Team GB top medal table at Track World Cup

Some of you may be tired of the seemingly constant talk of the Olympics this summer. If you are then you might not want to read what comes next.

The fact of the matter is that the Olympics are just around the corner and nobody knows that better than those athletes in the sports that constitute what I like to call the ‘Big 3’ – Cycling, Rowing and Track Athletics. The British public’s love of these sports isn’t surprising given our success in previous Olympics and increased public attention does pay dividends in the form of increased funding. But it also means that there is double the pressure on those Beijing ‘heroes’ to get the job done again in London this summer.

 As a result all eyes were on the Olympic Velodrome this last weekend when Sir Chris & Co took on what would be their main competition come August. Team GB took a full strength squad to this event and they weren’t the only ones. Great Britain’s main competition, namely the Australians and the Germans, brought full squads too in the hope that they could dampen British spirits and spoil the party within the Olympic venue.

Various injuries and poor performances have marred the build up to this year’s season for many of our returning stars. Sir Chris Hoy hasn’t looked his best for awhile now and many were wondering if he would even have a shot of defending his three Beijing gold medals in the face of a number of changes to the Olympic selection rules. Now each team will only be allowed to take one competitor in the individual sprint category, and in this category Hoy has competition in the form of Jason Kenny, Beijing silver medalist and possible party-pooper.

 But Hoy fans need not have worried as Sir Chris romped to victory with an assertive performance to beat Germany’s Maximillian Levy 2-0 to win the gold. It topped off what was a successful weekend’s work for Hoy who also took home the Keirin gold. But his celebrations will be slightly overshadowed by the poor performance of the sprint team. Hoy, Kenny and another Beijing silver medalist Ross Edgar only managed to secure a disappointing bronze medal in the run up to the defense of the gold Team GB won back in Beijing in 2008.

Victoria Pendleton also had a mixed competition managing to take Gold in the Women’s Team Sprint alongside Jess Varnish only to finish a substandard fifth after making a mistake in the Keirin final, with Jess Varnish not even making the final. Pendleton also went out of the individual sprint, a discipline she took gold in in Beijing, after meeting the triple world champion Australian Anna Meares in the semi-final. Although she shouldn’t be too disheartened about that, the racing was top class and although it was Meares who would go on to the final, her clash with Pendleton had taken it out of her and she was beaten 2-0 by China’s Guo Shuang.

Team GB’s Men’s Pursuit team won’t leave London ruing missed opportunities and poor performances however. Instead they will be wondering just what they have to do to beat the in form Australians. GB’s team of Ed Clancy, Geraint Thomas, Steven Burke and Peter Kennaugh declared that they were happy with one of their quickest times of the season at 3 minutes and 56.330 seconds. But this wasn’t enough to take gold from the blisteringly quick Aussies who posted a supremely impressive 3:54.615, the second fastest time ever achieved in the sport.

I don’t think anyone will be saying that British cycling is a victim of its own success after having won just too many medals four years ago. But it sure is a hard act to follow as Team GB found out this weekend. Overall we can’t be too disappointed with a performance that saw the host nation top the medal table with five golds, one silver and two bronzes. But there is also no denying that more is needed if they are going to meet the expectation of the Great British public come the summer.

Written by Victoria Clark, grandstand writer
Photos: © guardian.co.uk; telegraph.co.uk; skysports.com