Track cycling: There were four decisions at the Track World Cup in Berlin on the first day of competition. The German professionals were able to win silver and bronze in the team sprint. In the team pursuit, however, the men and women of the BDR went away empty-handed.
Team sprint: No victory - but two medals
A Track World Cup was held in Berlin for the first time since 1998. Unfortunately, the local riders couldn't celebrate a gold medal on day #1. Nevertheless, there was reason to celebrate in the men's and women's team sprints. Miriam Welte and Emma Hinze were again beaten only by the Russians Anastasija Woinowa and Daria Schmelewa. They won silver in 32,922 seconds ahead of the Chinese duo. In qualifying, Pauline Grabosch also achieved a strong result. It was enough for third place in the men's category. Timo Bichler, Stefan Bötticher and Joachim Eilers - who replaced Maximilian Levy in the small final - beat the Dutchmen from Beat Cycling Club in the fight for bronze. Gold went to the Dutch national team ahead of Great Britain.
Miriam Welte:
"It's going really well. The others are within reach and there is still room for improvement.”
First medal for host nation comes in women's team sprint. Gold goes to the European champions
🥇@RusveloTeam
🥈Germany
🥉China#TissotUCITrackWC pic.twitter.com/RKcuEYtcTI— 2018-2019 TISSOT UCI Track Cycling World Cup (@TrackBerlin) 30 November 2018
Team pursuit: No medals - but almost a German record
The team pursuit went less well than the team sprint. Neither the women nor the men were able to meet expectations at the Track World Cup in Berlin. The women's foursome, who did not have their best line-up, finished only eighth in qualifying and later in the finals. The Brits secured gold ahead of Australia and Canada. The four gentlemen presented themselves somewhat better. Leon Rohde, Felix Gross, Theo Reinhardt and Domenic Weinstein finished sixth after 3:58,2 minutes. It looked even better in qualifying: with a time of 3:55,467 minutes, they were only 0,164 seconds above the current German record. In the end, gold went to Australia ahead of Denmark and Canada.
Your medalists of men's team pursuit
🥇Australia
🥈Denmark
🥉Canada#TissotUCITrackWC pic.twitter.com/KpQvToEAJr— 2018-2019 TISSOT UCI Track Cycling World Cup (@TrackBerlin) 30 November 2018
Michael Teuber improves his own hourly world record in paracycling
In addition to everyday track cycling, paracycler Michael Teuber tried to set a new hour record on Friday. The 50-year-old German improved the record he set in 2005 in competition class C1 from 39,326 kilometers to 42,583 kilometers. The five-time Paralympic gold medalist will now prepare to qualify for the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics. In August 1987, he suffered an incomplete paraplegia in the area of the lumbar spine in a car accident in France. After a long rehabilitation phase, he was able to learn to walk and cycle again.
Michael Teuber:
"I'm so happy. I was able to divide the race up well and get a little faster in the last ten minutes.”