Commonwealth Games 2022: Triple for Australia in the track cycling
After a disastrous Olympics campaign, Australia dominated on the opening day of the Commonwealth Games track cycling in London.
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T was a golden night at the velodrome for Australian cyclists, who claimed half of the gold medals on offer on day one of the Commonwealth Games track cycling.
Australians were expected to make an impact when the track program kicked off at the Lee Valley velodrome in London and they did not disappoint with three convincing victories.
Jess Gallagher, and pilot Caitlin Ward, got the ball rolling in the women’s tandem sprint, claiming Australia’s first gold medal of the Games.
The women’s pursuit team quickly backed this up by smashing the Commonwealth Games record en route to a dominant win in the 4000m team pursuit and the men’s sprint team joint them on the top of the podium and in the record books in the last race of the evening.
The win in the men’s sprint was brought home by Matt Glaetzer, who now has four Commonwealth Games gold medals.
He said this one was special after he was diagnosed with thyroid cancer in 2019 and then a tough Olympics campaign last year.
“It has been a tough couple of years and almost a tougher eight months after the Olympics, tough to get into training,” he said.
“But I knew I was capable and wanted to deliver some more medals for Australia.”
He was joined by young guns Matt Richardson and Leigh Hoffman in breaking the Commonwealth Games record in qualifying and then in the final against England.
Hoffman said he thought the team could do something special and hoped Glaetzer could stay with them to Paris.
“First time together and first gold medal, yeah, pretty chuffed with that,” he said.
“I’m 22, Matt (Richardson) here is 23 and the other Matt is 29, so we all have a lot more legs. Matt G hopefully continues on and it shows that he still has the form.”
Glaetzer said it would definitely motivate him.
“What we do isn’t easy and it doesn’t get easier as I get older, but it is a real carrot to chase as we get going over the coming years as we get stronger … will get better and it will be phenomenal to see what we can do if we stay healthy,” he said.
WOMEN STORM TO 4000M TEAMS PURSUIT GOLD
Australia’s women’s pursuit team has obliterated the Commonwealth Games record as they comfortably defended their title.
The Australian foursome of Georgia Baker, Maeve Plouffe, Sophie Edwards and Chloe Moran were the red-hot favourites to take out the 4000m teams pursuit on the first day of action at the Lee Valley velodrome and they did not disappoint as they blew away their rivals.
The Australian team were red hot in the qualifying, posting a new Commonwealth Games record en route to qualifying fastest.
With England disappointing, despite boasting Dame Laura Kelly, the New Zealand team were Australia’s biggest threats.
But the New Zealand team were without young gun Ally Wollaston after she fractured her wrist after crashing at the Tour de France Femmes.
This meant they had to use Ellesse Andrews, who is a sprinter, in the early stages of the pursuit because they were short of numbers.
With just three riders for most of the race, New Zealand were nearly caught by the dominant Australian side with their time of 4:12.234 two seconds faster than the previous Commonwealth Games record they set in qualifying.
“We obviously have a really fresh team here, we haven’t had a lot of competition and to come here and break the Comm Games record in qualifying and then break it again in the final was pretty cool,” Baker said.
“It is definitely a new era, I think we have a good strong team, so I think some more records can fall.”
GALLAGHER, WARD CAPTURE FIRST TRACK GOLD
Jess Gallagher and pilot Caitlin Ward have claimed Australia’s first gold medal of the track cycling program at the Commonwealth Games after a sensational ride in the women’s tandem sprint.
Gallagher and Ward took out both races in the final against Scotland’s Alieen McGlynn and Ellie Stone.
The Scottish duo nearly forced a third and deciding race, but thrillingly Gallagher and Ward were able to pip them to the line and take home the gold.
In the first race of the final the two teams were shoulder to shoulder for most of the first two laps.
Gallagher and Ward had the crowd gasping after they came close to colliding with their Scottish opponents.
They were able to get past McGlynn and Stone soon after and weren’t troubled from there.
Gallagher was the first ever Australian to win a medal at the winter and summer Paralympics.
She won the winter Paralympic medal in skiing and the summer one in cycling.
She has also competed at the Paralympics in athletics and is currently turning her hand to rowing.
She thought her days competing in the velodrome were over when her previous partner retired but after deciding to have a crack at the Commonwealth Games she was able to find a new pilot in Ward.
Gallagher said it was an amazing piece of riding by Ward.
“They had nothing to lose, we went one up so we knew they were going to be aggressive but Caity is a phenomenal pilot and rider and she was just aggressive back,” she said.
“Working your way from the back position in the tandem is really hard so she just kept working.”
Gallagher, 36, won two silvers in the tandem at the 2018 Games.
She said winning the gold in London was special after having to leave the sport in 2019.
“It is incredible, I never thought I would ride a tandem again when I came off the team in 2019 and went into rowing so to come here and find an incredible pilot in Caity, we work so well together, it has been a real honour for me,” she said.
“I think I just keep getting better with age, it is a real privilege to be a Paralympian and hopefully it inspires anyone with a disability out there but especially kids because I didn’t have this exposure growing up.”
Ward said she was thrilled with the gold medal.
“It’s a dream, this the third or fourth games that I’ve tried to make so to get onto the team and come back with a gold medal is just everything I can imagine,” she said.
England’s Sophie Unwin, piloted by Georgia Holt took bronze.
In the men’s 1000m tandem time trial Beau Woottoon and pilot Luke Zaccaria were briefly in the medal contention but eventually finished fourth.
Scotland’s Neil Fachie with pilot Stewart Lewis thrillingly pipped Wales’ James Ball and Matthew Rotheram in a new Commonwealth Games record to claim the first medal of the track program.
DAY 1 - MORNING SESSION WRAP
Australia’s track cyclists have largely dominated the opening session at the Lee Valley velodrome on the first day of Commonwealth Games action.
Out of the six medals on offer in the evening session Australian cyclists will start as favourites in at least three of them after they flexed their muscles in qualifying.
Both the men’s sprint team and women’s pursuit team broke Commonwealth Games records en route to qualifying with the quickest time for their respective gold medal races.
The male team sprint featuring Leigh Hoffman, Matt Richardson and Matt Glaetzer recorded a time of 42.222 to smash the previous record by 0.6 seconds and they will start favourites against England.
The women’s pursuit team of Georgia Baker, Maeve Plouffe, Sophie Edwards and Chloe Moran will take on New Zealand in the gold medal race.
In the para-cycling Jess Gallagher and pilot Caitlin Ward will be the favourites to take out the women’s tandem sprint after a comfortable ride through qualifying and the semi finals.
Beau Wootton, along with pilot Luke Zaccaria, will be hoping for gold in the men’s 1000m tandem time trial.
The women’s sprint team also broke a Commonwealth Games record in their heat, but it wasn’t enough to secure a place in the gold medal race after the mark fell three times in succession.
New Zealand set a new record straight after Australia and Canada consigned the trio of Alessia McCaig, Kristina Clonan and Breanna Hargrave to the bronze medal race against Wales.
The men’s pursuit team couldn’t make the gold medal race, and will have to settle with racing for bronze.
The Australian quartet of Luke Plapp, Josh Duffy, Conor Leahy and James Moriarty were considered to be a decent chance of a gold medal in the 4000m team pursuit after a solid performance in the Track World Cup in Milton earlier this year.
But after being unable to post a faster time than New Zealand the Australian team had to wait until the final heat of the qualifying to see if England could relegate them to the bronze medal race.
The host nation was behind the Australian time for most of the race but with a loud home crowd behind them they were able to lift late and secure a place in the gold medal race.
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