World Track Championships - Melbourne 4/8 April - Warning contains unmasked spoilers

Beasty

Events kick off in Melbourne tomorrow with the Mens Team Pursuit, men and Women's Team Sprints and men's scratch races

Full programme here

Official website

Ireland have sent a team of 3, with Martyn Irvine looking to secure his place in the Olympic Omnium (I'll do a separate post on what he needs to do later on) on Thursday and Friday, and Caroline Ryan and locally based Shannon McCurley available to compete in the individual pursuit, scratch and points races

TV Coverage is available on the BBC (red button) at 10am (live coverage) and 7pm (highlights) each day, with BBC 2 showing highlights on Sunday afternoon, 2.30 until 5pm. British Eurosport 1 will have live coverage from 10am each day

Please note that we tend not to use spoiler tags for track events, even though they extend over several days (as we'd then end up with a debate on whether to have separate threads for each event, which gets even more complicated with the omnium which runs over 2 days!). Hence once the event starts do not click on this thread if you do not want to see spoiler information

Beasty

Martyn Irvine is currently in 7th place in the European qualification rankings for the Olympics. The World Championships are the final qualifying event, and Martyn needs to be ranked in the top 8 to qualify. Ireland currently has 785 points, ahead of Poland (700), Denmark (670), The Netherlands (498) and Turkey (343). There are other European teams that have more points than Turkey, but have not qualified a rider for the World Championships, so cannot overhaul Ireland in the rankings

There are 500 points available for the winner, 320 for 2nd, 240 (3rd), 220, 200 and so on down to 30 points for participating (without being disqualified). That means Turkey would need to win the event and the Netherlands would need to be in the top 2 to overhaul him (assuming he is not disqualified) - both scenarios are very unlikely, particularly as the Netherlands have not sent their best rider, and virtually all of the World's top riders will be there. Hence the only realistic opposition for the Olympic place are Poland and Denmark, and both would need to overtake Ireland to stop Martyn qualifying. Essentially to get past Ireland the Dane would need to finish in the top 2 (again very unlikely) or at least 6 places ahead of Ireland if both are in the top 12

FWIW, Martyn is currently 6th in the World rankings, although he has been at every event, and some of the stronger teams send different riders. Having said that, based on his performances so far this season a top 5 finish is a realistic possibility, although it may make more sense to play safe in some of the events to ensure Olympic qualification.

shaungil

I am sooooo excited about this for Martyn. To qualify for the Olmpics would be a phenomonal acheivment for a guy who was a couch potato till he was 19 in a sport where he still has so much to learn. Fingers and all appendages crossed for him.

morana

GErmany and columbia arent going and they usually finish ahead of him so thats a plus

Beasty

morana wrote: »

GErmany and columbia arent going and they usually finish ahead of him so thats a plus

Are you sure they are not going? Neither have their top rider there, but each have a rider that has Omnium ranking points - Puerta Zapata Fabian Hernando for Colombia and Niklas Arndt for Germany, and both countries have qualification places available. It's actually better if the best riders are available, as they are more likely to deprive Poland and Denmark of additional points

It will be interesting to see if Ed Clancy rides - he's probably going to be in the Team Pursuit tomorrow, which means Ben Swift may get the nod for the Omnium

Yellow Jersey

Very good article today on what's what (for Team GB) in Melbourne and who the top contenders are.

Germany are listed.

Thanks for the input Beasty.

Good luck to Martyn.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cycling/17597149

Beasty

Ed Clancy confirmed as the GB representative in the Omnium, having been part of the team that recorded the fastest qualifying time for the Team Pursuit final later on today

Colombia don't have a representative, but Germany do. The Netherlands have put in a Michael Vingerling, who is currently ranked 70th in the World, so looks unlikely to get the top 2 place needed to have any chance of overhauling Martyn. Belgium have put in their 2nd ranked rider, Gijs van Hoecke, although he is only a few places behind their top ranked rider in 27th. All the other teams have pretty much their strongest riders declared.

Beasty

World record for Thomas, Clancy, Kennaugh and Burke taking gold for GB in the Team Pursuit

RobFowl

GB DQ from team sprint !

