Track Cycling: She's done it again. Kristina Vogel defended her world championship title in the sprint and thus clinched her eleventh gold medal at world championships. The only 20-year-old Pauline Grabosch secured bronze. Unfortunately, there were no other medals for German-speaking participants on day three of the Track Cycling World Championships in Apeldoorn, even though it was close several times. The evening was overshadowed by serious falls.
Kristina Vogel again takes gold in the sprint, Grabosch wins bronze
The eyes of the German cycling fans were primarily focused on the sprint semi-final today. Pauline Grabosch challenged Kristina Vogel. Ultimately, however, the only 20-year-old had no chance. Both runs clearly went to Kristina Vogel, so that in the final – like last year – she was supposed to meet Stephanie Morton from Australia. First, however, Pauline Grabosch competed against Lee Wai-sze from Hong Kong in the small final.
Lee Wai-sze already won bronze last year. She wanted to repeat this at these World Championships. But the young Pauline Grabosch prevented this and fulfilled a huge dream with the 2:0. The four-time Junior World Champion won her first World Championship medal in an individual competition.
The best came last: Kristina Vogel crowned the great evening for the BDR. As expected, the 27-year-old defended her World Championship title in the sprint. Without losing a single duel, she walked into the final and defeated the Australian Stephanie Morton there as well. But she fought back bravely and forced the German into a decisive third run - in vain, because Morton ultimately had no chance there either. With this further world title, Kristina Vogel draws level with Anna Meares, who won eleven world titles in her career. Kristina Vogel now also has Elf on her account, but her career is far from over.
Track Worlds: Kristina Vogel (GER) wins GOLD in the Women's Sprint and Silver goes to Stephanie Morton (AUS) #Apeldoorn2018 #trackcycling pic.twitter.com/O8ErVU3G3J
— trackcycling (@trackcycling) March 2, 2018
Felix Groß missed a medal
Even before the sprint women from Germany won gold and bronze, the men competed in two competitions. Austria's Andreas Graf missed a medal by just seven points with sixth place in the points race over 40 kilometers. The Brit Mark Stewart secured this bronze behind the Dutchman Jan Willem Van Schip. Australian Cameron Meyer won the gold with a clear lead of 18 points.
In the individual pursuit over 4.000 meters, the German-speaking pros also just missed out on a medal. The only 19-year-old World Championship debutant Felix Groß set the fifth-best time ahead of Kersten Thiele. The two missed the race for the medals. Alexander Evtushenko of Russia took bronze, while Portugal's Ivo Oliveira took silver. Gold went to Italian Filippo Ganna.
Go Wild: Kirsten Wild provided another highlight for the Dutch fans. In the women's omnium, she was able to leave Denmark's Amalie Dideriksen just behind, who again came up strong in the final points race. The German Gudrun Stock finished eleventh.
Heavy falls on the third day of the Track Cycling World Championships
Even before the critical phase of decisions, the sporting aspect receded into the background for a long time. On the third day of the Track Cycling World Championships in Apeldoorn, the Netherlands, there were serious falls. During the women's omnium scratch race, Hong Kong's Xiaojuan Diao smashed into UCI official Andrew McCord of the USA at around 50kph. He probably wanted to collect parts of the track that had previously been left behind in a fall. The track cycling world championship was interrupted for more than an hour. Both parties involved were taken to the hospital.