Alison Shanks.
Dunedin cyclist Alison Shanks has won the individual
pursuit to claim her second gold medal at the World Cup track
meet in Colombia.
Shanks dominated the gold medal ride in the 3000m event to
beat Britain's 2008 Olympic silver medallist Wendy
Houvenaghel in a repeat of their final at the Commonwealth
Games in New Delhi two months ago.
It follows the gold medal anchored by Shanks in yesterday's
final of the women's team pursuit.
"I have to be happy with that. I had a big break after the
Commonwealth Games and have only just kick-started the season
again in the last month," Shanks said.
"To be brutally honest I really wanted to crack that 3:30
mark tonight. I have ridden 3:30 so many times and only been
able to crack that into the 20s to win the world champs back
in 2009.
"I thought given the conditions tonight I was hoping to break
that 3:30 barrier but there's plenty to work on and I have
just started my season."
Shanks went close to her best with a time of three minutes
30.868 seconds in the qualifying ride with Houvenaghel second
on 3min 32.226sec on a slick track.
The New Zealander showed the benefit of a solid build-up when
she went faster at 3min 30.258sec in the final, finishing in
the same straight as the Briton.
Palmerston North's Simon Van Velthooven finished fifth in the
final of the keirin.
He missed out on automatic qualifying, but won his repechage
and semifinal to give him high hopes going into the final.
However, he had to bow to a high class field in which
six-time world sprint champion Gregory Bauge, of France, did
not even make the final.
Meanwhile, 21-year-old Timaru rider Shane Archbold finished
eighth overall in the men's omnium, the six-discipline event
which has been included in the 2012 Olympics for the first
time.
In a significantly stronger field than when he won in the
Melbourne World Cup, Archbold was fifth today in the
individual pursuit, 12th in the scratch race and seventh in
the 1000m time trial to be.
He is now third overall in the World Cup standings.
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