Worlds: Hundredths of a second deny Australia from first rainbow jersey in Glasgow

The finest margins have stood between Australia’s track cyclists and a first rainbow jersey at this year’s UCI World Championships in Glasgow.

On the second night of competition, the ARA Australian Cycling Team had three silver medals to celebrate, although each was bittersweet: a reward for hard work, but a question of what might have been.

Amazing efforts come up just short for Shippley and Clonan

Amanda Reid began Australia’s night with bronze in the C2 Individual Pursuit, beating her German rival by three seconds, by far the most comfortable margin. From there, the time gaps would squeeze tighter and tighter.

First, it was Michael Shippley in the C4 time trial. His 1:04.813 could only be trumped by Great Britain’s Jody Cundy, who put in a storming ride to win by 1.345 seconds.

Next was Kristina Clonan in her pet event, the 500m time trial. After qualifying second-fastest, Clonan posted a time of 32.956 to top the standings in the final with just one rider, Germany’s Emma Hinze, remaining.

Aussie hopes lifted when Hinze’s first-lap split came back slower than Clonan’s.

But one lap later, the scoreboard flashed from red to envious green, as the German bested the Queenslander by 0.136 seconds.

Still, there was much to celebrate as Clonan received the first world championship medal of her young sprinting career.

“It’s very special,” Clonan said. “I had a bit of a turbulent year, so this is really, really nice.”

“I’d be lying in saying that I didn’t come for the rainbows. I gotta settle for silver, but it’s super special.”

Clonan’s athletic transformation has been remarkable. After riding the scratch race in 2017, this was only her second time contesting the sprint events at Worlds.

“If I thought about this point in time when I was an enduro, it would seem a bit surreal, so I feel like I’m pretty hard on myself for the expectations,” she said.

“But it’s so special to get a medal and have something to show for a lot of people who have put a lot of belief and work into me.”

Heartbreak in the Men Elite Team Sprint

However, the toughest result to swallow was yet to come.

In the last event of the night, Leigh Hoffman, Matthew Richardson, Matthew Glaetzer and Thomas Cornish sought to defend Australia’s team sprint rainbow jerseys against the Dutch powerhouse.

Throughout the preliminary rounds, the Netherlands had stayed almost half a second quicker, and there was little sign the gold-medal final would be anything but a formality.

But the Aussies stepped up at just the right moment.

On lap one, Hoffman put his nation narrowly ahead. Richardson then carried the advantage on the second leg, handing over to Glaezter with a lead.

Again, Australians in the velodrome dared to dream.

But the Dutch clawed back the time on the ultimate lap, and to the naked eye there was nothing between the teams when they crossed the line on opposite sides of the track.

Only the stopwatch could separate them: Australia’s time of 41.682 seconds had been beaten by three one-hundredths of a second, the Dutch winning with a time of 41.647.

It was a disappointing blow, but to have pushed the Netherlands to such a fine margin spoke volumes about the determination of the Aussie team sprinters.

“To bring back half a second from first round to final is pretty much unheard of, so we really banded together for that final fight,” Richardson said.

“Unfortunately, we didn’t get there in the end, but we really gave it our best shot.”

Alongside the Jessica Gallagher and Caitlin Ward results yesterday, Australia has felt the sharp pain of racing at the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome over the last few days, but with nine days remaining across the championships and so many close calls already, there is every reason to believe rainbow glory is not too far away.

Photos: SWpix.com