Pisco Sour

That scratch race is mad stuff altogether but I enjoyed it. Reminds me of the final stage of the Tour de France where some no-hopers would go on an ambitious breakaway and get some time on camera before being swallowed up innevitably. It must be close to impossible to lap the peleton on your own in that race!

That poor Austrian ran out of gas in the last lap. Like a lamb to the slaughter.

Heading to Hisense Arena on Friday night and Sunday afternoon. It's not a sport I know much about but I'll post an update afterwards anyway.

Beasty

Ben Swift won the Scratch race

GB were disqualified from the Team Sprint for "swinging out too early"!

Beasty

Mens Omnium, Day 1

Martyn Irvine's campaign gets under way at (if everything goes to schedule) just after 7.30 Thursday morning our time. Unlike the World Cup events, there's no pre-qualification race to worry about, it's straight into the competition proper with the Flying lap (or "Tour lancé") - basically a couple of laps to build up then all-out for a lap to record a time over 250m.

Next up, around 10.45am, is the points race, with the elimination race closing off proceedings at around 2.15pm

The first day is generally considered the weaker of the two for Martyn. He tends to do OK in the points race but having been disqualified from the elimination race in one of the World Cup events earlier in the season, he will be grateful to get through the day unscathed, and hopefully in a position to attack the second day's events.

Beasty

Good start for Martyn

8th place in the flying lap. Clancy first and the only other Europeans ahead of him are France, Germany and Denmark (one place ahead in 7th)

Poland are in 20th, the Netherlands 16th and Turkey 17th

Beasty

Points race now on - Picks up a point in the 3rd sprint to go into equal 7th

The Dane has 3 points, and the Pole none

Beasty

Another 3 points in the 5th sprint takes him up to 6th

Beasty

2nd place in the final sprint moves him up to 8th place, 2 behind Denmark, with Poland 11th, Turkey 13 and the Netherlands 20th

Puts him in 8th after 2 events (16 points), Denmark 5th (13), Poland 17th (30), Turkey 16th (30), The Netherlands 20th (36)

Beasty

GB take another second off the World record they set yesterday to take the Women's Team Pursuit - must make them just about the hottest favourites for any cycling event at London

SomeFool

Cheers for the updates Beasty, what does Caroline Ryan have to do to qualify for London?

Beasty

SomeFool wrote: »

Cheers for the updates Beasty, what does Caroline Ryan have to do to qualify for London?

She can't - she's at this very moment in the women's points race and will also be taking on her specialist event the Individual Pursuit, but neither are Olympic events

Ireland has not qualified any women's places for track cycling, although there was talk of her attempting to qulaify for the road racing by getting in the top 100 world ranked riders

SomeFool

I'm watching it but have to confess my track cycling knowlege is limited enough, a few ex rowers involved though!

Beasty

She's given herself a real chance of a medal by taking a lap with 3 others - up to 3rd place with 35 laps to go

Dan man

Bronze for Caroline Ryan!!

Beasty

Bronze for Ryan - fantastic ride - she had to work hard to bridge to the break and then later on to defend her position.

SomeFool

woo hoo
world bronze medal

Beasty

Reminder re spoilers - no separate threads about this until at least tomorrow

Thanks

Beasty

morana

great ride first ever medal at the track worlds for Ireland I think!

Yellow Jersey

I know Caroline reads/writes on Boards, so well done Caroline, 15 years of hard work in rowing then cycling, a real champion

Lumen

morana wrote: »

great ride first ever medal at the track worlds for Ireland I think!

Wikipedia says 1 gold and 1 bronze.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UCI_Track_Cycling_World_Championships

...and then there's the masters.

morana

Lumen wrote: »

Wikipedia says 1 gold and 1 bronze.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UCI_Track_Cycling_World_Championships

...and then there's the masters.

in the modern era I meant to say

RobFowl

Superb ride by Caroline.
Good luck to her in the IP and she's already cemented her place in Irish cycling history.

kumate_champ07

she got a mention on the 2pm news on newstalk, well done to her!

