Australia has continued bringing home the results from Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome, winning seven more medals on day three of track cycling and Para cycling at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
Leigh Hoffman is the sprint king
A gold medal to Leigh Hoffman in the men’s sprint was the highlight of the day. The 26-year-old from Whyalla set a new Games record in qualifying before comfortably winning each round of the match sprints – including beating fellow Australian Tayte Ryan in the semi-finals – to claim his first individual gold at this level.
Ryan took home the bronze to make an Aussie 1– 3 on the podium: a fantastic result for the Games debutant who will be focused on tonight’s time trial, his pet event.
The Commonwealth Games is probably up there with the Olympics for us Aussies. To come all the way from Whyalla, who would have thought, really? – Leigh Hoffman
Claudia Marcks goes big in 1km TT
Canberra’s Claudia Marcks broke her own Australian record in the women’s 1km time trial, posting a scorching time of 1:05.607.
That benchmark held strong as the Commonwealth Games record until Welshwoman Emma Finucane pipped Marcks into the silver-medal position.
It's Marcks' her first individual medal after winning the team pursuit on the opening day.
Coming in I wasn't even sure that I was going to be up for a podium, so to be standing here with a silver medal, I'm over the moon.
I was hoping to go point-something-of-a-second faster, get under the sub-1:06. I kind of blew that out. Honestly, the time trial is one of my favourite events because I can't overthink it. It's just: go out as hard and fast as you can, and hold it for four laps. – Claudia Marcks
More success for Aussie tandems
Jessica Gallagher and her pilot Jacqui Mengler-Mohr added a second silver medal to their collection, this time in the women’s tandem 1km time trial. Their time of 1:06.852 was the fastest ever by an Australia women's tandem. They were bested only by the Kiwi pairing of Emma Foy, piloted by Jessie Hodges.
We're very pleased. We left it all out there. You always come here wanting more. But, considering our crash two days ago ... a PB for us, in this condition, shows that we've got a lot of upside. So, bring on Worlds. – Jacqui Mengler-Mohr
Likewise, Kane Perris and Luke Zaccaria doubled their medal tally by winning their bronze final against Malaysia in the men’s tandem sprint. That makes two bronze medals for the West Australians after also placing third in the ‘Kilo’.
We missed out on a medal at the Paralympics a few years ago, and to come back at a major event in Scotland, which is almost a home Games for me with the amount of family I have over here, and to get on the podium with Luke twice, is bloody special. – Kane Perris
Tom Cornish sprints to silver in crash-marred scratch race
Sydney’s Tom Cornish won his first Commonwealth Games medal as an endurance rider, taking silver in a chaotic men’s scratch race.
An action-packed 10km race saw Oli Bleddyn and Blake Agnoletto making their presence felt in multiple breakaways before it all came down to a big bunch sprint.
All three Aussies escaped a mass pile-up on the penultimate lap. Cornish unleashed his trademark sprint on the last lap, but was beaten by a fast-finishing Henry Hobbs (England) to take silver.
It’s another top result for the New South Welshman, who competed at the last Games as a sprinter, winning medals in the team sprint and 1km time trial.
Georgia Baker adds bronze in the points race
A breathless women’s points race saw Georgia Baker back up yesterday’s scratch race win with a hard-fought bronze medal.
The Tasmanian gained multiple laps on the field but had to contest sprints all the way until the end to defend her podium position from New Zealand’s Ally Wollaston.
It’s Baker’s sixth career medal at the Commonwealth Games – remarkably, the first medal that isn’t gold in colour.
I really enjoyed the racing out there tonight. I felt really good ... It just needs to align, but that's just racing. I'm really happy with bronze, and at the end of the day, the strongest rider wins. – Georgia Baker
Australia goes into the final day of track cycling leading the medal tally with seven gold, eight silver and five bronze.
Photos: SWpix.com