CHRIS Hoy last night became the first cyclist ever to win world titles in four different disciplines.
In winning the sprint title, beating Frenchman Kevin Sireau in two straight rides, he also became the first British rider to win the blue riband event since Reg Harris in 1954.
It is his eighth world title and perhaps the sweetest in what was, re
markably, his first attempt at the title. With his specialist event, the kilometre, dropped from the Olympics, Hoy has had to refocus.
Nobody – not even Hoy – could have foreseen how spectacularly well he would adapt. Last year he won the keirin, a title he defends today, and by adding the sprint he has ensured that he will go to the Beijing Olympics realistically targeting three gold medals.
In the final he met the talented young Frenchman Kevin Sireau, the World Cup winner, and virtually unbeaten all season. Hoy has faced him twice in recent months and been beaten in straight rides on both occasions.
The 20-year old Sireau was the outstanding favourite having qualified fastest on Thursday with a track record, yet Hoy dominated the final. In the first heat the 32-year old Scot led out, keeping Sireau in his shadow, but when the Frenchman came past him, inside the final lap, it seemed he had mis-judged it. But Hoy, having to come the long way around his rival, put in a late surge, and earned the verdict by millimetres. A photo was needed to separate them.
In heat two Sireau led out, ramping up the speed as Hoy sat, poised, a few lengths behind him. With a lap to go he wound up the pace and was shoulder-to-shoulder with the Frenchman on the final bend, coming past him just before the line, with the capacity 5,000 crowd lifting the roof off the velodrome in acknowledgement of Britain's most successful cyclist – in terms of world championship medals – of all time.
"It's the most surprising world title I've ever won,"
said Hoy. "I never dreamt I'd win it. I came here with an outside chance of a medal, and my form has been stepping up and up, but more than anything it's my tactical awareness that's improved. I made a couple of mistakes in the early rounds but I have so much confidence from having the best coaches in the world."
Hoy's sprint coach is Jan van Eijden, the German world sprint champion in 2000 – coincidentally, the last time the championships were held in Manchester. "Jan's helped me so much," said Hoy. "The difference now is that I go in there with a clear plan; a clear idea of how to beat opponents."
Hoy confessed he didn't know that, in winning a world title in a fourth discipline, he had become the first cyclist to do so. "That's nice, isn't it?"
With eighteen medals, including those eight titles, Hoy has accumulated more medals in world championships than any other British rider, even Reg Harris, the legendary sprinter whose bronze statue is situated on the final bend of the Manchester velodrome. Harris won four world sprint titles, the last of them in 1954 – when British amateur Cyril Peacock won the amateur crown – and he would certainly have approved of Hoy's performance in his sprint debut.
Apart from Hoy the British gold rush continued, with the women's team pursuit squad – including Rebecca Romero, who had won the individual title on Thursday – beating the Ukraine. With Hoy's win, the tally now stands at six golds – one short of the record seven won by the British team in Palma last year, and with two days of racing remaining. Today Victoria Pendleton defends her women's world sprint title – she is already through to the semi-final – while Hoy defends his keirin crown.
The full article contains 642 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
