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Final interviews and News from LA

Click on the links to jump on this page to the reaction from   >>>   

Olga Slusareva   Kate Bates   Lyudmyla Vyoyraylo   Catherine Sell   Mandy Poitras    

Anna Meares (keirin)   Clara Sanchez     Elisa Frisoni     Yvonne Hijgenaar   Shuang Guo   

Victoria Pendleton   Kerrie Meares   Anna Meares (sprint)    Tamilia Abassova    Karin Thürig

Attendance Records Broken at Home Depot Centre

The WomensCycling.net reporter caught up with some of the competitors on Day 4 (Sunday) of the Championships, but due to travel arrangements and jetlag didn't get a chance to type them up and send them in until today. So, here are some Day 4 interviews and also some attendance news from the organisers.....

(These interviews have also been added to the post-race comments section of Day 4) 

Olga Slyusareva  was pleased with her win in the scratch race, she spoke to Womenscycling.net through her interpretator. “I am very happy, this is the first time I have been happy during these championships. This is a very good feeling but it is different each time I win”.

Next on the calendar for Slyusareva are the World Cup races on the road with her team Nobili-Rubinetterie. Asked if they support her track and road career she added “yes very much”.

Kate Bates looked frustrated as she climbed off her bike despite taking the silver medal. She expressed this frustration in her interview “it was so frustrating I was going a bit ‘loopy’, I thought we could at least roll around. There were a few attacks but it was very frustrating, I just did not have the legs in the end, so a little frustrated at that. For me I go away with three minor medals I would trade them any day for one gold. As long as I choose to ride all three events I put myself in that position, at a slight disadvantage to those riders who train specifically for one, but that’s my choice. Who knows we will see how it goes in the next few years, maybe I will make some compromises so that I can get one of those striped jerseys. Three medals from three starts I can’t really complain at that”.  

Asked if she plans to take a break or go and join her team on the road, she added “unfortunately no rest, I am back on the road next week; we have a World Cup race. There’s no rest for the wicked, I am looking forward to getting stuck into road racing. Racing on the road, is what makes me stronger on the track, hopefully a good season there will give me another ‘crack’ next year”.

Looking towards the Commonwealth Games, Kate added “yes, no Russians or Italians there, I am definitely targeting that, I am not in any rush, I am pretty confident that going into the games I can start to achieve my goals”.

Womenscycling.net asked if Kate’s European based team were supportive of her racing both the track and the road. “Absolutely, it is mutually beneficial, a world championship medal is great, it does not matter what discipline it is achieved in. I would not have joined a road team that did not support that. I have my priorities and I have made that pretty clear to everyone, that I love the road, but it is clear that at Beijing Olympics I want to be standing on top of the podium and I need a team that will help me to do that” 

Lyudmyla Vyoyraylo UKR, spoke very briefly through her interpretator to Womenscyling.net after winning the bronze medal in the scratch race . “I am very happy, it was a difficult race, I am pleased to win bronze”

Catherine Sell NZL tried to get a break in the scratch race, this was her view on proceedings. “I am sort of frustrated, I can’t believe that I wasn’t in the right position. The crash happened right beside me, I was lucky not to go down”. Talking about the pace of the race she added “It was quite a negative race, when you looked at the bunch of riders it was always going to be a bunch sprint. I was hoping they would take it a bit harder it was a bit frustrating”

Next on the agenda for Catherine is “a break, then there are some races at home in New Zealand and preparation for next years Commonwealth Games” she added.

Mandy Poitras spoke after her treatment for the crash she was involved in during the final stage of the scratch race “I am pretty disappointed, I was a little further back than I wanted to be, but I felt good coming round the outside, the legs were working and I was taking over a lot of ground. I was feeling really good. I felt I could have made the podium, then one minute I was up and the next I was on the ground. I got hit from behind so I did not see it coming”

When asked what was next she added “I will go home I teach job share so I have to go home to work for a little while. Then we are off to Florida to prepare for the Pan- American Championships in Argentina at the end of April. Then of course there’s the Commonwealth Games, I will do a couple of the World Cups, I will still be working, but I enjoy the balance of working and racing so I would not want to be away for too long in Australia. I will head to Sydney in February and prepare for March. It is difficult to plan that far ahead”.

Mandy races for Rocky Mountain Track team and the Symetric Road team, specifically Pacific North West racing, both are supporting her.

Anna Meares' reaction to coming 7^th in the Keirin was “it is nice coming out with a win from the ‘B’ final. I am happy with how I rode the race but my legs just weren’t there after the sprints last night and I struggled to get back on form. I am disappointed generally with the Sprint and the Keirin but it’s an experience and hopefully next year I will be back to give them a run for it”.

Clara Sanchez FRA winner of the World Championship Keirin for the second year in a row spoke to reporters after her win. “I am very happy, it is terrific for me to win the Keirin again and I am looking forward to Bordeaux next year to make it three in a row”

Elisa Frisoni ITA silver medalist in 2004 tried hard to make it gold this time but just could not make it, getting silver again. She talked to Womenscycling.net after the victory ride, when asked if she was please with her performance at these championships, Elisa smiled “It started very badly but, she tried hard and believe that she could do more, in the end I am pleased because the medal arrived”.

Like many other track riders Frisoni plans to join her team on the road “I plan to join VeloClub Isilano to gain more experience on the road and then compete in the European Track Championships in Italy in July next year I am sure that I can get into the gold position, I am very confident of that” she added.

