Dreams of Olympic gold medals died in the first rounds of their respective races for US cyclists Taylor Phinney and Sarah Hammer at the Beijing Olympics on Saturday.
Neither track cyclist advanced to the final round of the individual pursuit at the Laoshan Velodrome.
Bradley Wiggins of Great Britain won the gold medal in men's 4000 meter individual pursuit, setting an Olympic record in the qualifying round. Hayden Rouston of New Zealand won silver and Steven Burke of Great Britain scored bronze.
The finals in the women's 3000 meter individual pursuit will be held on Sunday.
Phinney
Phinney, 18, is the son of US cycling greats Davis Phinney and Connie Carpenter-Phinney. He started his track racing season 10 months ago with a win in the national championships. After Saturday's loss, he told VeloNews:
“I’m just stoked to be here at the Olympics — I thought I’d be watching them at home on TV. This year has been such a total blur — let's try this, let's try that. I just now feel like I’m starting to get the hang of it. By the time 2012 rolls around, I’m going to have everything dialed.”
Phinney matched his opponent, Roulston, in the first 1000 meters, but began falling behind after that.
Hammer
Soon after Phinney fell out of contention, it was Sarah Hammer's turn to ride against Allison Shanks of New Zealand. Leading Shanks in the first 1000, Hammer fell off her pace and lost a chance for the medal round.
Hammer, 24, won the world championships in the event in 2006 and 2007 and came in second in the worlds in 2008. She was considered a strong contender for Olympic gold.
“I’ll probably shed a couple of tears tonight — but I need to let it go and move forward. It wasn’t for a lack of trying, I can guarantee that. It just wasn’t my day.”
Hammer plans to compete in another track cycling event, the women's points race, on Monday.
The British cyclist set an Olympic record in the individual pursuit qualifier, beating his old record from the 2004 Olympics. In winning the event, he became the first cyclist to repeat a victory in the event since it was introduced in 1964.
Viewing
All of Saturday's cycling track results can be found at the official Beijing Olympics website.
NBC has scheduled all of Saturday's track racing (along with other sports) to be shown during the 7:30 – 11:30 a.m. (PT) time slot on USA Networks. A special on Phinney was scheduled for the noon to 1 p.m. (PT) time slot on local affiliates on Saturday. The online video-stream coverage of Saturday's events was cancelled.
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