2008 Beijing Olympic Games

On Friday August the 15th the biggest sporting festival in the world hits the Track in Beijing. Laoshan Velodrome in the Shijingshan District of Beijing shall host five days of racing where the best riders from the last four years will do battle for the most coveted title in Sport, Olympic Champion

In the Men's 4km Individual Pursuit it was all about defending champion Bradley Wiggins, who easily set a new Olympic record in his qualification ride, with a time of 4m 15.031s easily three seconds faster than second fastest qualifer Hayden Roulston of New Zealand who recorded a time of 4m 18.990s



As usual the ride by Wiggins was a calculated performance, with Shane Sutton guiding Brad into Round One of the competition with a comfortable performance that didn't even look as it it left the triple World Champion breathless

With an Olympic record in qualification, it remains to be scene how fast Wiggins can go and whether Chris Boardman's 1996 World Record time of 4m 11.114s, set using the now banned 'Superman Position'. If the rumours spread by British Cycling are anything to go by, Wiggins has already recorded such a time in training, so looks like we're in for something very special

Wiggins wasn't the only British rider in the Pursuit, as youngster Steve Burke of the 100%ME Olympic Academy Programme debuted at the Olympic Games with another calculated performance in the style of the aforementioned Wiggins.



Burke set a qualification time of 4m 22.260s to qualify 5th fastest behind Russia's Alexei Markov and Ukraine's 2007/08 World Cup Champion Volodymyr Dyuda

Like Brad, it remains to be scene how fast young Burke can actually go and he stands a very good chance of getting a medal

Competing in his first Olympic Games at the age of 18, Phinney qualified seventh with a mark of 4 minutes, 22.860 seconds over 4,000 meters. Needing a top-eight finish to advance, Phinney locked up a head-to-head match against New Zealand's Hayden Roulston.

Seeded second, Roulston clocked a 4:18.990 in his qualifying heat.  On Saturday, Phinney needs to beat Roulston in order to advance to the medal round.

"My goal was just to qualify," said Phinney following his performance.  "That was the hardest I've ever pushed myself in a pursuit.  In training we thought the track would be faster, but it might have been a little colder in here today."



Round One saw defending champion Wiggins face Russia's Alexander Serov, whom he easily beat by a massive nine seconds to record a time of 4m 16.571s to reach the final against Hayden Roulston who beat Taylor Phinney by seven seconds, three seconds slower than the time of Bradley, in 4m 19.232s

Without advancing past the first round, Phinney was credited with a seventh-place finish overall. With his top-eight performance, the 18-year-old Phinney achieved the objective he set for himself in what should be his first of many appearances in the Olympic Games.

"It's my first Olympics," Phinney noted after losing to Roulston.  "I'll be back for more. My goal was to qualify and race two days."

Phinney, the son of 1984 Olympic medalists Davis Phinney and Connie Carpenter-Phinney, closed out a remarkable season that saw him finish seventh on the sport's biggest stage after racing only 11 competitive individual pursuit heats since introducing himself to sport last October

Alexei Markov of Russia beat Spain's Antonio Tauler in Heat Two, but his time was only good enough to make the Bronze medal ride off as he clocked 4m 22.308s, but perhaps the surprise result of the competition was that Britain's Steve Burke will also contest the Bronze medal ride off after beating World Cup champion Volodymyr Dyudya of the Ukraine by a single second



Burke then managed to pull it off in his final, making easy work of the Russian after coming from behind to easily take the medal at his first Olympics

The result demonstrates British Cycling's strength in depth in Pursuiting, given the fact that Burke is still on the Olympic Academy Programme, and yet to breach into the 'big boy' ranks of the Podium Plan, surely now he'll be one to watch for the future

It wouldn't be wrong to say that the final was a forgone conclusion, as Wiggins, the dominate rider in the Pursuit since before the Athens Olympics faced Hayden Roulston, fourth in the World Championships and former member of the Discovery Channel Cycling Team

Many tipped Wiggins to break Chris Boardman's 12 year old World Record of 4m 11s but, perhaps sensibly he held back, with the knowledge that his schedule ment he was racing everyday during the five day Olympic Track Cycling programme



Always in control Wiggins crossed the line in 4m 16.977s, three seconds up on Roulston who finished in 4m 19.611s making Wiggins the first rider to ever defend the Individual Pursuit title at the Olympic Games, now for Gold number two in the Team Pursuit

Wiggins said afterwards: "It's been a long build-up. it always is for the Olympic Games. We were here in December at the world cup and then it comes round so quickly," Wiggins  told BBC Sport. "I'm just pleased it's over. This is just the first one of three." 

