Beijing Olympic Games

Updated: 2008-06-21

(BEIJING, June 21) — US cyclists Bobby Lea and Michael Blatchford achieved the Olympic qualifying time standards while teenage-sensation Taylor Phinney broke another world record at USA Cycling’s Team Selection Camp held on June 15-16 at the ADT Event Center in Los Angeles

It means Lea will represent USA in the men’s Madison and points races, while Blatchford will compete in the men’s individual pursuit in Beijing.

However, there will be high hopes for Phinney who set a new junior world record in the men’s 3000 meters individual pursuit.

The junior world champion clocked a new record time of 3 minutes, 16.589 seconds to lower the previous record of 3:17.775 set by Australia’s Michael Ford in 2004. The record attempt was part of Phinney’s training program leading into next month’s UCI Junior Road and Track World Championships in South Africa.

Phinney is following in his family’s remarkable cycling legacy. His mother, Connie Carpenter Phinney, is a 1984 Olympic gold medalist, while his father, Davis Phinney, was the first American to win a Tour de France stage in 1986.

However, the 17-year-old prodigy only started his cycling training two years ago. He won a national title in his first-ever track race and during the 2007-2008 UCI Track World Cup Classics he won the gold medal in Los Angeles in January this year which met the automatic time standard to earn a nomination to the US Olympic Team.

In March, he finished eighth in the individual pursuit at the World Track Cycling Championships at Manchester, England.

Phinney’s goal is to win a medal at the forthcoming Olympics: “I have high expectation of myself. I was rather disappointed at finishing eighth in the world track championships,” Phinney said. “Whenever I’m on the track, I want to win and the 2008 Olympics is a chance for me to achieve a higher goal.”

Also included in the preliminary list are Kristin Armstrong (women’s road cycling), Levi Leipheimer (men’s road cycling), Sarah Hammer (women’s track cycling), Jennie Reed (women’s track cycling), Mike Day (men’s BMX), Kyle Bennett (men’s BMX) and Jill Kintner (women’s BMX).

“The performances by our athletes over these last couple of days are a good sign of things to come,” explained Pat McDonough, USA Cycling Director of Athletics. “To have five athletes meet demanding time standards, less than two months from the Olympics means everyone is raising their game for when it matters the most.”

USA Cycling Team will announce its full Olympic team on July 1.

Updated: 2008-06-19

In the second day of the World Championship in Val Di Sole, Colombia won the first Junior World title in mountain bike with Laura Abril while the surprise came from Tanja Zakelj (Slovenia) and her victory in the Under 23 category.

Since 1990, year of the first World Championships, no South American rider had won a world title in mountain bike. For Colombia, even if Santiago Botero has already been sacred road time trial World Champion in 2002, few Colombians had managed to shine on the international scene. In 2006, Leo Paez won the XCM World Cup, but no rider had ever won the supreme title: world champion! Laura Abril will remain the first in the history. The young rider, totally unknown, realized a perfect race and left behind the Hungarian Barbara Benko. Barbara who won in Houffalize takes the second place and still signs the best results of her young career. The German Mona Eiberweiser European Champion and only first year in junior is third.

For the third title of the Under 23 category, it was not easy to define a winner. Ren Chengyuan (China), Nathalie Schneitter (Switzerland) and Tereza Hurikova (Czech Republic) appeared as the favourites after their World Cups results, but not! Tanja Zakelj (Slovenia) took the lead straight after the start. But the 2006 Juniors World Champion is followed by the European Champion, Nathalie Schneitter (Switzerland). Behind them, the French rider Caroline Mani is surprising. But Nataliya Krompets (Ukraine) and Aleksandra Dawidowicz (Poland) are not far away. The Slovenian, definitely in a good day gets rid of Schneitter. On her way to a second world title! The Swiss, with a flat tire on the rear wheel, will even have to fight to keep her second place while Davidowicz gets her first medal at this level.

Tomorrow cross country junior men (11am), and seeding run downhill (2.15pm).

(Credit: UCI. Click here for further information.)

Updated: 2008-06-22

While Great Britain has never won the Downhill Elite World Title, both members of the British siblings made it for the first time in their lives! In Four Cross, Alvarez de Lara and Buhl created the surprise …

It had to happen one day. And after what we saw in Vallnord, is it surprising? Not really. While Sam Hill and Sabrina Jonnier won the last two editions of the Championships, the Australian and the French had a very bad day under the heat of the sun Valley. Sabrina Jonnier finished second at 11”99 from the British and had difficulties to hide her disappointment: “I don’t understand why I get punished like this since the beginning of the season. I made some mistakes in the Downhill, but I really given everything I had. I lose my jersey but there are still things to win before the end of the season, but it’s a little bit hard to accept …” For Rachel Atherton, three years after winning the Juniors World Championship (also in Italy, Livigno), she has become the boss of the Downhill. The French Emmeline Ragot was on the podium.

And if one man can be angry at himself, it is Sam Hill. The Australian from Perth signed an intermediary time almost five seconds ahead… But in the final schuss he arrived too fast. He jumped far. Too far and fell in a lower section… Even if he carried on, this was not be enough to win a third title in a row. He finished in third place, just behind the eternal Steve Peat who wins a fourth medal in the World Championships at 34 years old. Respect Mr Peat.

Note that Josh Bryceland (GBR) and Anaïs Pajot (FRA) were the best in the Juniors category.

