Cycling at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Men's individual pursuit

Last updated

Contents

Men's individual pursuit
at the Games of the XXIX Olympiad
Cycling (track) pictogram.svg
Olympic Track cycling
Venue Laoshan Velodrome
DatesAugust 15 (opening rounds)
August 16 (final)
Competitors18 from 11 nations
Winning time4:15.977
Medalists
Gold medal icon.svg Bradley Wiggins Flag of the United Kingdom (3-2).svg  Great Britain
Silver medal icon.svg Hayden Roulston Flag of New Zealand.svg  New Zealand
Bronze medal icon.svg Steven Burke Flag of the United Kingdom (3-2).svg  Great Britain
  2004

The men's individual pursuit at the 2008 Summer Olympics took place on August 16 at the Laoshan Velodrome. The pre-event favorite to win the gold medal was the defending Olympic champion Bradley Wiggins of Great Britain, who managed to retain the title, setting a new Olympic record in the preliminary round. [1]

Qualification

Eighteen cyclists qualified for this event. Bradley Wiggins (Great Britain), the defending Olympic champion, qualified for winning the individual pursuit at the 2008 UCI Track Cycling World Championships. Volodymyr Dyudya (Ukraine) qualified at the late 2007 UCI World Cup event in Sydney, winning the individual pursuit there. The qualifier by way of the UCI B World Championship was Alexandr Pliuschin (Moldova). Jenning Huizenga (Netherlands), Taylor Phinney (United States), Phillip Thuaux (Australia), Sergi Escobar Roure (Spain), Alexander Serov (Russia), and David O'Loughlin (Ireland) qualified based on UCI rankings. The rest of the field was formed by berths given to the ten nations that qualified in the team pursuit. This resulted in Great Britain, Australia, Netherlands, Spain, Ukraine, and Russia each having two competitors in this event.

Competition format

The eighteen cyclists were matched into nine two-man heats. The riders start on opposite sides of the track from one another, held in place by a starting gate until the race begins. While the objective is ostensibly to catch the other rider on the track, victory is most commonly determined by the faster time to cover 4,000 meters. The winners of each individual heat did not matter in the preliminaries - it was instead the overall eight fastest times which would advance to the match round.

In the match round, the top eight riders from the preliminaries were matched together, 1 vs. 8, 2 vs. 7, 3 vs. 6, and 4 vs. 5, for the semifinals. In the semifinals, the winner of each match advanced to race for a medal; the two fastest raced for gold and silver, while the two slower winners faced each other for the bronze.

Schedule

All times are China standard time (UTC+8)

DateTimeRound
Friday, 15 August 200816:55Qualification
Saturday, 16 August 200816:30Match round
Saturday, 16 August 200818:50Final

Results

Qualification

[2]

RankHeatCyclistNationResultNotes
19 Bradley Wiggins Flag of the United Kingdom (3-2).svg  Great Britain 4:15.031Q, OR
28 Hayden Roulston Flag of New Zealand.svg  New Zealand 4:18.990Q
39 Alexei Markov Flag of Russia.svg  Russia 4:21.498Q
46 Volodymyr Dyudya Flag of Ukraine.svg  Ukraine 4:21.530Q
52 Steven Burke Flag of the United Kingdom (3-2).svg  Great Britain 4:22.260Q
63 Antonio Tauler Flag of Spain.svg  Spain 4:22.462Q
76 Taylor Phinney Flag of the United States.svg  United States 4:22.860Q
85 Alexander Serov Flag of Russia.svg  Russia 4:23.732Q
97 Bradley McGee Flag of Australia.svg  Australia 4:26.084
105 Sergi Escobar Flag of Spain.svg  Spain 4:26.102
117 David O'Loughlin Flag of Ireland (3-2).svg  Ireland 4:26.102
121 Brett Lancaster Flag of Australia.svg  Australia 4:26.139
133 Jens Mouris Flag of the Netherlands.svg  Netherlands 4:27.445
144 Vitaliy Popkov Flag of Ukraine.svg  Ukraine 4:30.321
151 Fabien Sanchez Flag of France.svg  France 4:33.100
162 Carlos Alzate Flag of Colombia.svg  Colombia 4:35.154
174 Alexandr Pliuschin Flag of Moldova (3-2).svg  Moldova 4:35.438
188 Jenning Huizenga Flag of the Netherlands.svg  Netherlands 4:37.097

Match round

Semifinals

Qualification rule: Two fastest cyclists advance to the gold medal match (Q), while the next two to the bronze medal match (q). [3]

RankHeatCyclistNationResultNotes
14 Bradley Wiggins Flag of the United Kingdom (3-2).svg  Great Britain 4:16.571Q
23 Hayden Roulston Flag of New Zealand.svg  New Zealand 4:19.232Q
31 Steven Burke Flag of the United Kingdom (3-2).svg  Great Britain 4:21.558q
42 Alexei Markov Flag of Russia.svg  Russia 4:22.308q
51 Volodymyr Dyudya Flag of Ukraine.svg  Ukraine 4:22.471
62 Antonio Tauler Flag of Spain.svg  Spain 4:24.974
74 Alexander Serov Flag of Russia.svg  Russia 4:25.391
83 Taylor Phinney Flag of the United States.svg  United States 4:26.644

Medal round

Bronze medal match [4]
RankCyclistNationResultNotes
Bronze medal icon.svg Steven Burke Flag of the United Kingdom (3-2).svg  Great Britain 4:20.947
4 Alexei Markov Flag of Russia.svg  Russia 4:24.149
Gold medal match [4]
RankCyclistNationResultNotes
Gold medal icon.svg Bradley Wiggins Flag of the United Kingdom (3-2).svg  Great Britain 4:16.977
Silver medal icon.svg Hayden Roulston Flag of New Zealand.svg  New Zealand 4:19.611

References

  1. "Men's Individual Pursuit". 2008GamesBeijing.com. Retrieved 2008-08-16.
  2. "Beijing 2008: Cycling - Men's Individual Pursuit Qualification" (PDF). Beijing 2008 . LA84 Foundation. 15 August 2008. p. 1307. Retrieved 14 October 2013.
  3. "Beijing 2008: Cycling - Men's Individual Pursuit Semifinals" (PDF). Beijing 2008 . LA84 Foundation. 15 August 2008. p. 1308. Retrieved 14 October 2013.
  4. 1 2 "Beijing 2008: Cycling - Men's Individual Pursuit Finals" (PDF). Beijing 2008 . LA84 Foundation. 15 August 2008. p. 1309. Retrieved 14 October 2013.