"Yesterday was hard, the 1st round this evening was controlled and the final was hard, but I couldn't risk trying to ride easy. Taking on the challenge of winning three golds takes work.

Wiggins had been tipped to make an assault on Chris Boardman's 12-year-old world record, but he rode within himself in order to keep as fresh as possible for the team pursuit, "I had to play it safe, not chase world records," he said. "Three other guys (in the GB team) deserved to be in this race. It was the least I could do for them."

On London 2012, "Steven is only going to progress, and Geraint Thomas too. I have to be sure I'm going to win. I wouldn't want to go out like Bradley McGee did and not qualify for the final."

Results

Final

1 Bradley Wiggins (Great Britain) 4.16.977 (56.036 km/h)

2 Hayden Roulston (New Zealand) 4.19.611

 

Bronze medal ride

1 Steven Burke (Great Britain) 4.20.947

2 Alexei Markov (Russia) 4.24.149

Round One Results

1  BURKE Steven GBR 1:08.769(2) 2:12.867(2) 3:17.487(2) 4:21.558  55.054 
2  DYUDYA Volodymyr UKR 1:07.625(1) 2:10.752(1) 3:15.828(1) 4:22.471  54.863 

1 MARKOV Alexei RUS 1:07.505(1) 2:10.552(1) 3:15.141(1) 4:22.308  54.897 
2 TAULER Antonio ESP 1:09.634(2) 2:13.409(2) 3:18.432(2) 4:24.974  54.344 

 

1  ROULSTON Hayden NZL 1:08.762(1) 2:11.860(1) 3:15.330(1) 4:19.232  55.548 
2  PHINNEY Taylor USA 1:08.831(2) 2:13.935(2) 3:20.122(2) 4:26.644  54.004 

 

1 WIGGINS Bradley GBR 1:08.042(1) 2:10.880(1) 3:13.822(1) 4:16.571  56.124 
2 SEROV Alexander RUS 1:09.248(2) 2:13.541(2) 3:19.124(2) 4:25.391  54.259 

Gold/Silver Final at 11:55 BST

Qualification
1. WIGGINS Bradley Great Britain 1:07.466(2) 2:09.768(1) 3:12.225(1) 4:15.031 
2.  ROULSTON Hayden New Zealand 1:08.741(6) 2:11.534(3) 3:14.763(3) 4:18.990 
3.  MARKOV Alexei Russian Fed. 1:08.751(7) 2:11.734(4) 3:15.573(4) 4:21.498 
4.  DYUDYA Volodymyr Ukraine 1:07.106(1) 2:10.102(2) 3:14.683(2) 4:21.530 
5. BURKE Steven Great Britain 1:09.796(13) 2:15.372(15) 3:19.616(11) 4:22.260 
6.  TAULER Antonio Spain 1:09.465(10) 2:12.834(9) 3:16.883(5) 4:22.462  
7.  PHINNEY Taylor United States 1:07.621(3) 2:12.173(5) 3:17.029(6) 4:22.860
8.  SEROV Alexander Russian Fed. 1:09.399(9) 2:12.815(8) 3:17.655(7) 4:23.732
 
Eliminated
9.  McGEE Bradley Australia 1:10.185(14) 2:14.126(12) 3:19.140(10) 4:26.084 
10.  ESCOBAR Sergi Spain 1:09.756(12) 2:13.344(10) 3:18.592(9) 4:26.102 
11.  O'LOUGHLIN David Ireland 1:08.908(8) 2:12.807(7) 3:18.306(8) 4:26.102
12.  LANCASTER Brett Australia 1:09.548(11) 2:14.917(14) 3:20.324(14) 4:26.139 
13.  MOURIS Jens Netherlands 1:10.266(15) 2:14.820(13) 3:19.986(13) 4:27.445
14.  POPKOV Vitaliy Ukraine 1:08.639(5) 2:12.642(6) 3:19.725(12) 4:30.321 
15.  SANCHEZ Fabien France 1:08.611(4) 2:13.942(11) 3:21.937(15) 4:33.100
16.  ALZATE Carlos Colombia 1:10.349(16) 2:15.889(16) 3:24.795(16) 4:35.154
17.  PLIUSCHIN Alexandr Rep. of Moldova 1:11.259(18) 2:17.980(18) 3:26.120(18) 4:35.438