UCI Track World Championships: Pervis makes history
It was a heavy menu and it ended up a feast for Francois Pervis, who had decided to go for gold in three events in Cali. At 29, the man who had had to wait for last year to conquer his first crown made history by achieving an unheralded sweep in the men's speed events. Fastest in the qualifiers (9.742), the Frenchman reached the final unbeaten and has actually not conceded defeat since his arrival in Colombia. In the final Pervis again dominated title-holder Stefan Boetticher of Germany in two legs. A little earlier, Russia's Denis Dmitriev had taken the bronze. With Pervis, France confirmed its domination in the men's sprint, having missed the podium only twice (1994 and 2006) in twenty years. Pervis joined other French legends like Florian Rousseau, Arnaud Tournant or Gregory Beauge as one of his sport's greats and can now have the wildest dreams for the Rio Olympics after failing to make London in 2012.
Women's keirin -- A treble for Vogel too
Like Pervis in the men's ranks, Germany's Kristina Vogel stole the show in the women's competition when she won the keirin after the individual and team sprints. In the final, she outpaced Australia's Anna Meares (+ 0.085), who still became the woman rider with the most medals at world championships with 22. Britain's Rebecca James (+0.140) was third. Third in 2012, Vogel is the second German to win the keirin laurels after Christin Muche eight years ago.
Women's omnium -- The same as in Minsk
Rid of her pursuit world title, American Sarah Hammer had made it clear she was out for revenge in the omnium: "Congrats Joanna Rowsell for kicking my ass tonight! Great race. Really wanted that one...a bit bummed. Now to switch gears -- omnium tomorrow", she had warned on her Twitter account. Pride and class did the rest. Second in the flying lap, she won the points race, the elimination race and the pursuit, before finishing 5th in the scratch and 4th in the 500 metres. At 30, she retained her world title on 14 points. The podium was identical to last year's in Minsk with Britain's Laura Trott second on 20 points and Australia's Annette Edmonson third on 24. Silver-medallist in 2011, third in 2012 and crowned for the past two years, Hammer is the most successful athlete in the discipline.
Madison -- Spain eventually
It took long nail-biting minutes to know the winners of the Madison. While Belgium's Jasper de Buyst and Kenny De Ketele thought they had it made, they were finally relegated to 5th place, leaving the top spot to Spaniards David Juaneda Muntaner and Albert Barcelo Torres with 18 points. Second last year, Spain earned the last title of the competition. Czechs Martin Blaha and Vojtech Hacecky finally came second on 12 points and Italy, relegated from third to seventh, left the bronze medal to Switzerland's Stefan Kueng and Thery Schir with seven points.
