Race Overview

Australian National Track Championships

February 7 - 12, 2005

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Review of Day 5 - Friday

Anna Meares wins the sibling showdown and Bates celebrates triple triumph

Olympic Games sprint bronze medallist Anna Meares, 21, overcame her sister and Commonwealth Games sprint champion, Kerrie, 22, in the battle of the 'speed sisters' on day five of the 2005 Australian Track Cycling Championships at Adelaide's Super-Drome.

Anna, who was also the silver medallist in the sprint at last year's World Championships and the Olympic and World Champion in 2004 in the 500m time trial, made the first of the best of three races look easy as she led out with power to which Kerrie had no answer.  But in the second heat Kerrie, who is coming back from a back injury which ended her 2004 Olympic dream, took the initiative and the lead pushing all the way but failing to hold off Anna's sprint kick in the final straight.

"I was really happy with how I rode those races, normally I've been coming from the back and I thought if I took the front of Kerrie in the first one she might be a bit in two minds as to what I was doing," explained Anna. "She made a slight error in the first race and just didn't have the legs in the second one."

The last time the sisters met at a National Championships was in 2000 in the gold medal final for the U19 sprint crown. That year Anna also triumphed but only after her sister was relegated for dangerous riding which saw both girls hit the deck in a very physical third and deciding race.

"I claim she knocked me off (the bike) and she claims I knocked her off so we agree to disagree....it doesn't often get spoken about actually," said Anna with a grin. "I was very nervous going up against Kerrie because she's a marvellous tactician and when she's got the legs, she's got the legs.

"It's difficult for anyone to come back from as serious an injury as she had and she's come back extremely well and extremely early," said Anna. "She needs to get back out there on the world racing scene and pick up some confidence like she had in the Commonwealth Games (Manchester 2002).

"Ooh I'm certainly looking forward to Melbourne (2006 Commonwealth Games)."

If Anna has her way she'll line up in Melbourne as the reigning sprint World Champion.

"What I achieved last year was what I'd set as my goal to achieve over the next four to eight years so now I've had to sit back and think about what I want," she said. "I really want to wear the rainbow jersey (of World Champion) in the sprint and the keirin."

Reigning Olympic sprint champion, Canada 's Lori-Anne Muenzer claimed the bronze medal ahead of New Zealand 's Liz Williams.

"It was great to be back here where I won my first World Cup medal," said Muenzer who claimed silver in Adelaide in 1997 and is here to prepare for next weekend's Sydney World Cup round and the upcoming March World Championships in Los Angeles. "Where else can you go to get this level of competition?"

In the women's 25km points race Sydney 's Kate Bates started as favourite and gave no-one a reason to doubt the outcome as she dominated the early sprints to amass an unbeatable lead heading into the final two sprints.  She finished with 33 points while Tasmanian Belinda Goss rallied hard in the final laps and won the final sprint which gave her a tally of 29 points and moved her ahead of Sydney 's Rochelle Gilmore who took bronze with 25 points.

The gold medal was Bates' third of the Championships and comes a month after she scored the hat-trick at the Manchester World Cup in the same events, scratch race, individual pursuit and points race.

"Bloody oath it's what I wanted," said an exhausted Bates after the 100 lap race. "But saying it is one thing and doing it is another.

"I'm knackered now, they made me work for that one - it's satisfying," she said. "I wanted to go out and take it hard from the start and sort of say to them 'if you want to beat me you've got to take it off me.

"I think maybe I burned the candle a bit too much early because I really suffered at the end."

For the U19 riders it was keirin night and Queensland 's night as Hayley Wright claimed the women's crown. It was Wright's second gold to go with her 500m time trial win on day one. Victorians Tess Downing and Peta Mullens rode into silver and bronze. 

Results - Day 5

W19 Keirin Round 1 - 1st in each heat to final,  2nd & 3rd to Round 2

W19 Keirin Final

Women Sprint Final

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