Four world titles were awarded on Saturday at the UCI Track Cycling World Championships in St-Quentin-en-Yvelines, France. Germany joins host France with the most gold medals, at three each, while Australia leads in the total medal count with nine medals, two of them gold.
The Netherlands took the first world title of the evening in the women's Scratch Race, their first gold medal of these championships. Kirsten Wild won the rainbow jersey, outsprinting Amy Cure (Australia) and Allison Beveridge (Canada)
"I am very happy," said Wild. "It was nice that my family was here and I can celebrate with them. I have never had such a title, including on the road, so yah, it is amazing. Until 10 laps to go the race was easy, but the last 10 laps was a hard race. This is first medal to the Netherlands, but not the last, I think!"
The final title of the night went to Germany's Kristina Vogel, who successfully defended her Sprint title in two closely fought rides against Elis Ligtlee (Netherlands). Vogel won the first ride by an infinitesimal one-thousandth of a second. Tianshi Zhong (China) took the bronze medal in two straight races ahead of Stephanie Morton (Australia).
"It was really hard tournament from the qualification to the semi-final against Tianshi Zhong," commented Vogel. "It was like the final last year in Cali, I needed a decider [against Zhong], so it was a real tough race. Also against Elis Ligtlee in the final, she had won in less heats than me, and was more fresh. I think today I won with my head and not with my legs. The last heats were that tough. We had some riders win that I never thought would win. Really tough and really close. Amazing tournament, tough tournament."
"I am really happy now because I think a lot of people accept that I can win. Me too. It all came together today and I'm good. This is my jersey."
