20/02/2013 World Track Cycling Championships

Good afternoon and welcome to coverage of the track cycling world

championships. We will be with you over the next five days as the

British team take to the boards again in search of more medals.

What a night we have got to look forward to a. It is going to be an

absolute thriller. They were absolutely flying, Great pretender.

Great Britain are the world champions and they are now going to

become the Olympic champions. They are on fire! They are on fire!

cannot believe it. I cannot believe this has happened to me, I'm really

cannot. Chris Solly sets a new world record. -- Chris Hoy. Kenny

is the world champion. Look at the time, it is a new world record.

is a mad explosion of emotion. is the Olympic champion. Something

to make you smile and cry at the same time. Time to write the next

chapter post London and that Reminders of the past and a few

secrets. The capital of Belarus plays host to the old and then you.

Six Olympic champions from London will race and there will be a great

deal of interest in some of the younger riders, Becky James in the

sprint and the pursuit teams. That is the boys of Jill Douglas.

Joining me is Craig McLean, a world champion in 2002 and plenty more

besides. Look at the power, already zipping down the back straight.

Great Britain take gold. You have got to get the credit to Craig

McLean. Craig McLean is the new leader of the competition and he

starts to celebrate and celebrate in some style. Winner of the men's

kilometre competition with a storming ride of 1.0689. Craig

McLean of Great Britain. anything dates you, it was the

helmet. They have changed a lot. They certainly have. It looks quite

appropriate for a Minsk. That was where we were supposed to wear

safety hair once as opposed to aerodynamic helmets. You have done

this before. You have done the Olympic Games and then a world-

championship straight afterwards. What will the mine said be in the

team? Some of them seem keen. It surprised a few of the riders how

quickly they were able to come up to form after the Olympics. They

had a lot of time off and they enjoyed themselves and it was after

the celebrations which was the hard point for them. That initial block

of training. For a lot of them, Jason Kenny especially, his form

came back very quickly and that motivated him even more. David

Brailsford has called is a changing of the Guard a little bit. It is a

Six existing Champions in there and four riders who have never been to

a world track championship before and the youngest is 19 years old.

The interesting thing is the athletes with experience are also

very young and they will be in Rio as well. More than likely. Ed

Clancy is the oldest at 27. If you look at Chris Solly each -- Chris

Hoy, he is 36. And he is still growing strong. The expectations

and we sold a montage of London with seven out of 10 gold medals.

What are you looking for in these championships? The points system is

a rolling qualification leading on to Rio and every race counts. It

would be nice to come out with some titles, but exposing these

youngsters to a high-level competition is crucial at this

point because this could be the team that goes to Rio. I do not

think expectations in terms of winning gold medals will be high in

the camp. But they will certainly try to do that. We have got Laura

Trott, Jason Kenny and Ed Clancy and who would you pick out of the

younger people coming through? Elano Barker has proved her mettle

and she stepped into the women's team pursuits and replaced Jo

Rowsell. Jo Rowsell is not faced, but there is a lot of healthy

competition. She was a junior world champion and she has proved what

she is capable of and she is going to do on to do great things, I

think. We have got five days of competition. These are the

highlights of day one. The men's No Jess Varnish because she is

injured. It is Vicky Williamson and Becky James. This is a really

experienced team. Sam Harrison joins the team. They always look

good. Plenty of new faces in the team and a changing of the Guard in

the BBC's Sports cycling team as well as Hugh Porter moves on to

pastures new. One of the great voices. I have been on the journey

at every Olympics since Ahsan delays and 99% of mycology seems to

end on the cutting-room floor. Now 99% of our commentary goes out on

air. You cannot get better than that. -- the my commentary. Mark

Cavendish has won for Great Britain. Chris Hoy and brings the team

Venables stock Bradley Wiggins is the Olympic champion. It is gold

and gold for Bradley Wiggins. He is going to take the gold medal to

become the Olympic champion. The Victoria Pendleton takes the gold

medal. An unbelievable ride. They are on fire. Bradley Wiggins cannot

believe it. We can, we have just witnessed it. This man is

unstoppable. He is the Olympic road race champion. I ran out of

superlatives a long time ago of. The real McCoy, Chris Hoy. I reckon

that is a heavier fall than the crash. We all know this is going to

be on A Question of Sport. Who is going to get it? Chris Hoy gets the

gold medal. That is a bit unfair to show. I am going to get under the

table. I am delighted to say he will be with us for the Winter

Olympics. When you look back at all your great races, his voice must be

in your ear as well as all the pictures. It ease and his voice is

synonymous with the cycling and in all these old clips he adds a

little bit of drama to the raising and he is the most mimicked

commentator in terms of some of his catchphrases within the GB camp.

