Cycling: Ulmer's scorching times in secret rides

By EUGENE BINGHAM

New Zealand's star cyclist, Sarah Ulmer, last week rode under world record time twice in an hour during a secret training session in France.

Her coaches had asked her to simulate the schedule she would face in Athens, to test how ready she was to add an Olympic gold medal in the individual pursuit to her world championship title.

They were surprised when she clocked 3m 27s and 3m 28s, both under the 3m 30.604s world record she set in May.

Early yesterday, Ulmer was finally able to show how fast she was, competing in the most incredible round of women's track cycling the world has seen.

"We knew it was coming," head coach Kurt Innes said of the 28-year-old's performance.

"We just had to wait till the rest of the world saw it to make it official."

Ulmer and her two main rivals, Australian Katie Mactier and Holland's Leontien Zijlaard van Moorsel, recorded the fastest six times set in the 3000m event.


Ulmer's qualifying round time of 3m 26.400s was the best.

All three women rode under the old record twice.

The schedule required them to ride two rounds within an hour to decide who would race for the medals.

"You can't compare it with any other sporting event," said Innes. "It's unbelievably tough. To break a world record on one day, normally that's a big feat and you get 24 hours' rest. To have to do it again within an hour takes a pretty special person.

"But the level of women's racing has come to the point now where three women did it."

Cycling team manager Bryan Simmonds said Ulmer was meticulous at sticking to the schedules set for her by personal coach and partner Brendon Cameron, who calls times to her from the track side.

"She rode to that schedule both rides virtually flawlessly," said Simmonds.

The velodrome, criticised earlier in the week because it was not fully enclosed, proved to be perfect.

The temperature in the middle was 33C, about 8C above what track cyclists regard as the minimum required for fast times, and the hardwood timber track was described by Innes as "absolutely smoking hot".

In the first round, Mactier and van Moorsel rode off against each other.

The Australian set a new world record of 3m 29.945s and the four-times gold medallist Dutch rider also went under Ulmer's old mark with 3m 30.422s.

Mactier said she knew she was in fast form.

"It was a great feeling, but I thought, 'I'd better put my hand up now and celebrate it because it wouldn't surprise me if Sarah betters it'," she said.

In the next ride, Ulmer did just that, setting her time of 3m 26.400s.


Van Moorsel, riding in her last Olympics, sliced almost 2s off her first-round time with a brilliant performance that was only the third best of the round, putting her in the position of having to ride off for bronze.

Mactier snatched a place in the gold medal ride-off with a ride that was 1.5s faster than her brief world record time in the first round.

Ulmer looked strong again, but had to slow down towards the end to pass her Russian opponent, Olga Slyusareva.

Her 3m 27.444s time was still faster than anyone else managed.

Overtaken record

Three cyclists duelled for honours in the women's 3000m individual pursuit yesterday morning at speeds much faster than Sarah Ulmer's original world record time of 3m 30.604s.

Each went below the old mark twice in the qualifying round and round one. In the order they rode:

1. Katie Mactier (Australia) 3.29.945

2. Leontien Zijlaard-Van Moorsel (Netherlands) 3.30.422

3. Sarah Ulmer (NZ) 3.26.400

4. Van Moorsel 3.28.747

5. Mactier 3.28.095

6. Ulmer 3.27.444

Mactier set a world record with her first ride but Ulmer broke it almost immediately. Ulmer's new world mark of 3.26.4 is a speed of 52.3 km/h.