|
|
|
Last Updated: 2 Apr 2018 - 8:45:17 PM |
IRVINE FINISHES FIFTH IN BEIJING TRACK WORLD CUP, ON TRACK FOR OLYMPIC QUALIFICATION
By Shane Stokes
14 Jan 2012,
|
Email this article
|
Martyn Irvine’s aim of securing Ireland a place in the track events at the London Olympics looks increasingly likely with a superb fifth place overall finish in the Omnium at the Beijing World Cup today.
The result is due to his consistency across the six counting events and means that he matches his finishing position in the Cali round of the World Cup.
Those two combined results elevate him to fine sixth in the overall World Cup standings. Olympic qualification is determined on the separate nations rankings, with the top eight countries from Europe set to gain places in London 2012.
Irvine’s total had seen Ireland sitting ninth overall going into Beijing, but rider who had put Poland eighth didn’t make it through the qualification event yesterday.
That plus the points Irvine picked up from his final finishing position today will give Ireland a solid buffer over Poland, putting the country firmly into eighth with two counting rounds left.
Irvine got things off to a fine start yesterday when he finished second to Ki Ho Choi (Hong Kong) in his qualification heat. They were two of five riders who gained a lap on the rest of the field. Nowak, meanwhile, lost a further lap and didn’t progress.
Irvine placed 11th in the flying lap, the first event proper in the Omnium. The points race was more successful with third place; Glenn O’Shea (Australia), Kenny de Ketele (Belgium), Irvine and Choi each gained a lap, and finished in that order. Irvine was just one point off De Ketele’s total.
He was 14th in the elimination event and ended yesterday tenth overall.
The second day of Omnium racing is often better for Irvine and so it proved today. He clocked up a time of four minutes 30.341 in the individual pursuit, netting fifth behind the four minutes 25.860 winning time of Glenn O’Shea.
The scratch race, which he won in the European championships, was his top event, with a superb second place finish. Omar Bertazzo succeeded in gaining a lap on the field, while Irvine won the sprint at the end and was thus best of the rest.
The final race was the 1km time trial. Bryan Coquard was quickest on each of the four laps and finished with one minute 3.507 seconds, almost a second quicker than O’Shea. Irvine’s one minute 5.219 earned him seventh place and, when the totals were jotted up, put him in a final finishing position of fifth overall in the Beijing World Cup omnium.
Despite missing out in the Astana round, he is now a superb sixth overall in the World Cup standings. A strong performance in next month’s final round in London could be highly rewarding as his total of twelve points is same as that of O’Shea, who won the Omnium today, Cali round winner Juan Esteban Arango (Colombia) and Germany’s Roger Kluge, who won in Astana.
Korean rider Sung Ho Cho is one point higher in second place and also well within reach, meaning that London will be crucial to determining the final podium in the four-round series.
Beijing track World Cup Omnium, final standings:
Event points: (flying lap/points race/elimination race/individual pursuit/scratch race/time trial)
Gold: Glenn O’Shea (Australia, 7th/1st /3rd /1st /6th 2nd) 20 points
Silver: Bryan Coquard (France, 1st /6th / 1st /10th /4th /1st) 23
Bronze: Nikias Arndt (Germany, 5th /8th /5th /2nd /7th /5th) 32
4, Kenny de Ketele (Belgium, 13th /2nd /6th /6th /8th /6th) 41
5, Martyn Irvine (Ireland, 11th /3rd / 14th/ 5th /2nd /7th) 42
World Cup standings:
1, Bryan Coquard (France) 22
2, Ho Sung Cho (Korea) 13
3, Glenn O’Shea (Australia) 12
4, Juan Esteban Arango (Colombia) 12
5, Roger Kluge (Germany) 12
6, Martyn Irvine (Ireland) 12
|
|
|
|