Chris Hoy, the real McCoy, springs to mind. Yes, and he has been part

of the furniture, certainly in my career time and looking back to

Chris Boardman's time as well. Let's get to the action as well.

This is the men's key low, the one kilometre time trial. We have got

X'ian MIT and he is in great form. He's suffered from a few injuries,

but he has had a good block of training and it is amazing the

difference the consistency makes. guess the big moments will be

stepping into position three in the team sprint, Chris Solly's position

for many years. There are big shoes to fill. The one kilometre time

trial is not an Olympic event, but it is a world championship event.

It is part of the training for the third man position. Chris cut his

teeth into one kilometre time trial and that is what made him such a

good team-mate in the team sprint. Herr do you think he will cope with

that pressure? I do not think there is pressure to be the next Chris

Hoy as such. The event is evolving style. Especially the new rule

change in terms of the changeover, it makes for a slightly different

event. He will not be looking to mimic Chris. Well, he will be

looking to mimic him, but I do not think he will be looking to surpass

them. A our committed team is Chris Boardman.

They are halfway through the time trial. That is the Italian. The

crowd so far have seen nine riders in this particular event. Ed

Dawkins from New Zealand has set for third fastest. The Italian is

tightening up his post wraps. This is from an incident from several

years ago. An Australian who pulled event was dropped from the Olympic

Games after Athens into Besant and Ford. At the time it did not look

great for Great Britain with Jason Queally winning in Sydney and Chris

Hawick winning in Athens, but things have turned out great for

British cycling since then. It is a classic Blue Riband event for track

cycling. It is not difficult to follow. The fastest rider over four

laps wins. In it has made a comeback. It is a proving ground

and a training event for riders to go on for the group Sprint. Man

number two and a man number three need that endurance. He is just

under half a second down on the fastest time. It is all about how

deeply he can dig in and keep the gears at turning. Has he got the

power to do so? That is the second fastest time. That was a good

finish by him. It was not quite the best start. The made it laps served

him well. He died towards the end, but not as badly as the others. He

has got to be happy with that. The accord due respect to the riders

who have gone so far, all 10 of them, we start to get to the meat

of the order now in this 19 man field. The event comes to a

crescendo with the seeded riders at track. Another British rider who

made their world debut aged 20 was Jason Kenny so so maybe that bodes

ahead of the Polish rider. Kian Emadi made his World Cup debut this

winter. He did very well placing second in this event in Calais.

am really looking forward to. He started at the same age as me

actually, aged 13. He has done some road. He probably settled into the

sprinting groove. He had to fight his way into the team her through

stronger opposition. He earned his place and the sprint coach is happy

with his progress and I'm fascinated to see what he will do.

Yes in this event and the team sprint as well. He will fit into

the sizable shoes of Sir Chris Hoy. Let's see how he does, Kian Emadi.

He was born and raised in Stoke-on- Trent. That's Iain Dyer just

kneeling done. It was Shane Kelly of of Australia

who pulled his foot out and lost an Olympic title because of no toe

straps and everybody relies on the toe straps for the extra belt and

Britain. In the next minute or so we will

see how he fairs. This is his first ever ride at senior levels at the

World Championships. He is getting encouragement from Iain Dyer.

He looks very, very solid. The second fastest time.

Chris, he looks very, very smooth. He looks better than anybody else

we have seen and at the half-way mark he leads the way. It is Kian

Emadi for Great Britain. He comes up towards the bell.

He is pushing a big gear there. He He looks well on top of it. Again,

encouragement from Iain Dyer. Can he hang on now? Four tenths of a

second second up. Half a length to go for Kian Emadi of Great Britain.

He has got to dig deep and see what he has got left and just a few

meters towards the line. Is it the fastest time? Yes, it is by nearly

half a second. That's an excellent ride by Kian Emadi. Well, he will

be pleased with that. That was a world-class ride. He will be

pleased with that. If he is not, he should be. A very, very solid ride

there. The 20-year-old leads the way now.

A lot of muscle there as he took that out of the gate. You could see

him fatigued towards the end. His shoulders were dropping, but he

stayed with it all the way around. A good line all the way round.

Not only did you look committed, but he looked technically good,

didn't he? He was very, very smooth. Well, we know with the British team

they do a lot of technical drills. It would be second nature to him

the way that he rode that race. How to come out of the gate. They do a

lot of technical training. Here is where he brings the

don't doubt his is a name that is unfamiliar to most people watching,

but it is fair to say his a name that we will need to remember as we

will be hearing it again and again. We will. Half a second clear and it

is quite something at this level of competition.

