed to spice up a format in which you can already lose twice and still advance by allowing 17 riders into the 1/16 final matchups.
As a result, Briton Kenny, who was chosen by Team GB at the expense of defending champion Chris Hoy because only one rider per nation is allowed in the sprint events, found himself with no opponent as the morning session drew to an anti-climatic end.
With a training helmet, Kenny still had to start his match with Mr Nobody, covering half a lap waving at the crowd with a rather embarrassed look on his face.
Kenny made light work of his next actual opponent to ease into the quarter-finals, with the other favorite, German Robert Foerstemann, the man whose thighs are bigger than his wife’s waist, going through a repechage race to advance.
The quarter-final matches see Kenny facing Azizulhasni Awan of Malaysia and Bauge taking on Foerstemann.
“He’s ready, he’s strong, he’s British, they’ve been preparing for that. I hope I get to the end and he gets to the end, to have a good final,” Bauge, nicknamed the Black Pearl, said of Kenny.
There was some minor disappointment for Team GB, though, as Ed Clancy, who won the team pursuit on Friday, slipped to fourth overall in the omnium after taking an early lead with a smashing flying lap.
He fell behind after the points race and the elimination race won by Frenchman Bryan Coquard, who used his jockeying and positioning abilities to be the last man standing in a race which every two laps sees the last rider to cross the line being eliminated.
The omnium, a six-discipline event held over two days, continues with the 4km individual pursuit, the 15km scratch race and a 1km time trial.
Points are added up depending on placing in each event and the rider with the lowest points score wins.
Coquard has 10 points and leads fourth-placed Clancy by seven points in a tightly contested event.
The US’ bid for a fourth consecutive CONCACAF Nations League title came to a stunning end as they fell 1-0 to Panama after a stoppage-time goal from Cecilio Waterman on Thursday in Inglewood, California. Despite dominating possession, the US struggled to break down a resilient Panama side for long periods. Panama spent the bulk of the match defending, but pounced on a giveaway by the US before substitute forward Waterman sent a shot from the right side of the area to the bottom left corner late in stoppage time. Up next for Panama in tomorrow’s final is to be Mexico, who beat
DOMINATION: McLaren drivers Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris took the first two spots as Mercedes’ George Russell and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen followed them Australian Oscar Piastri yesterday roared back from season-opening disappointment in his home race by winning the Formula One Chinese Grand Prix from pole position in a McLaren one-two with championship-leading teammate Lando Norris. George Russell finished third for Mercedes, ahead of Red Bull’s reigning champion Max Verstappen with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Saturday’s sprint winner Lewis Hamilton fifth and sixth respectively. Piastri’s win denied Norris a third victory in a row, including last year’s Abu Dhabi season-ender, but left champions McLaren unbeaten in two races so far this year. “Mega job guys. The car was very, very lovely,” Piastri said
TO FINAL FOUR: France had 22 chances and scored two goals, while Croatia could not manage a single shot on target in 120 minutes. Les Bleus won 5-4 on penalties France on Sunday overturned a two-goal deficit to qualify for the UEFA Nations League Final Four by eliminating Croatia 5-4 on penalties after a 2-0 victory in their quarter-final second leg at the Stade de France. Dayot Upamecano scored the winning spot kick in a nail-biting shootout in which France keeper Mike Maignan made two saves, sending Les Bleus into the semi-finals against Spain. Michael Olise opened the scoring and Ousmane Dembele doubled their lead 10 minutes from time to send the tie into extra time after their 2-0 loss in Split, Croatia, on Thursday. France had a total of
Armand Duplantis will be among the reigning Olympic champions adding star power to the world indoor championships this weekend when the Chinese city of Nanjing hosts the first major global athletics meet since the Paris Games last year. The three-day event was originally slated for 2020 and faced multiple postponements due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but Nanjing’s Sports Training Center would finally welcome more than 570 athletes for the start of the showpiece today. One of the main attractions would be pole vaulter “Mondo” Duplantis, who soared 6.27m to break the world record for a staggering 11th time in Clermont-Ferrand last
RSS