All was still to play for on the final day in Manchester with Great Britain putting on a stunning performance to take gold in the men’s team pursuit.
Opening up the evening session was the men’s team sprint where France edged out Germany to claim their second gold of the weekend. Kevin Sireau joined Gregory Bauge and Michael D’Almeida who qualified quickest, before taking the final by two tenths. Record Holders Great Britain took third place just ahead of Team Jayco.
Shuang Guo went one better in the women’s kerin, fighting off some of the world’s best to take gold. Clara Sanchez managed to hold off Victoria Pendleton, who had a disappointing weekend, to take third place. Pendleton will be hoping to find the form, she has been lacking recently, before the World Championships in a month. Anna Meares was unable to claim a hat-trick of victories, not even finish on the podium, finishing behind China’s Jinjie Gong in fifth place.
It is still an up and coming event for the women, but the omnium gave us an insight in to how the Olympic event may go, in just over a year. Sarah Hammer could have barely planned it better accumulating only nine points; compared to second place Kirsten Wild’s 38. The American, who holds the individual pursuit world record, took four wins and finished no less than third, in all events. 2012 will be the first time we see the women’s omnium in the Olympics and everything could change over the next year.
The men’s team pursuit was the highlight of the evening as Great Britain beat New Zealand by five seconds. The record holders Ed Clancy, Geraint Thomas, Bradley Wiggins and Steven Burke will take this as a boost before the World Championships in the Netherlands. Spain took the final medal after beating Denmark by over two seconds.
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