Some descent riders to come as you would expect.

Among those still to ride, Eric Wagner from the Czech Republic. So

many of the riders are around 20. This is the beginning of the next

four year cycle. I was looking at my notes and looking at the

different riders and their ages and the British team, the average age

dropped dramatically. It really is a young squad, but that seems to be

the case across-the-board. A lot of young riders coming through and if

you say early 20s and 20 and under is not unusual at the moment.

A few final words of encouragement there for Wagner and just a few

seconds to wait now before his ride at the World Championships. The

Czech junior kilo champion and senior champion in 2012. To give

you an idea of what we should be expecting here. One in a 1.08 last

year by Stefan. He is not just about to complete the first

lap of four. He is three tenths down. He made a descent start.

Half-way down the back straight on lap two. There is a lot to give

away three three tenths. It has gone up to half a second. It

could turn into a damage limitation exercise.

Cane Kian Emadi is rapidly moving towards a podium position.

Wagner is over a second down at the bell and visibly tiring up a little

bit down the back straight as he go goes into the banking away to our

left for the last time. And crawls towards the finish line.

Crawls relevant to the times he did for his first two laps. I will have

to get statistics on the speed between lap two and the last

quarter of the lap. I would guess it is a or 6 kmp. The lack of

oxygen and the build up of lactic assit they start to -- acid they

start to slow the pedals down. Emadi leads the way currently. Kian

Emadi is still warming down in the centre of the track. He was well

received by the British coaching staff and a case of pats on the

back all-round produced by the 20- year-old. He is still puffing and

blowing down there. I am not surprised. It can take you 20

minutes to get your composure back. I wonder did they tell him he had

to compete in the team sprint. has just collided with somebody on

the track. He continues his warm down.

This is Eric Engler from Germany. The 21-year-old made a great start

to the World Cup meetings, winning the team sprints and the individual

individual sprin and he is the current -- sprint and he is the

current German German champion. What sort of threat will he pose to

the time set by Kian Emadi? He is another youngster, isn't he, at 21?

He is part of the team that won the team sprint in Calais at the recent

World Cup. Yes, a team sprint Gold Medallist

in the under 23 championships as well. Good times for Germany in

track racing. They have been strong over the winter thus far.

They have really come forward this Olympics, in the run-up to the

Engler, the first of two German riders to come here.

And Eric Engler is on his way. Completely locked arms. You see the

different style as he uses his own arms as leavers for his legs to

push against. Very, very muscular the Germans. They don't go for

speed and for light riders, they like the bulk.

He is fastest after the first lap. That's a very solid start, isn't

it? It is solid. It is strong. He got on top of the gear very, very

quickly. At the moment he looks comfortable as he powers around the

track. He is over two tenths of a second faster than Kian Emadi and

it is about whether he can keep it going.

He chose a low gear as well. Particularically a solid ride ride

as he comes into the final lap. He is tying up as all riders do on

the final lap. He has got to dig deep and keep it going. Up towards

the line to try and set the fastest time. It will be close. Is it close

enough? Kian Emadi from Great Britain still

leads. Well, that is so close, isn't it?

That is close and that's how this competition is normally played out.

We were shown some big gaps at start of the race, but as the

favourites come in, it gets closer and closer and everybody aspect,

the lunge at start, the lunge at the end make all the difference.

Well, Eric Engler was able to get on top of the gear quickly. The

size of the gear not as big as some of the other riders we have seen so

far in this competition. I feel it is the last part of the

race where you start to pay for that extra muscle bulk. You get off

the mark quickly, but there is a price to be paid and there is an

aerodynamic penalty because the rider is larger. It is not a pure

sprint, is it? It is partly a balancing act.

It is very much so. They find it very difficult to regulate their

own effort because you think how hard they can, if they were doing a

half lap effort, the difference between that and a kilometre, they

have to reign it in slightly. It is almost an art form really to

measure that kind of power over a minute. As more and more riders

head back into the clubhouse as it were, the competition rose ever

more intense. Anywhere heading towards the really strong riders at

the back end of the field. And Kian Emadi heading closer and closer to

a podium spot here. Whatever times are set by the rest of the riders,

he has just himself justice and he performed very, very well. This is

Hugo Haak from the heather lands. He is the -- Netherlands. He is the

silver medallist in this event. He is another young rider at 21. A

hole raft of riders that -- whole raft of riders that we are going to

be seeing coming to the forein the European Championships.

Just in case you weren't aware, there is the 50 second countdown on

all the riders before they set off from the starter's gate.

And Haak one of two Dutch riders to come. He is a big guy, isn't he? He

has got some long leavers there. Five seconds.

