Russian Lightning Shmeleva strikes twice in Hong Kong

Russia’s Daria Shmeleva won her second title at the Track Cycling World Championships yesterday with a breakneck ride in the women’s time trial which shattered the hopes of home favorite Sarah Lee. Shmeleva clocked the fastest time over 500m of 33.282sec, 0.1sec faster than Germany’s Miriam Welte, while Russian defending champion Anastasia Voynova took bronze.

Hong Kong’s Lee briefly led the timings before the last three riders went out and relegated last year’s silver-medalist, who won sprint bronze on Friday, to fourth place. Shmeleva, 22, moves on to three career rainbow jerseys after she successfully defended her team sprint title alongside Voynova earlier this week at the Hong Kong Velodrome. “I know that I’m a world champion in two events here, but it hasn’t sunk in yet,” Shmeleva said. “If you ask me tomorrow morning probably I can tell you what I feel.”

Spain’s Albert Torres led the men’s omnium standings ahead of Benjamin Thomas after a crash-filled elimination race, the third of the event’s four disciplines. Poland’s Szymon Sajnok went down twice before being eliminated, while Denmark’s Casper Pedersen and Lindsay De Vylder of Belgium also hit the deck. Midway through the fourth night of competition, Australia top the medals table with three golds, one ahead of Russia.

Belgium won their inaugural women’s madison world title after a thrilling race over 120 laps at the Championships. Belgium’s Lotte Kopecky and Jolien D’Hoore finished with 45 points, ahead of Britain on 33 and 26 for Australia, who survived two crashes to claim bronze. While The United States’ Chloe Dygert won her first individual world title by a whopping 7.143 sec in the women’s individual pursuit. The 20-year-old two-time team pursuit champion enjoyed an ever-widening lead during the 3,000m race against Australia’s Ashlee Ankudinoff, clocking 3min 24.641sec to claim her second rainbow jersey of the week in Hong Kong.