Chris Hoy is celebrating a new world record after smashing the
"flying" 500m mark by more than a second in Bolivia. The Olympic champion had earlier failed to
beat Arnaud Tournant's kilometre record by just 0.005 seconds at the 333m Alto
Orpavi velodrome in La Paz.
But the
four-time world champion got back on his bike and set out to break Arnaud
Duble's previous record of 25.850secs from a flying start. Hoy completed the
distance in 24.758 secs, obliterating Duble's 2001 mark.
It
is the end of an era for Hoy, who will no longer ride the kilometre after it
was withdrawn as an Olympic event. After his world record ride, Hoy said he was
relieved to have achieved something at the highest velodrome in the world.
"It was an
amazing feeling, I just felt as though I was flying down the back straight. It
was a dream ride, everything about it was perfect," he said.
"Part of
the battle was trying to get the right weather conditions. It was 25-26C, the
wind dropped for 10 minutes and the opportunity was there.
"After the
disappointment of the kilometre, I wanted to go home with something and I'm
happy for all the team that I've set this record.
"I don't
plan to go for the kilo again. I gave it everything and it was so frustrating
to miss it by that little margin, but that's sport and you have to accept
it."
The 31-year-old
had originally travelled to La Paz, which is
located in the Andes at an altitude of 3,658m,
with the intention of challenging the kilo mark.
His first
attempt was 59.103s before he missed out agonisingly with a second attempt of
58.880s. Hoy, who set the sea-level world record of one minute 00.711s when
winning gold in Athens
three years ago, was well ahead of Frenchman Tournant's times on the first two
of three laps but lost pace on the third.
Source: BBC RSS