A little bit of support in the crowd for Hugo Haak.

He is really using the leavers to get that go. I think we are going

to see a good start here. Driving it home over that first three-

quarters of a lap as he comes back into the home straight to cross the

line. With the fastest time. Fully committed. He is going really,

really quickly now, the Dutch rider. A quick opening lap there. Ke build

on this? -- can he build on this? Yes, he can. He is doing well.

There are conflicting information coming from the two fasting gadgets.

One saying he is the fastest and the other saying he is not.

He has eased back into third place. Yet again, it will be about the

last half a lap. At the moment, I don't think he is doing too badly.

Well up towards the line comes Haak and he is four tenths plus of a

second outside. It is good enough for third fastest so far, but still

Kian Emadi leads the way here in the men's kilometre. He is going

into the final lap. He is in third position. He just managed to hang

on to that. With Kian Emadi winning at the moment, it is important to

note that the current state of British success in cycling started

with Jason winning in this event. It was a gold run, wasn't it?

was the proving ground. We got Lottery funding coming in at the

end of my own career. Peter Keane set up a performance programme.

They implemented a plan in Sydney and the gold medal was a big deal

for the British team and it showed that they could go out there, put a

plan together and win medals and they got more funding and it went

from there. He didn't go into that Olympic

Games as the favourite, for that event, did he? He went into it with

people feeling and I think himself feeling he a chance of a medal, but

he was not favoured to win the in Sydney in 2000. This is the

European team sprint gold medallist and a former German kilometre

champion. Won the World Cup in Kazakhstan a couple of years back,

so has some international experience. An old man in this

field at 22. We have to work out the average age, but I would say it

is not far off 23, the average age. Almost ready to go. Including this

man, 5 that riders to go. Kian Emadi-Coffin is getting closer to

finishing potentially on the podium in his first major championships.

This time is fast. 18.3 seems to be the mark at the moment. You need to

be there or thereabouts if you want to be in with a shout. He is only

4th, and he is holding that position at the moment. Still in

touch, though. He takes the bell and goodness me, it is close.

less than a 10th of a second in it. It is very close now. Can he set

the fastest time? What has he got left in the tank? That is the new

fastest time. He saved the best until last. We could see visibly he

was not quite dying that much over the last half a lap and that seems

to be where this event is going to play out tonight. They are all in

touch in less than a 10th of a second between them. It is all in

that last little bit. He was solid all the way through that ride from

the moment he left the starting gate. The Germans and the British

spend a lot of time on technique. We can expect a stylish start from

any one of them. It was controlled power. Very much. We can see that

expression on his face. We are not seeing some of the premises we see

from some of the riders, because it in past two championships. He's

settled for a silver medal in the French a national championships in

the sprint, but he is the new French Keirin champion. We can

expect a good technical right because the French, the Germans and

the British run a very good school of cycling. They pass that

knowledge from rider to rider. had a bit of a problem. He has

chosen to continue, but he could have had a restart. The back wheel

jumped somehow and that will cost him. The first of two revolutions

of the pedals were less than clean. He has got an enormous amount of

ground to make up. I think he made a big mistake. That was what they

would classify as a mishap. I am sure they would have given him a ms

and another start. He is not going to trouble the top of the

leaderboard. It is over his second. 6th in the last two world

championships, but I do not think he will fare terribly well in this

one. 1.5 seconds down, but he lost so much time in the first few

metres. You have got to lose motivator and from that as well. I

am very surprised he did not go for a restart. -- motivation. An event

like this is decided by hundredths of a second. Maybe there were some

drops of sweat on the track, but he has chosen to keep going. What a

messy start and effectively his medal chances were all over in the

first two or three revolutions of the pedals. I am sure they would

have given him a restart. That is why they call it a mishap. It is

usually a crash or a mechanical problem, but clearly that was

beyond his control. The French coach is standing at the side of

the track with his hands on his hips. He will be disappointed with

his own rider because he had the power to stop the race. Chris Hoy

was raising in this event. This is the Keirin bronze medallist at the

London Olympics. He has won this particular event twice before in a

world championships, in 2008 and 2010. He also won the Keirin title

a few years back. He is 31 and a real threat to win this here.

has probably got thousands and thousands of pounds worth of

aerodynamic equipment and he has not bothered to shave! It is of the

small details. This is likely to be one of the highlights of this event.

Look how low on the track he is. His body is still as his legs go

round. It is beautifully done. that experience coming into play.

He is the fastest so far. Look at him go, smooth power, being

transmitted through the pedals down onto the track. Very quickly on top

of that gear. He looks comfortable, he will be anything but, but he is

the fastest. He has the experience. Surely he has paced this ride well?

