Germany already has the world’s best women’s sprinter in Kristina Vogel, and now – perhaps – the best sprinter of the next generation as well: Lea Sophie Friedrich.
She was the big individual winner at the UCI World Junior Championships in Track Cycling in Aigle (SUI), winning the Sprint, the Team Sprint (with Alessa-Catriona Propster), the 500m Time Trial and the Keirin.
She also set one of the three World Junior Records during the event, lowering the 500 m Time Trial mark to 33.922 in her qualifying race. “My third title. I am so happy,” she said. “And the world record. That is even more important to me. It was a dream, but I didn’t think I could do it.”
There were also records set in the men’s Individual Pursuit, by Russia’s Lev Gonov at 3:11.143, and in the men’s 1,000 m Time Trial, by Thomas Cornish (AUS) at 1:00.498.
Just behind Friedrich in the hardware department was Italy’s Vittoria Guazzini, who won the Individual Pursuit, Team Pursuit and the Omnium.
Among the men, Australia’s Lucas Plapp won the Points Race and teamed with Blake Quick in the Madison, and Czech Thomas Stasty won three medals in the Sprint (bronze), Keirin (gold) and the 1,000 m Time Trial (silver).
Australia (3-2-4), Russia (1-5-3) and Poland (1-5-3) each won nine medals to top the medal standings; Germany and Italy both won four golds. Summaries:
UCI World Junior Track Championships
Aigle (SUI) ~ 15-19 August 2018
(Full results here)
Men:
Sprint: 1. Cezary Laczkowski (POL); 2. Thomas Cornish (AUS); 3. Jakub Stastny (CZE); 4. Leigh Hoffman (AUS). Third: Stastny d. Hoffman, 2-0; Final: Laczkowski d. Cornish, 2-0.
Team Sprint: 1. France (Grengbo, Yon, Renvoise), 36.726; 2. Poland, 37.151; 3. Russia, 36.379.
3,000 m Individual Pursuit: 1. Lev Gonov (RUS), 3:13.400; 2. Ethan Vernon (GBR), 3:14.087; 3. Gleb Syritsa (RUS), 3:15.521.
Team Pursuit: 1. New Zealand (Strong, Jackson, O’Donnell), 4:01.685; 2. France, 4:05.058; Australia, 4:05.731.
1,000 m Time Trial: 1. Thomas Cornish (AUS), 1:00.979; 2. Stastny (CZE), 1:01.830; 3. Anton Hohne (GER), 1:02.358.
Keirin: 1. Stastny (CZE); 2. Esow Esow (IND), +0.017; 3. Andrey Chugay (KAZ), +0.414.
Scratch Race: 1. Joo-Young Park (KOR); 2. Filip Prokopyszyn (POL); 3. Samuel Thibaud (FRA).
Points Race: 1. Lucas Plapp (AUS), 70; 2. Prokopyszyn (POL), 60; 3. Robin Juel Skivild (DEN), 44.
Omnium: 1. Donavan Grondin (FRA), 115 points; 2. Frederik Wandahl (DEN), 111; 3. Blake Quick (AUS), 106.
Madison: 1. Blake Quick/Lucas Plapp (AUS), 47 points; 2. Gleb Syritsa/Lev Gonov (RUS), 38; 3. Oliver Frederiksen/Matias Malmberg (DEN), 27. Also: 7. Ryan Jastrab/Peter Moore (USA), -18.
Women:
Sprint: 1. Lea Sophie Friedrich (GER); 2. Jiafang Hu (CHN); 3. Nikola Sibiak (POL); 4. Alessa-Catriona Propster (GER). Third: Sibiak d. Propster, 2-1. Final: Friedrich d. Hu, 2-0.
Team Sprint: 1. Friedrich/Propster (GER); 2. Min Lei/Hu (CHN); 3. Nikola Seremak/Sibiak (POL).
2,000 m Individual Pursuit: 1. Vittoria Guazzini (ITA), 2:22.053; 2. Daria Malkova (RUS), lapped; 3. Sophie Edwards (AUS), 2:22.444.
Team Pursuit: 1. Italy (Guazzini, Zanardi, Catarzi, Collinelli), 4:28.398; 2. New Zealand, lapped; 3. Great Britain, 4:32.636.
500 m Time Trial: 1. Friedrich (GER), 34.034; 2. Iana Tyshenko (RUS), 34.645; 3. Propster (GER), 35.123.
Keirin: 1. Friedrich (GER); 2. Sibiak (POL), +0.460; 3. Iana Tyshenko (RUS), +0.468.
Scratch Race: 1. Ji-Eun Shin (KOR); 2. Marta Jaskulska (POL); 3. Katharina Hechler (GER).
Points Race: 1. Silvia Zanardi (ITA); 2. Sarah Gigante (AUS); 3. Shari Bossuyt (BEL).
Omnium: 1. Guazzini (ITA), 142 points; 2. Malkova (RUS), 124; 3. Jaskulska (POL), 117.
Madison: 1. Victoire Berteau/Marie le Net (FRA), 70 points; 2. Daria Malkova/Mariia Miliaeva (RUS), 46; 3. Alexandra Martin-Wallace/Alice Culling (AUS), 38.
