Russia’s rising talents were dominant again on day four of the 2021 UCI Junior Track Cycling World Championships in Cairo (Egypt), claiming rainbow jerseys in four of the five events raced on Saturday.

Women’s 500m time trial: Lysenko leads Russia to more glory

Already a hero of the UEC European Track Junior Championships held in Apeldoorn (the Netherlands) a couple of weeks before the UCI Worlds, Alina Lysenko is now asserting her dominance on the global stage.

She came into this fourth day of competition with two rainbow jerseys in the bag, having conquered the sprint events with the Russian team (on Wednesday) and individually (on Friday). She went on to dominate time trial qualifying with a margin of more than a second on her compatriot and partner in the team sprint, Elizaveta Bogomolova (34.234 vs 35.381).

Alla Biletska (UKR), Clara Schneider (GER), Marith Vanhove (BEL), Alessia Paccalini (ITA), Natalia Wezyk (POL) and Nurul Aliana Syafika Azizan (MAS) were the other six riders who qualified for the final, among 27 participants. Argentina’s Valentina Luna missed the cut by the tiniest margin: 0.001 second.

In the final, Lysenko was again the only rider under 35 seconds, with a time of 34.294 (52.487km/h), to take her third gold of the UCI Worlds. She took four at the Europeans, as she also won the keirin, one of the events scheduled for Sunday in Cairo. Schneider (35.353) and Bogomolova (35.438) joined her on the podium.

Women’s points race: Ivanchenko doubles up

Alena Ivanchenko is another young Russian talent on a superb run of form. She won gold in Cairo in the team pursuit. And she dominated the points race in the European Championships, making her a strong favourite in this event in Egypt.

Ivanchenko didn’t score in the first sprint, dominated by Poland’s Maja Tracka. But the Russian youngster quickly went on the move and eventually lapped the field three times in just 20km (80 laps)! That feat alone granted her 60 points and, just for good measure, she claimed 13 more in the sprints.

Two riders lapped the field on two occasions to join Ivanchenko on the podium. With 54 points, Italy’s Valentina Basilico claimed silver, after two individual bronze medals in the previous days of competition. USA’s Kaia Schmid also completed her set of medals with the bronze after taking gold the elimination and silver in the Omnium.

Women’s individual pursuit: Moiseeva joins the Russian party

Russian fans could also feel confident ahead of the individual pursuit after their team’s domination in the team event on Thursday. Alina Moiseeva showed her strength again in the qualifying, setting the best time (2:24.624) with an average speed of 49.784km/h over 2km.

France’s Lara Lallemant was the second fastest behind Moiseeva halfway through her effort, but she couldn’t hold her speed until the finish and dropped to fifth place. She missed the final for bronze by only 0.008 second.

On the other hand, her compatriot Bénédicte Ollier recorded a negative split and posted the second best time. Tamara Szalinska (POL) and Franzi Arendt (GER) were set to battle for bronze.

Both Moiseeva and Ollier rode the final at an average speed higher than 50km/h, but it was the Russian youngster who claimed gold with a time 2:22.113. Arendt joined them on the podium to take the bronze medal.

Men’s Omnium: Stec’s monumental comeback

After three of the four events of the Omnium, Daniil Valgonen was in prime position to add further gold to Russia’s amazing tally. He had started his day with victory in the Scratch Race and retained the overall lead through the tempo race (sixth) and the elimination (third). These performances gave him a total of 106 points, 12 more than Benjamin Boos (GER), while Dylan Bibic (CAN) was third with 94 points.

In the deciding points race, Valgonen only managed to score five points, bringing his total for the day to 111 points. Bibic, gold medallist in the points race on Friday, lapped the field and moved past Valgonen with 122 points. But Radovan Stec (CZE) achieved a golden move, lapping the field twice to move up from seventh (80 points) ahead of this final event to winner (135 points)!

Men’s individual sprint: Kalachnik wraps up a superb day for Russia

Nikita Kalachnik couldn’t have been more confident coming into the men’s sprint. His compatriots were racking up rainbow jerseys, and he had won two gold medals himself in the team sprint and the keirin. He had also dominated the event in the UEC European Championships and he had set the best time on the 200m flying start to top the qualifying standings on Friday. His 10.007 almost broke the 10-second barrier and put more than 0.3 seconds between him and the runner-up Mohd Akmal Nazimi Jusena (MAS).

Kalachnik went on to dominate every round, from the 1/16 finals all the way to the final for gold. He powered to the rainbow jersey in two rounds against Willy Leonhard Weinrich, who had already taken the silver medal with the German squad in the team event. In the bronze medal race, Italy’s Mattia Predomo edged another Russian fastman, David Shekelashvili.

Illustration: © Mamdouh Magdy