But he lost a lot of time on the third lap. Having gone out of the

tracks like a greyhound he is now really struggling. He is gasping

for air. That really has fallen apart dramatically in the second

half of the race. He started so well and look at -- looked

absolutely great, but then the wheels fell off. That is a real

surprise. It was almost like somebody put the handbrake on.

Peter Blake out at the start. Very good technical starred as you might

expect. You would not expect that from a rider of his experience

because he has been around so long. But if you have not got the legs on

the day, there is not much you can do. One person he will be pleased

will be Kian Emadi-Coffin who is there. He has won two French and

national titles. He has got a world title to his name, but it was in

the team sprint as a junior. No senior world title. He rode the

Mexico World Cup recently. His form is not bad. Has he got the form and

the legs to carry him to a medal here? France is perennially one of

the stronger nations in track cycling. Their biggest name is not

here. I think he is still trying to find his head after the Olympic

Games which he thought he would win. He was beaten by Jason Kenny.

looking good on this first lap. That is a pretty swift time. It is

the fastest time. Can he keep it going? The only rider inside 18 and

he looks very smooth. He is well on top of that gear and his line is

almost perfect. It is like he is on a tramline. Fantastic riding so far

and he comes up to the three- quarters mark. 1.1 seconds ahead of

anybody else. He is absolutely flying. He looks so strong and he

looks so smooth. He appears to be riding on a rail. He is the newly

Devils stop the men's kilo file is saving the best until last. Almost,

because we have one rider to come. We were talking about these events

sometimes been decided by a thousandth of a second and then

somebody comes N 1.2 seconds clear. That is absolutely incredible. It

was a beautiful ride. He gave himself such a buffer going into

the final lap. What a fantastic ride from a cyclist who has been

around for a number of years and has not been one of the very

brightest lights in an extremely talented French squad. Often we see

after the Olympics are the people who just missed out in selection

and they keep that burning desire and train hard through the winter

months and come here with a desperate need to succeed and they

often come through in the post Olympic world to championships.

That was a fantastic ride for Purves from France. Only one man

can deny him the gold medal now. Richard Burton sent as a tweet and

he had a look at the speeds we were speculating on. It went from 66

kilometres an hour on the first lap down to 57 on the last lap. There

is 10 kilometres difference such is the fatigue. There is no surprise

there. This is the bronze medallist at the Olympic Games in the Keirin.

He has just won three national titles on the track in New Zealand.

Third in the world championships in this event a year ago. He is miles

off the pace. In 11th position. will be watching this as well

because Kian Emadi-Coffin is still in the bronze-medal position. This

Well, just over a second down, but that's because Purvis is faster

that everybody else so far. This is going to go down to the wire. It is

a fast, fast finish. One minute exactly and 0.859 and that's good

enough. It is another step up the podium. Francois Pervis with a

stning ride -- stunning ride wins the gold medal here. Great

Britain's Kian Emadi-Coffin outside the medals. This is a competition

full of surprises. I didn't think he could recover from a start like

that. 11th place after the first lap. He came through from eighth to

second with a lap to go and that's where he stayed. That was an

imcredible comeback. It showed his closing speed or the speed on his

third lap was amazing. A stunning ride there. On another

day that would have won him the World Championship, but not when

Francois Pervis the form and the determination he had. Francois

Pervis is the new world champion for the men's kilometre time trial.

An excellent ride by 20-year-old, Kian Emadi-Coffin, he was fourth in

his first ever event in the World Kian Emadi-Coffin just missed out..

It is a horrible place just waiting to see what the other riders would

do. He did a fantastic job. There do. He did a fantastic job. There

is a world-class field there. Mulleders is very -- Mulder is very

experienced. The key to this is pacing as we saw

with Mulder, he got it wrong. A very mature performance from an

athlete in his first World Championships? It was. He showed

what he is capable at in the World Cup in Mexico. He did a very good

ride there. That's at altitude so a little bit quicker than he went

there. This is a significant chunk into his CV.

It was an outstanding performance. It will put him in good stead for

the team sprint. Confirmation of his form? Hopefully he can recover

well interest this. He has three days until he is in the team sprint.

Definitely a prospect for the future.

It was an outstanding performance. The important thing, pacing and he

got it just right. He did. This isn't an event they train a lot for.

It is an additional event and they will ride it off the back of the

team sprint training rather than putting a lot of emphasis.

Now, the women's individual pursuit. Sarah Hammer of the USA looked like

on the track is the women's individual pursuit. It is the race

for bronze between Edmondson from Australia and Laura Brown from

Canada. Edmondson won a bronze in London.

