Golden sweep in sight for star
Hauser could have sat out, Aussie coach says
AUSTRALIAN cycling’s sprint powerhouse Matthew Glaetzer has moved a step closer towards an amazing clean sweep of the individual events in Brisbane by winning the men’s keirin title last night.
The 25-year-old from Adelaide successfully defended his keirin crown from Glasgow in 2014 with a flawless display through the heats, semi and final in which he beat Welsh rider Lewis Oliva and threetime New Zealand world champion Ed Dawkins.
The unpredictable nature of the keirin was expected to be Glaetzer’s biggest challenge this week but having conquered that he now turns his attention to the individual sprint – of which he is the current world champion – today and the 1km time trial tomorrow.
The former pole vaulter and triathlete turned two-time Olympic star started the week with bronze in the team sprint with Nathan Hart, Pat Constable and Jacob Schmid on Thursday and was unstoppable on his own last night.
Earlier, Glaetzer, Constable and Schmid all won through to
CYCLING (TRACK)
the second round by finishing top-two in their heats, but for Glaetzer it wasn’t without some argy bargy with his rivals who tried to squeeze him high on the track.
But he was the only one of the Australian trio to make the final where he produced a herculean effort to come from third with two laps to go and hold off his fast finishing rivals.
He punched the air and celebrated with a lap of the track with the Australian flag draped around his shoulders.
Meanwhile, Australian track cycling coach Tim Decker has revealed how he steered the men’s team to a world record on Thursday night.
“I said to the boys ‘I think we can challenge for the world record at the Comm Games’,” Decker said of a training session 12 months ago.
Secretly, it had been his dream ever since he took the job as men’s track endurance coach in 2013 and his riders had come agonisingly close many times in the five years before Australia became the first nation to go sub-3mins 50secs for 4km.