Just 365 days to go the London 2012 Olympic Games so we thought it would be interesting to take a look at the track cycling events and (boldly/foolishly) make some predictions. We don’t know which riders will be selected for which event so we’ll have to wait and see as the track season pans out to adjust our selections.
Feel free to add your own comments in the box at the bottom of this page, we’d love to hear what you think…bookmark this page and come back in 12 months!
Team Sprint Women – This event wasn’t on the schedule in Beijing 2008 but recent results from the World Cup and World Championships suggest that the medals will be shared between Australia, Great Britain, China and France. Great Britain’s chances rely on the lead off for Victoria Pendleton who is arguably the fastest sprinter in the World but as a complete package we can’t see past the Australian’s taking the Gold medal. China has been improving dramatically in recent years and could well spring a surprise. Gold – Australia, Silver – Great Britain, Bronze – China
Team Sprint Men – Likely to be a real highlight of the track programme in London, the Men’s Team Sprint will be a gladiatorial battle between France, Great Britain and Germany. On show will the best of the rest (riders) who were unable to compete in the individual event due to the new UCI ‘one rider per nation’ rule as well as the stars of Sprint and Keirin. There have been some real tussles between Great Britain and France over the last decade and the pendulum has swung towards France over the last few seasons. Germany have firmly established themselves as one of the top three nations in the team sprint and we conclude that these nations will take the medals. Gold – France, Silver – Great Britain, Bronze – Germany
Team Pursuit Women – Great Britain have a fantastic pool of talent for this event and we think this is one of their best hopes of a medal in the velodrome. The World Record Holders from the United States will push the British squad every inch of the way and could perhaps just pip GB to the line. The New Zealand team, like their male counterparts, have made great gains over the last couple of years in this discipline showing real consistency and are most likely to join GB and USA on the podium. Gold – Great Britain, Silver – United States, Bronze – New Zealand
Team Pursuit Men – Dominated by Great Britain in recent years, we think 2012 will see a credible challenge to GB’s dominance by a young and highly talented Australian team. With two of the GB Pursuit team holding Tour de France ambitions it remains to be seen who will double-up and take part in the Grand Tour and the Olympics. Young riders like individual pursuit world record holder, Jack Bobridge, have helped the Australian team close the gap on Great Britain and it’s likely we’ll see a world record breaking performance from one of these nations. Denmark were showing themselves as a nation to be reckoned with in the team pursuit but seem to have dropped away recently with New Zealand showing serious ambitions in the event. As it stands, we think Australia will edge out Great Britain in the final Gold – Australia, Silver – Great Britain, Bronze – New Zealand
Sprint Women - two words 'Anna Meares', she spent much of the 2010/11 season standing on top of the podium and we think she'll move on again from this to dominate the 2011/12 season through to the Olympics. Great Britain's Victoria Pendleton and China's Guo Shuang might well challenge Meares but we really can't see either of these coming away with Gold. The podium spots very much depend on the draw and performannce of athletes in the earlier rounds but we think Shuang could well be up against Meares in the Final. Gold - Anna Meares, Silver - Guo Shuang, Bronze - Victoria Pendleton
Sprint Men – a rule change from Beijing 2008 means that each nation will now only have 1 rider in each event. For nations like France and Great Britain this causes a headache as they could well have secured all four spots in the semi-finals. It’s likely that Kévin Sireau will go for France and we think Jason Kenny will head up the GB effort in the Sprints (leaving Chris Hoy to take on the Keirin). Germany’s Maximilian Levy has placed himself in a great position amongst the world’s stop sprinters and along with Teun Mulder of the Netherlands he could well make the Final with a kind draw. Gold – Jason Kenny, Silver – Kevin Sireau, Bronze – Teun Mulder
Omnium Women – Sarah Hammer of the United States and Tara Whitten of Canada look likely to be battling it out for Gold in London with both athletes illustrating the required consistency across all events in the Omnium. Sarah Hammer, as World Record holder in the individual 3km pursuit, is highly likely to win that part of the Omnium, while Tara Whitten’s all round ability means she’ll be in the shake-up come the final event. As for the bronze medal, well, you really could pick anybody, Laura Trott from Great Britain, at just 19 years old, just missed out on a top 10 placing at the World Championships so will be worth keeping an eye on over the next 12 months but we’ll go for Malgorzata Wojtyra of Poland, who is consistently good in the scratch, points and elimination races, to complete the podium. Gold - Sarah Hammer, Silver – Tara Whitten, Bronze – Malgorzata Wojtyra
Omnium Men – it’s stick your finger in the air time when it comes to the Men’s Omnium. Ben Swift of Great Britain has made a fantastic entrance to the pro peloton and, if selected, will be given incredible support by the home crowd in the velodrome. Michael Freiburg of Australia is the current World Champion and will be looking to follow this up with a good showing at the Olympics. New Zealand’s Shane Archbold of New Zealand topped the UCI Rankings last season for the Omnium and we think he might just cement his reputation as one of the best all-round riders on the track.
Gold – Shane Archbold, Silver – Ben Swift, Bronze – Michael Freiburg
Keirin Men – Chris Hoy is the man to beat here and we predict Great Britain will place Hoy in the Keirin given his blistering pace over the last lap. In the Manchester World Cup race last season. Hoy’s incredible last lap surge was overshadowed by the splinter injury to Awang but we recommend [taking a look](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sD5UK-qt9HY) at why we think Chris Hoy will blitz the opposition at London 2012. France’s Gregory Bauge will be Hoy’s main threat but we can’t rule out the likes of Australia’s Shane Perkins, Teun Mulder of the Netherlands and Awang from Malaysia. Gold – Chris Hoy, Silver – Gregory Bauge, Bronze - Shane Perkins.
Keirin Women – In a repeat of the Sprint we’re foreseeing a shootout between Australia’s Anna Meares and Great Britain’s Victoria Pendleton. Pendleton is good tactician and rides the Keirin consistently well. Meares won’t give up the win easily though and will probably take the race on from the front. Clara Sanchez of France is usually in the mix and we see her making the podium in London. Gold – Victoria Pendleton, Silver – Anna Meares, Bronze – Clara Sanchez
Watch a time-lapse video of the awesome 2012 London Olympic Velodrome