She is in great form. Three golds in the national championships in

Australia in year and Laura Brown from Canada on the other side of

the track. She is She is 26 years of age. A former national champion

in the team sprin and the team sprint and a former Gold Medallist

this race. He had Edmondson on paper should have it. Sometimes you

get a rider who qualifies well and can't produce a second ride a few

hours later, but also for Brown, when you have got nothing to lose,

you can pull out extraordinary performances so let's see if it

goes to schedule. 12 laps of the track and they are

Fin I shalling the first -- Technically a good start, but Brown

is starting to hold her own now. She lost a little bit more, but 1.4

seconds. That's already quite a sizable chunk. She is not losing

anywhere near as fast, but she is losing time to the Australian.

Well, nine laps to go here in this women's bronze medal race in the

individual pursuit and a second- and-a-half. So Brown needs to hold

her own and then try to make some in-roads. But against a rider as

talented as Annette Edmondson, that might take some doing.

Slower this time around. So Brown is producing a similar performance

as well. She is steadily losing ground.

There is seven laps to go and the gap is going up. I can only see one

winner. She comes from a very talented cycling family. The pair

of them selected for London 2012, the first ever brother and sister

pairing to be selected for the Olympic Games. The same Olympics in

Australian cycling. Well, Edmondson has already got her

opponent in sight and that makes a difference. I am wondering if she

is going to go after the catch as they approach the last kilometre?

We have five laps to go. The next time they go through the finishing

line on either side of the track, it will be the final kill kilometre

of the race. The gap is so big, there is no way that Brown will

finish anywhere other than fourth. Fourth is an excellent ride for the

Canadian. Her time was enough to edge out Caroline Ryan from Ireland.

She was in a medal ride until the last pairing went off. She did her

ride in 3.3826. Annette Edmondson seems untroubled here as she races

towards the bronze medal. Well, she is well into this final kilometre

and it would take a mishap to cause her a problem. She just needs to

keep her opponent in sight. She is not going to achieve the catch

which I thought before this race started that might abpossibility --

be a possibility. But no, she is going to have to settle for the

bronze medal. And she can see the Canadian rider in her sights or she

will do. There you can see the gap. She will have a clear view of Laura

Brown, the Canadian. Annette Edmondson taking the bell for

Australia and Australia about to get on the the board with their

first medal of these championships. It is It is a very talented team as

it always is. An interesting mixture of current current current

world champions and Annette Edmondson is one of of those bright,

young riders for the future and she won the bronze medal here and it

was a comfortable victory over Laura Brown from Canada. The time

for Edmondson 3.36830. So slower than the qualifying ride, but she

went as fast as she needed to go to get the medal. P-well, they have

done a couple of rides in the last few hours. So it is understandable,

really. She will form part of the team pursuit team.

It is an interesting point when you think how good the British women's

team, you have Laura Trott, and Jo Rowsell. When you think of the

talent over the distance, is it surprising to you that we don't

have anybody racing in this particular event? Well, our problem

here, of course, is the scheduling of the events. They have got the

team pursuit after this event and all of them want to make sure that

they have a good chance of winning the gold medal in that team pursuit

event and it is so important for them...... They have a qualifying

tomorrow morning? Exactly. They are sacrificing that for the team

pursuit and they are keen to hang on to the title as well, of course,

because it is the last time it will be run over three kilometre before

they move to four kilometres and four riders.

It will be interesting to see the effect of that, actually, when it

comes in whether a number of the other countries currently have the

strength in depth. Well, I think it is going to cause a problem. The

two big beneficiaries will be Australia and Great Britain. They

have half a dozen riders who could fill the places, but for the USA we

see Sarah Hammer lining up for the individual pursuit. Well, they have

had to scrape around to find a good team and they did a good job, but

they pulled riders from the sprint and other disciplines to make up

the team pursuit. Fourth last year in the individual

pursuit. It will be silver at worst for her this time around.

She raced in Scotland at the back end of November. We are inside the

last 30 seconds before this womens final is underway, but what about

Sarah Hammer? What about a rider. Four time individual pursuit

champion. She is tenacious and the only representative of America at

this World Championships. She is going to ride everything and you

can bet your bottom dollar she will be competitive in everything as

well. Perhaps not not over this first kilometre, because Cure is

the fastest starter of the two. The difference between the pair of

them in qualifying, 12 laps of the track by the way in this final,

Hammer was the fastest by some distance actually, 3.30206 and Amy

Cure 3.33.3. But Hammer looking to go for gold here because she had to

settle for silver silver twice at London 2012 in the team pursuit and

the ominium behind Laura Trott so it was a tussle between the pair of

them. It went to the wire. But here now, Hammer will be going all out

for the gold medal. That's Amy Cure from Australia, she is from

Tasmania and now residing in Adelaide. Amy Cure made the fastest

start. I wondered if she might reign it in

because it cost her dearly the experience of Sarah Hammer just

backing off and measuring her effort and she won out in the end.

