Gold for Great Britain, Colombia, New Zealand and the USA.
Wednesday saw the final night of action on Glasgow’s Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome at the 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships taking place in the city and across Scotland.
The final four track medals up for grabs went to athletes – including relative newcomers to the international Elite podium and established stars - from four different nations
Women’s individual sprint: Finucane rises to home glory
From start to finish, Emma Finucane (GBR) delivered dominant performances to take the rainbow jersey in the women’s individual sprint. On Monday, the British youngster set the best time of the 200m flying start in qualification. She went on to eliminate every rival who stood between her and victory, all the way through to an impressive performance in the final against Germany’s multiple UCI World Champion Lea Sophie Friedrich.
At 20 years old, Finucane was racing in only her second Elite UCI Worlds. The Welsh prodigy had already taken bronze (last year in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, France) and silver (this year in Glasgow) in the team sprint. Now, she’s UCI World Champion, the first for Team GB in the women’s individual sprint since 2013.
In the ride-off for third place, Ellesse Andrews (NZL) dominated Germany’s Emma Hinze to add a bronze medal to the gold she had won in the in the keirin on Sunday. The Kiwi had never won a medal at the Elite UCI Worlds until now. Meanwhile, Hinze dropped out of the podium of the individual sprint for the first time since 2019 (two golds and one bronze in the meantime) but still went home with two gold medals (team sprint and 500m time trial).
Men’s keirin: extraordinary Quintero!
The keirin has been dominated by Dutch riders in recent years: Matthijs Büchli in 2019 and then Harrie Lavreysen for the last three years. The last winner before the Dutch fast men ruled the world was Fabián Puerta, in 2018. The Colombian found a successor in Glasgow: Kevin Quintero, who powered to a superb triumph on Wednesday night.
The final was packed with powerhouses: Lavreysen, his Dutch compatriot Jeffrey Hoogland (winner of the 1km time trial the night before), Great Britain’s Jack Carlin, Australia’s Matthew Richardson, Japan’s Shinji Nakano… and Quintero, ready to seize his opportunity.
Hoogland opened up the sprint but the Colombian ace flew past everyone inside the final lap. He resisted Richardson (silver) and Nakano (bronze). Lavreysen had to settle for fourth, which led to the first podium of the keirin without a Dutch rider since Puerta’s victory. “I dreamed about it and now I can say I’m a UCI World Champion,” said an elated Quintero.
Men’s points race: Gate breaks the lock
Aaron Gate showed all his craft and experience to rule the points race and take his second rainbow jersey, 10 years after his first, in the Omnium in 2013 (in Minsk, Belarus). In the meantime, the New Zealander has won eight medals (including two bronze in Glasgow, in the team pursuit and the Madison). At 33 years old, he’s back on top.
Gate impressed early to take 12 points in the first six sprints and followed with a strong move that brought him 20 more points, lapping the rest of the field with the likes of Spain’s Albert Torres (31 pts) and Great Britain’s William Perrett (28 pts).
Italy’s Michele Scartezzini moved past everyone, gaining two laps in a row, but Gate kept pushing to reclaim the lead halfway through the race and extend it all the way to the line: 123 points for the Kiwi, 107 for Torres and 95 for Fabio Van den Bossche (BEL).
Women’s omnium: Valente retains her crown
At 28 years old, Jennifer Valente (USA) has mastered the fine art of track racing and all its specialties. Already a winner of the scratch race in Glasgow (her sixth Elite UCI World title) and bronze medallist in the elimination, the reigning omnium UCI World Champion and Olympic Champion again dominated the competition in this specialty, the last event of a full week of competition in the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome.
The American star went into the last race with a commanding lead. She had amassed 116 points with a victory in the tempo race and two second places: in the scratch race and the elimination. Winner of the scratch, Ally Wollaston (NZL) trailed by 20 points, with a tally of 96. Winner of the elimination, Lotte Kopecky (BEL) was down in sixth position (78 pts), and local hero Katie Archibald (GBR) only had 70 points. But everything was still to play for with the opportunity to score big in the points race.
Indeed, Archibald quickly lapped the field and gained 20 points, as did Denmark’s Amalie Dideriksen, to up the ante in the battle for the podium positions. They then gained a further lap alongside Kopecky. After an intense battle, Valente navigated the competition to retain her rainbow jersey with 145 points, while Dideriksen (136 pts) eventually held off Kopecky (133) to take silver.
The omnium brought to a close seven days of competition in the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome. Team GB were the most successful (five gold medals, three silvers, one bronze) ahead of the Netherlands (four gold and one silver) and the USA (three gold and one bronze). Seventeen different nations celebrated a medal over the 22 events.