Paul Manning stormed to gold as part of the world record-breaking team pursuit squad at the World Track Cycling Championships in Manchester last night. A partisan home crowd packed into the velodrome at Sport City, as the Sutton Coldfield cyclist’s team pursuit quartet set the ball rolling on a night of triple gold glory for the dominant Great Britain squad.
Huddersfield rider Ed Clancy and established road-racing stars Geraint Thomas and Bradley Wiggins joined Manning in the line-up to take on surprise final opponents Denmark. The line-up had been reshuffled from the earlier qualifying round, with Manning moving up to second – considered to be the toughest position because the rider has to absorb the starter’s initial kick and then accelerate to cruising speed, only millimetres from the back wheel of his team-mate.
The Danish squad were the fastest qualifiers; seeing off previous world record-holders Australia in the process, but were simply blown off the track by an inspired British team in the race for gold.
At the 2,000m halfway mark the British four were already just over a second ahead – a significant advantage in pursuiting terms – but they continued to press on, putting insurmountable pressure on the Danish quartet. And, with three laps remaining, the unlikely possibility of the Denmark team actually being caught by their inspired opponents was becoming improbably close to a reality.
Wiggins, bringing up the rear for Britain, prematurely kicked off the celebrations; wildly punching the air with delight with almost half a lap still to go. Having soundly beaten their on-track opponents, the quartet then went on to vanquish Australia’s team pursuit record set at the 2004 Olympics – crossing the line in a new world mark of three minutes 56.318 seconds.
After the race’s thrilling climax, the vastly experienced Manning remained sedately level-headed, keeping his eye firmly on the Olympic gold which has thus far eluded him in his medal-laden track career.
He said: “We could do even better, we weren’t quite 100 per cent tonight.”
“If we want to go on and win in Beijing, we’ll almost certainly need another one (world record). It is a great feeling though,” he concluded.
Team pursuit success was shortly followed by rowing convert Rebecca Romero – a former Olympic silver-medallist in that sport – overcoming American favourite Sarah Hammer in the individual pursuit final. BMX star Shanaze Reade then joined cycling’s golden girl Victoria Pendleton in team sprint triumph.
With an impressive medal haul already being amassed by the combined efforts of both men’s and women’s squads, the British team will surely now go on to head the medal table for the second Championships running, following their seven golds in Mallorca last year.
At the grand old age of 33, team veteran Paul Manning will gladly take the opportunity to recover from last night’s record-breaking feat and then re-focus in time for August, where the prospect of gold beckons in Beijing.
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