Cure was nearly a second faster in that opening kilometre which I

suspect she is going to be again here and I think she is going to

pay the same price again. Well, just over eight laps to go.

They are coming up to the first kilometre mark. Is that the natural

style of Amy Cure, Chris? Is she trying to put Hammer under pressure

by making a fast start? Well, Hammer, she won't worry about her

opposition until she gets into the final kilometre. She will She will

do her own ride and measure her own effort because that's all you can

do. You need to focus on your own effort in this event and already,

she is bringing it down. Just 0.1 of a second between them now. This

could be the beginning of the end for the Australian. Well, the race

is on and it is going to be a case of how long Amy Cure can hang on

there? She will have to dig in because the assault has started

from the American. Sarah Hammer has turned this race on its head in the

space of a lap-and-a-half. She has the measure of her owe pone. When

you see -- her opponent. When you see somebody start off and die off,

you know they have given everything. She is just eating up the distance.

She has turned that advantage around now.

Amy Cure, I imagine there is lots more to come from her. Sarah Hammer

has been racing for a long time. It is an enormous gap. It is not a gap

that Amy Cure has any chance of closing. I think we could see a

catch here. Sarah Hammer has the opposition in her sights now in the

matter of a few lap that is we have just been talking over, she has

made in-roads into her opponent. Well, this is a pursuiting

masterclass from Sarah Hammer. We would expect nothing less. It is

all about Sarah Hammer now, Amy cap cure has done -- Amy Cure has done

well to get the gold medal. I Simon, we could see a catch here.

She is getting closer with every revolution of the pedals. She has

the added incentive of seeing the other athlete in front of her and

that gap is closing. Second by second here. The American takes the

bell just over a lap to go for the Australian and it is not going to

go the full distance here. might let her have it.

She is going to enjoy this final lap. Maybe wave to the crowd. She

does. Sarah Hammer takes the gun as the world champion for the fifth

time in the women's individual pursuit and after the initial laps

there with the fast start that we were expecting from Amy Cure, once

Sarah Hammer got into her stride there was only going to be one

winner of that event. She is one of the main figures in women's track

cycling of recent years. She is a superb rider. She was almost lost

to cycling in her career. She gave up and saw the limb the Olympics

and thought, "Maybe I will take it up again.". She is the only

American to take part in the championships. Plenty more events

to come. It is about quality not quality.

Sarah Hammer, great style as well as the speed. Really winning it up

as the owe vent wore on. Untroubled by the fast, early start made by

Amy Cure and there she is had the time to savour her victory and the

celebrations will start now. It is gold for Sarah Hammer of the United

States for the fifth time in her career. Silver for Australia, for

Amy Cure and another Australian, Annette he had tonne son winning

the bronze. -- Annette Edmondson winning the

women's individual pursuit. Sarah Hammer is a very worthy winner for

the 5th time in her career. We saw Kian Emadi-Coffin go in the men's

kilo. He finished in 4th place and There were an anxious few moments,

but you must be pleased with this first performance in a world

championships? Definitely. I gave it my best and it would have been

nice to get a medal, but it was more the performance. What were

your thoughts over the last few minutes? You expect the guys at the

end to go faster, so no real shock. There was talk about you stepping

into the big shoes of Chris Hoy in the next couple of years ended that

you are going to be riding as man three. How does that sit with you?

I appreciate the comparison, but there is a long way to go. He is

not just a rider, he is a role model and a pioneer of the sport.

Give me a bit of time. What does your ride here today tell you about

your form? There are good signs. The start was strong and the second

lap was good in the kilo, which is good for the sprint. I will see how

I can recover tonight and get into shape for tomorrow. You were right

up there, world class. Thank you. We are going to start a swear box

as to how many times you can stay two -- say to him, you are going to

step into Chris Hoy's shoes. And we see a picture of Chris Hoy's shoes.

He did really well. He had to do a job today and he was outstanding.

