Chris Hoy Fighting to Hang onto Olympic Gold
Story posted February 7
By Larry Hickmott
Four years ago, and Hoy had won the medal every athlete wants -- an Olympic Gold. The event, the Kilometre, has however been axed from the Olympics so Hoy has gone looking for another event where he has a chance to repeat that Gold winning performance and in the Team Sprint and Men's Keirin, he has found just the events.
In just over a weeks time, Chris Hoy – Olympic Champion from Athens – will return to the venue where his reign as one of the Worlds fastest cyclists started, Copenhagen. In 2002, Chris Hoy was part of the World title winning Team Sprint at that indoor track but perhaps even more significant was the win in the Kilometre.
That World title victory has been the first of many for the Scottish rider and his two World Championships that year was matched again last year in Majorca where he again where won two and got Silver (by two thousandths of a second) in the other. Add that to the other World titles he has won around the World since then and there is little doubt that Chris Hoy MBE is one of the all time top Sprint riders in the World.
His record alone stands out: Olympic Champion 2004, Olympic Games Silver 2000, Olympic Games Kilo Record Holder (2004), Sea-level World Kilo Record Holder (Athens 2004), World Record Holder 500m FS (2007), 7 Times World Champion, 4 World Championship Silver and 4 Bronze medals, 2 x Commonwealth Games Champion medals and no less than 23 World Cup Golds! Impressive stuff from the Great Britain rider.
Copenhagen
With the days counting down to the final UCI World Track Cup in Denmark, Chris is hard at work at the Manchester Velodrome looking to be in top shape for what will be his most demanding test yet in Denmark. He goes into the fourth round of the 2007/08 World Track Cup leading the Men’s Keirin Competition.
Is winning the Keirin competition overall high on his agenda? “Definitely” he replied. “The main priority for me is to win the overall in the Kierin because only the winner of the World Cup gets automatic entry to the Olympics for themselves (if that rider is selected by their country that is). That would be a nice position to be in. It’s not 100 per cent guarantee of a place in Beijing but its as close as you’re going to get and that is why I am hoping to do well in the Keirin.”
The Keirin for which he is the current World Champion, is not the only event in his sights though. “Also, every ride we do in the Team Sprint is important” he added. “Every ride is judged by our coaches for Worlds and Olympic selection, so I am hoping to do a good time there because there is a real battle going on for man 3 position (Jason Queally and Matt Crampton).”
Chris then explained he’s also looking to throw his hat into the ring to battle for man 2 in the Team Sprint as well alongside Ross Edgar, Craig MacLean and Jason Queally. “Man three is my preferred position but I have raced man 2 in Beijing and Sydney (World Track Cups) and its not unthinkable I could end up in man 2 depending on how everyone else goes. To be honest, I don’t care where I race as long as I get a ride.”
And Sprint too...
And if that wasn’t enough, Chris hasn’t ruled out the other Olympic event, the Match Sprint. “Because I have the most points for the team at the moment (4th in the table so far) it is important that I score again from the team perspective. We are pushing to get as many points as possible so Britain can get a second rider into the event in Beijing. I may or may not go for that -- I’d like to but I am up against it” he adds modestly.
“Craig (MacLean) has been top four in the event at the World Championships the last two years and then there is Ross Edgar and Jason Kenny. In all, there are four or five guys who would not be out of place in the Sprint competition.”
Before he even considers what event though he is doing in Beijing should he get selected, Chris has an event packed programme in Copenhagen which will surely test his endurance if nothing else. A programme which may well be helpful with still four weeks to the World Track Championships at Manchester following the Copenhagen World Track Cup.
Tough Programme for Copenhagen
“It is going to be tough” Chris explains. “It looks like Copenhagen will be the most demanding programme I have ever done. The worst I had before was here at Manchester where I had the Kilo on the first night, the Sprint on the second and then the Japanese Keirin and Team Sprint on the final day."
"In Denmark though, I have the Team Sprint first day (possible two rounds), Keirin second day (could be as many as four rounds), Sprint and Japanese Keirin on the final day. With those latter two events I could be looking at 15 or 16 rides in the day which will be pretty tough.”
Not all the events in Copenhagen are World Track Cups though with the big money in the Japanese Keirin being the main incentive in that stand alone race and after winning it last year in Manchester, and being the current World Keirin Champion, it would almost be unthinkable for Chris not to be doing it. But the Japanese will make him work for it if he wants to win the big prize again.