A little later in the evening, the Four Cross gave a great show. Lopes (2007 World Champion), then Tschugg (leader of the World Cup) but also Wichman (European Champion) are out rounds after rounds. And for the final, Graves took the lead but in the first turn, he went out of the track with Mickaël Deldycke (FRA) and Roger Rinderknecht (SUI). The Spanish Rafael Alvarez de Lara took advantage of the situation and won the World Championships to everyone’s surprise. In early May, before his victory in Maribor, nobody would have bet on the massive Spanish. Big suspense also among women with the domination of Anneke Beerten (NED)… but the victory of Melissa Buhl (USA)! Czech Republic was on the podium with second place for Jana Horakova and third place for Romana Labounkova.

Today, Women Cross-Country at 11:00 and Men at 14:15

(Credit: UCI. Click here for further information.)

Updated: 2008-06-21

(BEIJING, June 21) — Donny Robinson, an Olympic hopeful, wants to fill the last spot on the three-man American BMX team, which is already equipped with Texas’ Kyle Bennett, who earned the first spot last month for his lead in the U.S. rankings at the time, and Mike Day, who grabbed the second opening after his victory in the winner-take-all U.S. Olympic BMX trials in Chula Vista, California, on June 14.

Together with Bennett, Robinson scored points in 17 of the 19 races during the U.S. Olympic qualifying series.

Entering the BMX competition stage at age six, Robinson jumped into professional BMX cycling a few months after graduating from high school in 2001. He won the 2006 world championships and the “Good Luck Beijing”event last summer on the same Olympic track where he might race this August. In addition, Robinson won the third round of the UCI BMX Supercross World Cup series in Copenhagen, Denmark, just a few months ago, on May 10. He is ranked No. 1 in the world by the International Cycling Union.

At 5-foot-5 and 150 pounds, Donny Robinson’s small figure doesn’t seem to fit in on the international circuit. But gone are the days when skeptics railed against his ability to win over the bigger cycling guys. The 24-year-old top-ranked racer with sponsorships from McDonald’s, AT&T, Hershey’s, Kellogg’s and Nike, has proven that his size won’t deter him from aiming high at the Olympics in 2008.

Robinson is now looking forward to July 1, when USA Cycling plans to announce the names of its Olympic representatives. He hopes that he will stand on the Olympic podium at BMX’s Olympic debut in Beijing.

Updated: 2008-06-21

(BEIJING, June 21) — Swiss mountain bike rider Thomas Frischknecht was honored for his outstanding career at the UCI Mountain Bike and Trials World Championships on June 20.

Frischknecht, who is often considered Europe’s Elder Statesman of mountain biking, has ridden as a professional for 18 years. “We are still fighting for glory and it’s great that we can keep it that way. Passion is what has kept me in this sport for so long,” said Frischknecht. With that passion, Thomas has won 15 World Championship medals, 1 silver medal at the Atlanta Olympic Games, 11 Swiss Champion titles and 18 World Cup rounds.

The biker is also a drug-free racing advocate and the author of a book on mountain biking, Richtig Mountainbiken.

(Photo credit: Getty Images)

Updated: 2008-06-20

Perfect season for the Slovak. Winner of two international races, European champion, Peter Sagan became Juniors World Champion in front of his best enemy, the French Arnaud Jouffroy. The Swiss Matthias Rupp is third.

January, Treviso. Arnaud Jouffroy won the Cyclo-cross World Championship in front of Peter Sagan. Six months later, back to Italy. And this time we swap roles. The technical rider Peter Sagan dominated the whole MTB season: Houffalize, Offenburg and the European Championships in St. Wendel. This talented rider (he also finished second in Paris-Roubaix Juniors) was the favorite for a first world title. But Jouffroy had nothing to lose. Tuesday, he won in team relay with France and started without pressure. And soon after the start, the two men took the lead. The two riders were first followed by Rupp but they quickly ended up together for a men dual. While Sagan seemed to be slowing down the pace, he dropped Jouffroy. End of story. Without pressure, Sagan finally finished with a minute and thirty-three seconds ahead of the French rider while Matthias Rupp (Switzerland) took the third place.

In downhill, Gee and Rachel Atherton and also Pajot and Thirion in Juniors signed the best times in the seeding run.

(Credit: UCI. Click here for further information.)

Updated: 2008-06-18

Most of the nations that have qualified for the BMX discipline at the Beijing Olympic Games have trained on the BMX track at the World Cycling Centre (WCC) in Aigle, Switzerland.

Last week, the International Cycling Union (UCI) announced the nations qualified for the BMX, which will make its Olympic début in Beijing.

Of the 17 nations qualified in the men’s category, 13 have trained on the BMX track at the World Cycling Centre this year. And 9 of the 11 qualified nations for the women’s event have also been on at least one training camp in Aigle in 2008.

The WCC track has been modified to resemble that which the athletes will encounter in Beijing, and National Federations have made good use of it, often on more than one occasion.

Last week, the French Olympic team of four pilots and four reserves came to Switzerland for the first of four training camps before the Olympic Games. The two Danish athletes qualified for the Olympics, Amanda Sørensen and Henrik Baltzersen, arrived at the WCC on June 13 for a 10-day training camp, the first of three in preparation for the Olympics. They will be followed by an eight-strong Italian contingent from June 25 to 27, Canada’s Jim Brown (June 1 - July 2) who will prepare the Canadian Olympic selection race, and three athletes from Belgium (July 8-11).

Para-cyclists from three countries are also making use of the WCC facilities, including the fitness room and indoor track, this month: New Zealand from May 28 to June 4, Great Britain (June 10-13) and Italy (June 17-18).

(Credit: ITTF. Click here for further information.)