Drama certainly hasn’t been in short supply at this year’s World Track Cycling Championships in Australia; right from the off bitter rivalries, contentious decisions and the pressure of the looming Olympics have been in evidence. It would have been hard for Hollywood to script a more dramatic route to success for Britain’s Victoria Pendleton who had to more or less scrape herself up off the track in the first best-of-three semi-final heats against arch-rival Anna Meares, with whom she literally clashed. But recover she did, in order to snatch overall victory from the Australian and reclaim the Sprint World Title. With Pendleton set to retire after the 2012 Olympics, it brings her career total to nine World Titles with six for Sprint.
Meanwhile the unstoppable Laura Trott proved, well, unstoppable; taking the Omnium World Title ahead of Australia’s Annette Edmondson. Trott described the win as ‘massive’, hardly an understatement when you consider that since she launched, seemingly from nowhere, just two years ago all six medals the 19 year old has bagged at European and World level have been Gold. Having already been part of the World Title-winning Women’s Team Pursuit squad in Australia, Trott’s 2012 Olympic place is now guaranteed.