Beasty

Omnium elimination race on now - he's taken 14th

Beasty

10th place after the end of day 1 (30 pts), Denmark 7th (24), Poland 11 (33), Turkey 12th (37), Netherlands 21st (57)

A good day and an excellent place to be in in terms of Olympic qualification - it would need a real disaster to stop him now

mcgratheoin

Beasty wrote: »

Omnium elimination race on now - he's taken 14th

Looking good at the moment, hopefully he can build on it tomorrow.

Beasty

Lumen wrote: »

Wikipedia says 1 gold and 1 bronze.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UCI_Track_Cycling_World_Championships

...and then there's the masters.

The Balbriggan Flyer

Beasty

Equal with China in the medals table

Keep_Her_Lit

Also front page of the Irish Times (online). Well done!

http://www.irishtimes.com/sports/other/2012/0405/1224314419229.html

Beasty

An early start tomorrow with events in Melbourne starting at 4am with the Mens sprint qualification .

Martyn Irvine's first event of the day is the 4km pursuit, which is due to kick-off at around 6am. The riders go in pairs, in reverse order based on their current position, meaning Martyn will be up against Belgian Gijs van Hoecke, I would guess at just before 7am

Live coverage on Eurosport commences at 10am, and Martyn's penultimate event, the scratch race, is due off around 10.50, the final event, again in reverse order, is the 1km TT, starting around 12.45.

Let's hope he can take some inspiration from Caroline's fantastic performance and build on today's solid start.

Shannon McCurley will also be racing in the scratch race, starting around 10.25am

ednwireland

just seen the highlights cracking ride caroline (as my adopted country i relish in your success)

le petit braquet

Our medallist gets a piece by William Fotheringham in the Guardian too

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/apr/05/caroline-ryan-ireland-track-bronze

Beasty

4km Pursuit - first with 8 to go, Poland, Netherlands and Turkey are all behind him, Denmark are up next - although there are some fast riders to come it's looking very good

Beasty

Denmark take the lead in the Pursuit. Martyn down to 2nd with only 3 to go, as the Italian is a DNS

Poland are in 7th, the Netherlands 15th and Turkey 16th. In terms of teh overall competition it's pretty much impossible for the Netherlands and Turkey and to get anywhere near what they would need to overtake him. Denmark may well do what the need to, and Martyn simply needs to keep the Pole in his sights

Beasty

Martyn finishes 4th in the Pursuit, a great result, moving him up to 7th in the competition.

Denmark are in 4rd, Poland 9th, Turkey 13th and the Netherlands 19th

shaungil

c'mon Marty keep her going two events to make London!!!

Beasty

Shannon McCurley finishes 13th in the scratch race

Beasty

Omnium scratch race - Martyn just need to stay in the bunch and react to anything the Pole does (and stay upright!)

Beasty

9th in the Scratch race, 7th overall, Pole is in 11th. Yes!!!

shaungil

so unlucky in Scratch really strong and active the whole time and just missed the break. Pole is eleventh Ithink. So so so close now

Beasty

It's impossible for the Pole to finish in the top 5, meaning the maximum qualification points he could get is 180 (which is extremely unlikely)

Martyn cannot finish outside the top 11, which means he will pick up a minimum 80 qualification points.

Martyn is 85 points ahead of him coming into the competition, so needs to finish in the top 10 in this event to qualify for the Olympics - a top 16 finish in the TT will guarantee it

(all completely unofficial at this time!)

mcgratheoin

Beasty wrote: »

Martyn is 85 points ahead of him coming into the competition, so needs to finish in the top 10 in this event to qualify for the Olympics - a top 16 finish in the TT will guarantee it

(all completely unofficial at this time!)

How about the Dane? Isn't he in 3rd at the moment. Somebody please explain to me that he's no danger at all....

Beasty

It needs both the Dane and Pole to finish ahead of him. Based on the current standings he would still be ahead of the Dane who is in a qualifying place, but the guy he has to watch is the Pole

All 3 are good TT'ers, and I cannot see Martyn finishing outside the top 16 - I think the real fight is between the Dane and Pole for the final qualifying place