UCI Track Worlds thread (with SPOILERS)

[zigzag]

top effort and keirin gold medal from Simona Krupeckaite - my favourite track cyclist! (should i add she comes from the same town i lived for 18 years in Lithuania?)

 

[Paul_L]

Was lucky enough to get a ticket for yesterday's TWC event. Was a great day of cycling and worth the trip from Yorkshire. Hoy is back to his imperious best. Felt gutted for Jason Kenny, and wonder if that makes Dave Brailsford's selection job a bit closer to being made. Laura Trott has come on in spades and must be in with a medal chance assuming she get's the women's omnium position ahead of Lizze Armitstead. Disapointing day for Victoria Pendleton. Maybe the team sprint, individual sprint and keirin are too much, especially with having to qualify via the repechage for the kerin.

I was absolutely gutted for the team pursuit boys. They took out 0.7seconds in the first lap, but from that point on the Ausies were in control. First time i've seen a team pursuit in the flesh and it's the one event i wanted to see. It's poetry on a bike!

Anyway the cycling aside, i was mighty impressed with the venue. A shame you couldn't walk through the park from Stratford to the velodrome but given the ongoing construction works, the shuttle bus was understandable and worked well. One thing that struck me was the number of stewards / volunteers and how friendly they were. The free water was very welcome given the temperature in the building. Our seats were upstairs in the corner near the finish line and the view was brilliant. Can't comment on prices as i took all my own stuff with me to save some pennies. The only critisicm i would have is the lack of a pass out facility. To be in there from 9 in the morning till 6 in the evening was a bit long and the opportunity to go outside to get some fresh air should be looked at. I spoke to one bloke who's young daughter was struggling in the heat and he asked if he could take her outside for a bit and was told you go out, you can't come back in. Certainly at Manchester they operate a pass out system so i see no reason why London can't.

All in all, an ace day and anyone with tickets for the summer will have a brilliant time.

 

[Noodley]

Laura Trott has come on in spades and must be in with a medal chance assuming she get's the women's omnium position ahead of Lizze Armitstead.

Armitstead was playing the role of cycling pundit on BBCs coverage yesterday, and it was made clear that she is concentrating on road event... and I am fairly sure that the previous day's cycling pundit, Dani King, stated that she would be competing with Trott for the Omnium spot.

 

[skids]

The only critisicm i would have is the lack of a pass out facility. To be in there from 9 in the morning till 6 in the evening was a bit long and the opportunity to go outside to get some fresh air should be looked at. I spoke to one bloke who's young daughter was struggling in the heat and he asked if he could take her outside for a bit and was told you go out, you can't come back in. Certainly at Manchester they operate a pass out system so i see no reason why London can't.

I too was lucky enough to be there yesterday and agree it was great. Surprised about people being told they wouldn't be allowed back in again as I took a few strolls outside and got back in again without any issues (as did many others). Hopefully getting that right (in that people can go out for a cool down (and get back in again) will be one of the lessons learnt from the test.