Laura Trott remains on track for her second gold in the Velodorome after another exciting day of competition, as she leads in the omnium at the halfway stage.
Trott, the reigning world champion, currently sits in joint first spot with USA’s Sarah Hammer after three events of the six-discipline omnium - the 250m flying lap, the points race and the elimination race.
The 20-year-old got off to the perfect start with victory in the opening event, the 250m flying lap. Posting a time of 14.057, which is quicker than she rode at the worlds, she was just 0.001 second ahead of France’s Clara Sanchez. Annette Edmonson of Australia took the third place spot.
The second event was the 20km points race, with points awarded for lapping the field and periodic sprint sections. This event was tougher for Trott who struggled to make a real impact.
She eventually finished tenth, with two of her rivals for this event, Tara Whitten of Canada and Hammer finishing third and fifth respectively.
Fortunately for Trott, Australia’s Annette Edmonson finished one spot behind her in 11th, moving Hammer and Whitten into joint first place and Trott into third after the two events.
The elimination race, in which 24 riders race as a bunch and every two laps the last rider over the line is eliminated, saw Trott ride faultlessly to show bags of confidence, power and skill. She powered over the line to take a second win, much to the delight of the crowd who were chanting her name on the final lap.
Her success here moved her back up into joint first spot, with Hammer, and Edmondson in third.
Brand new to the Olympics and described as the decathlon of the velodrome, the omnium sees six events contested over two days, meaning you need to be a strong all round cyclist to compete in this event.
Points are awarded according to your position with the winner receiving one point, second place two and third three. The overall winner is the rider with the least amount of points at the end of six events.
Trott’s bid for gold will continue tomorrow as attention turns to the 3km individual pursuit, the 10km scratch race (similar to the points race but without the sprint sections) and the 500m time trial.
Elsewhere in the Velodrome and Victoria Pendleton continued her defence of her individual sprint title.
The 31-year-old, who is on track to become a triple Olympic champion following her success the kerin last week, was disqualified from the team sprint with Jess Varnish for a changeover error on Thursday.
But she was back to her winning ways this evening when she met Olga Panarina of Belarus in the quarter finals. Pendleton’s rival Anna Meares of Australia also cruised through, with victory against Lyubov Shulika of Ukraine.
Pendleton, the world champion in the discipline, will now take on Germany’s Kristina Vogel in tomorrow’s semi final, whilst Meares will face Shuang Guo of China.
Jason Kenny also added to GB’s success today, becoming Britain’s first double gold medallist of London 2012 after he won the individual sprint cycling event.
He fought hard to see off France’s Gregory Bauge in the final, securing the sixth gold medal for the GB cycling team.
Sportsister
The Women’s Sports Magazine