You have to get that first ride out of the way and to have the kilo to

do that where it is not an Olympic event and there is no pressure and

nobody expects you to win, and it is good to get all the butterflies

out. He will be in good shape for the team sprint. The women's team

sprint has always been headline news with Victoria Pendle son, and

it is down now to Victoria Williamson and Becky James. It is

hard to come in at such a high level, having only raced at world

level at junior level and at under 23, but it will be quite a big

shock to come in at such a high level. It is a great opportunity

for us. I have got no expectations in terms of outcome, I am just

thinking about the process and my individual poor performance as part

of the team. Obviously Becky is going in with higher expectations

because she is more experienced and at a higher level than I am. As

long as I do my best and hopefully get a personal best, I will be

happy. It has been a good year and I have stayed healthy and injury-

free and I have had a consistent block of training, so I am looking

forward to it. The qualification took place a little earlier today.

for a medal ride later on in this evening session? Kaarle McCulloch

is riding for Australia. British coach told me they were

going to try something special for the changeover and we saw that

Becky James went right up the track to come back down and was

accelerating on to the wheel and that was a clever move. And it is

the fastest time for Great Britain. Marginally quicker than Australia.

Interesting tactics and a swift ride for the pairing. This is a

heavyweight match up, all power out in the blocks. The first lap could

be absolutely key. There is unlikely to be very much between

these at two at all. It could go down to the blinking of an eye.

is interesting to see how they are going to change over. The Chinese

pair were very close, but we have not seen a flag go up. Who has got

the power and the legs to bring it home? It is Germany. These two will

contest gold and silver later on this evening. Becky and Vicky and

the bronze medal race. Will they be I think so. Jess Varnish has been

struggling with an injury for a while, so I think they will be

happy to be in the medals. A real state of flux in the women's team

because Victoria Pendle son is gone. You have got Becky who is getting

used to racing with Jess Varnish. Now you have got Vicky. It is not

easy. It is difficult and we are struggling for numbers in women's

sprinting in the GB set-up and we need more, his century. You can

never have too many riders. It would be nice to have more to

choose from at that level. But looking at Becky's times from her

portion of the team sprint, she is in a phenomenal form and I am

looking forward to seeing her in the individual event. They pair up

again in the qualification. Do you learn much from these races, or are

you just focusing on your own race? They tied -- tried a different

tactic and you notice a Becky swung right up the track and before she

started her part of the effort and that was to run into the slipstream

of the Victoria before she gets out of the way. It effectively gives

her more speed and it is easier to accelerate from. I suppose they

will just refine that, or they may be warned by the connoisseur for

doing that. Has this change in regulation been difficult for the

athletes to get used to? We saw a disqualification in London. His is

not difficult to get used to. It is such a narrow window in which to

get out of the way if you are the rider in front. Basically you have

to cross the line where you started before the rider behind you can

overlap and you have got 50 metres to get out of the way. When you are

doing 40 miles an hour, it is very difficult to judge that and is a

small window to get out of the way. The men's team pursuit beach as the

double Olympic champion Ed Clancy. -- features. It is a new world

record and Great Britain have won the gold medal. London was quite an

exciting thing and it will be pretty low key compared to London.

It is just an opportunity for us to enjoy racing and competing. We have

not got a lot to lose and if things go well and we win the world's

championship, great, but we have not got a lot to lose. Glasgow

started well in terms of the team sprint project. The whole idea was

I could go into Rio looking at the team sprint and team pursuit.

Sounds quite easy to add a bit too you start and concentrates

specifically on that and mould yourself into a team sprinter and

keep the team pursuit, but it is not that easy a. I have still got

to make any progress and it is quite is heartening. I guess they

named the team sprint not so long ago and I was not part of it, so I

turned to the pursuit and thought, I will give that a go. I started

riding bikes because I enjoyed riding bikes and I enjoyed racing

and it is still the same today. There are people in our team who

have won so much more than me. But I have to take advantage of these

opportunities. At the moment we are all right, but you never know what

the situation will be in four years time going to Rio. We could end up

fighting for our places. At the moment it is great that there are

all these young kids coming into the team, but we do not want them

to get too good! The men's team pursuit qualified comfortably. They

were in second place behind the Australians and they will face off

against their normal rivals in this event. Slightly ragged towards the

end. It is interesting about Ed Clancy and we are back in Glasgow

and he was looking to do the team sprint. But he was pushed back

towards the insurance side with the team pursuit. I do not think he has

ruled himself out of the team sprint. He has only been doing it

since the Olympics, so it is not a long time to make that a turnaround.

Now that he has realised it is not going to be a simple process or an

overnight thing, he is going to go away and work on it, especially in

terms of torque production of the line. It is about staying with

Fridays and it is completely different. Tomorrow Victoria

Pendleton will be my guest. We are finishing on BBC Two, but we will

be on the red button for the finals. The women's team sprint is the

bronze medal race for Great Britain. The Australians were just quicker

in qualification for the men's team pursuit. Tomorrow we have more