Asked if he feels he’ll be in with a chance in the Japanese Keirin, he was unsure due to the change in the format. “The Japanese have ensured they get three riders in the final by having two separate competitions. Six Japanese will race each other to see which three get a ride in the final and then there will be 12 international riders who will race to see which three get to that same final. Three Japanese versus three internationals.”
With a shrug of the shoulders he added, “it’s fair enough as they, the Japanese, are putting the money up and get to call the shots.”
Beijing World Track Cup and Chris Hoy leads from the front and controls the race.
The amazing thing about the success that Chris has had in the Keirin is his run of victories. The Keirin was thought of as being an event where you could never really predict an outcome. Sure there would be favourites but with the top riders being so closely matched, World Champions would change with each year and no World Cups seemed to get dominated by one rider. Until Chris changed from concentrating on the Kilo to the Keirin.
In Manchester last year, he won the Japanese Keirin where there was a substantial purse on offer. Then he went to the World Championships and won that. Beginners luck? No chance as he showed in Sydney and Beijing where he won Gold in both those competitions. So does he have a successful formula for winning?
“It has been very hard in the World Track Cups and you never go into them expecting to win” he explains. “It is still a very unpredictable event and although I have been consistently successful so far, it doesn’t mean anyone can predict the future and every race I go into, whether it be a heat or a final, I treat it as a big race and try to ride to my strengths.”
“I find with the Keirin if you try to initiate the moves so people are reacting to you, that allows you to dictate the race to the others. As long as you have the form, you can try and control the race from the front. Whether you’re on the front isn’t necessarily important though. You can go to the front and then make someone else force their hand like I did with Bourgain (French rider) at the Worlds (2007). I didn’t lead out there but I forced him to go so hard that I had a chance in the home straight to come round him”.
“It’s an event I really enjoy and total different to the Kilo and I am relishing riding that in the Olympics.”
Final bend of the Men's keirin at last years Track Worlds and Chris Hoy turns on the gas and races away to win the World title.
It is however hard to forget that the Kilometre event, for which he is the current Olympic champion, was axed a few years ago, and he along with many people in the cycling community were rightly up in arms. Asked how he feels now he has tasted success in the Keirin, he replies “Yes, I do feel happier now.”
“The Team Sprint was always going to be the main event for me after they dropped the kilo but now the Keirin and Team Sprint are of equal importance. Fortunately, there is still more than one event for me to ride at the Olympics. It could have been the whole sport that was dropped as some sports have gone completely from the Olympics. So it could have been a lot worse.”
“So, I am lot happier that I do have an individual event that I have had some success in but it hasn’t taken away any of the anger at the seemingly illogical decision to drop the kilo. It was incredibly frustrating, not just for me but for the sport. It hasn’t done the sport any favours either. At the World Track Cups now, it’s a sorry event to watch as it’s a former major event and is now seen as more a development event for the up and coming riders. It’s lost the sparkle it used to have.”
“The Olympic events definitely have a lot more emphasis now in a riders programme. When the Team Sprint was introduced into the event programme, it was only a World Championship event and the standards were not that high but since it became an Olympic event, the standard has really come on especially in Olympic year.”
Chris Hoy at last year's World Championships where he won the Kilometre title.
“You do feel a lot more tension at the World Track Cups , a lot more atmosphere when teams come to the line.”
No doubt that tension and atmosphere will be even more so in Copenhagen where countries and riders will continue to fight hard for Olympic qualifying points and those battles will only intensify at the World Track Championships (Manchester) where being Olympic year, the battles on the boards will be even more hard fought for than in non-Olympic years.
For Chris Hoy, double World Champion in 2007 and defending Olympic champion, Copenhagen and the Manchester Track Worlds will again be tough programmes but one thing is for sure, he will give everything he has and that is usually enough to reward him with a title or two. Lets hope so!
Good luck Chris in Copenhagen!
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UCI World Track Cup Season 2007/08
Los Angeles World Track Cup 2008
Home Page, Sydney World Track Cup 2007
Home Page Beijing World Track Cup
Other GB Member Stories
Newton Chasing Points in Denmark
Craig MacLean's Olympic Ambitions
Chris Hoy looks ahead to the Track Worlds
2007 European Track Championships (Germany)
