Night 3 at the Anna Meares Veledrome sees both sprint and endurance events on the schedule, with the Men’s Sprint and Women’s Points Race the headline acts of the night. Join The Roar’s live coverage of the penultimate night of Track Cycling from 6:30pm AEST.
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The first two events of the night are two Para events, with the Men’s B&VI Sprint and the Women’s B&VI 1000m Time Trial. The winners of the Para events on Night 1, Neil Fachie and Sophie Thornhill will be favourite for these events.
The Points Race is always a crazy event, with the Women getting their opportunity in the event tonight. The race over 25 kilometres consists of ten sprints every five laps of the velodrome, with points on offer for the first four that cross the line. An extra 20 points goes to any rider which is able to take a lap on the rest of their competitors.
Amy Cure of Australia and Elinor Barker of Wales are former World Champions in this event, and will be favourites going into this event, with Katie Archibald of Scotland, and Cure’s teammate, Georgia Baker in line for a medal. This event is wide open, so there is most definitely the possibility of an outsider taking the gold medal.
The men also get to compete in an endurance event tonight with 15 km Scratch Race. The Scratch Race consists of 60 laps of the velodrome, with the winner being the first rider past the finish line.
Christopher Latham of England has been consistent in this discipline at World Championship events, with his best performance being third in 2017.
However, he will have to compete against a strong Australian outfit, including current Points Race World Champion Cameron Meyer, and TP Gold Medalist’s Sam Welsford and Leigh Howard.
It’s a good mix between power, and speed, with Howard being the type of rider with his sprinting experience on the road, that could do well in the final dash for the line.
The other two events on the schedule are two sprint events.
The first of those is the Women’s 500 metre sprint, where Stephanie Morton is odd’s on favourite to take the title. After winning the Team Sprint on Thursday, and Individual Sprint yesterday, you may think that Morton would be fatigued. However, the ease at which she went about defeating Natasha Hansen last night showed that she is on top form.
Compatriot Kaarle McCulloch could be her biggest completion, along with England’s Katy Marchant.
The final event on the schedule is the Men’s Sprint, where Matt Glaetzer will look to continue his form from the Keirin yesterday. In my opinion, Glaetzer’s biggest competition will come from Jack Carlin of England, who finished runner up to Glaetzer in this event at the World Championship a little over a month ago.
Carlin looked in reasonable form in the Keirin so we should hopefully get another classic battle between the two of them. Ed Dawkins of New Zealand and Ryan Owens of England will provide extra competition as well.
Join The Roar’s live coverage of the penultimate night of track cycling action from 6:30pm AEST.
Brendon Vella
Roar Guru
That rounds up the Roar's live coverage of Night 3 of Track Cycling. Join us tomorrow for the final night of racing.
Brendon Vella
Roar Guru
Mens Scratch Race 1 - Sam Welsford 2 - Campbell Steward 3 - Christopher Latham
Brendon Vella
Roar Guru
Welsford wins a thriller. What a race. Hayter attacked with 10 to go and was caught in the final bend. Meyer the super teammate, who went punch for punch with Hayter over those final 10 laps to bring the gap back. Welsford took over with 1.5 laps to go, slowly wound up the diesel engine, and then let it rip with 150 to go. What power.
Brendon Vella
Roar Guru
4 to go. Meyer leading out Welsford, but Hayter is still out in front.
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Roar Guru
2 km - 8 laps to go. Hayter the IP specialist riding super well.
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Roar Guru
10 to go. Hayter attacks.
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Roar Guru
Howard coming across.
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Roar Guru
14 to go as Stewart still leads, from Hayter of England.
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Roar Guru
Stewart looks across the track, sees Meyer and isn't pushing on. Hayter again with Meyer.
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Roar Guru
Stewart from Scotland attacks.
Brendon Vella
Roar Guru
22 to go as the race is back together. Splits at the back.
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Roar Guru
Meyer attacks with Ethan Hayter from England.
Brendon Vella
Roar Guru
Kennett eases up, smart decision. 25 laps to go.
Brendon Vella
Roar Guru
Looks like the gap is stable. Howard did a big turn.
Brendon Vella
Roar Guru
Kennett in his element has about a one straight lead.
Brendon Vella
Roar Guru
Kennett, the IP Bronze medalist attacks and gets a gap.
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Roar Guru
Mouree from South Africa comes across, as it looks like it's all coming back together as we get close to half race distance.
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Roar Guru
Archibald and Welsford get away with Britton from Wales. Our first break.
Brendon Vella
Roar Guru
20 laps done and now real attacks yet.
Brendon Vella
Roar Guru
Welsford looks like the key helper. He will do most of the turns. Meyer is hitting them every five laps with a really hard turn. Howard conserving energy.