Yvonne Hijgenaar NED, always happy to speak to Womenscycling.net reflected on her bronze medal place in the Keirin, “I did not expect it, I am so scary [worried] on the Keirin, and I was thinking it’s only the Keirin I will see how I am going. Then I was going well so I am happy”. When asked what is next on Yvonne’s calendar she added “I am going start racing on the road with the team Therma Skincare. I am new to the road and don’t really know how to ride [road] but it is good for my track and will give me more energy for the track I hope”

 Shuang Guo spoke after the keirin final, commenting  “I am disappointed, after Sydney I was going so well. I did my best and I will be back again”

New World Sprint Champion,  Victoria Pendleton's  reactions:

Did you take inspiration from the guys in the team after their Gold medal in the pursuit?

“Definitely when you have an excited environment around you can’t help but feel lifted and encouraged by it” You have been out cycled so many times in the past few years, to come here and win the Gold medal can you believe it? “no, is it real or do I need to pinch myself”

WomensCycling.net managed to catch up with Victoria after she had, had time to take in her win. “it’s pretty amazing really, I feel very lucky and very blessed, I have had a lucky run this time and I can’t really believe that I have done it. I just phoned my dad back in the UK and woke him up. He said “You can wake me up any time Victoria to tell me you are World Champion” 

When asked what Victoria planned to do after these championships she added “I am taking some time off, I am moving into a new flat then I will start preparing again, it’s a big year next year. This is a dream come true, when I started grass track racing I was very young, people said to me ‘you could be world champion some day’, of course I did not believe them”

Are you going to focus on the sprints, or the Keirin, what’s your preference?. “Everyone has been saying to me over the last year, maybe you’re not a sprinter, well now I am and I feel I can choose to do Keirin as a second option. I am in a great situation really and fell very blessed”

Kerrie Meares is always happy to talk and chatted while waiting for her sister to receive the Bronze medal in the Sprint. When asked how she felt, she replied “I have not been this high up in the ranks since before my back injury, I am very pleased with how things are going, I am still tuning my engine while others are resting theirs after the Olympics. Obviously it would have been good to up there (on the podium) but Anna deserves it.

When asked how her back is now, Kerrie responded “a little niggle now and then but I just have to take care and keep riding”.

When asked, if going up against your sister for a medal was tough for both of you, Kerrie responded “it was very difficult because we know each other so well, we know each other’s tactics, I have had a really big learning curve tonight, Anna and I work each other hard in training. I feel really lucky to have an Olympic champion as a training partner as well as a sister. The bronze medal sprint off was probably the most exciting racing seen at the velodrome, The Meares sisters showed their track skills, managing to do track stands during their highly technical races. Neither sister wanted to take the lead in each heat, coming close to being penalized by the commissaries in one heat. Kerrie added this comment about this “we both didn’t want the front, we tried everything not to get the front, it was really tiring doing the track stands, probably more tiring than the sprinting its’ self. 

Anna Meares was happy that she had another medal under her belt but said “there was a small amount of sadness that I had to beat Kerrie to get it”.

Looking forward to the Keirin events Anna added “I think the Keirin will suit Kerrie, the stage she is at with her recovery will suit the Keirin event. I am not too disappointed with my rides today, I made a few mistakes that I learnt from and corrected later. As a competitor you are really happy but as a sister you feel really disappointed for Kerrie’s loss. I think that’s the hardest part”

Looking forward to the Commonwealth games on home turf Anna was asked how she felt about that, she commented “it will be interesting, between Kerri and I we hold the Olympic, World and Commonwealth records, then you add Victoria, who’s just become World Champion and Lori-Ann Muenzer I think it will be a top class field producing top class racing. The melbounre crown really gets behind the home nation. The atmosphere in Melbourne is amazing and unbelievably noisy, this is always an advantage on home ground. The best experience in the world is competing in front of a home crowd”.

Tamilia Abassova RUS gave this reaction to her silver medal “I wanted more may be next time, hopefully I will do well in the Keirin”.

Karin Thürig was pleased with her bronze medal in the pursuit she had this to say “I am very happy, when I came to these championships I did not have any expectations as I knew that I was not in my best shape, so I did not want to come, I was unsure if it was a good idea to come but I am very happy with the race, it was tough and I had to fight hard but I am happy now”.

Attendance Records Broken at World Championships

A crowd of 15,086 cycling fans came through the ADT Event Center turnstiles last weekend for the four-day 2005 UCI Track Cycling World Championships, which concluded Sunday at the ADT Event Center at The Home Depot Center in Carson after another day of thrilling and entertaining racing.

'This was a fantastic event at a truly first-class facility," said Ray Godkin, Vice-President of the UCI. "I've never seen a more enthusiastic crowd at a world championships. They witnessed racing history and responded by cheering on every rider that competed."

The 2005 UCI Track Cycling World Championships were the third - and largest -- major track cycling event to take place at the ADT Event Center, which opened on June 10, 2004. The second round of the 2004/05 UCI World Cup Classics series took place here this past December (10-12), while the Jr. Track Cycling World Championships helped open the state-of-the-art facility (July 28 - August 1, 2004). This week's attendance broke every attendance record at the ADT Event Center.

Added Thu 31 March 2005 - sprint qualifying photos Click here

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