Nearly 260 riders gather in Minsk for UCI Track Cycling World Championships

MINSK, 20 February (BelTA) – The Minsk Arena velodrome will open its doors for the 2013 UCI World Track Cycling Championships on 20 February. Partaking in the events will be nearly 260 riders from 35 countries, BelTA has learnt.

This is the first time Belarus is hosting the world championships in Olympic sport. It will be the first track cycling world championships of the new Olympic cycle. Many teams will include new promising talents hopeful of the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

UK’s squad for this week’s event in Minsk will have several new names. The country dominated at the 2012 London Games winning seven out of ten gold medals. The UK team will do without two-time Olympic champion (2008, 2012) Victoria Pendleton who retired from sports and 36-year-old six-time Olympic champion Sir Chris Hoy who has put his sports career on hold but yet considering participation at the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

Young aspiring riders will make up UK’s squad in Minsk among whom are the 2012 Olympic champions Jason Kenny, Phil Hindes, Laura Trott and Dani King.

Although lacking two-time Olympic champion Anna Meares, the traditionally strong Team Australia are considered strong gold medal hopefuls.

China’s representatives Suang Guo and Jinjie Gong (two silver and one bronze medals at the 2012 London Games) look pretty much determined for a gold medal run.

Among the favorites are also cyclists from New Zealand, Germany and France.

The biggest team is coming from Russia, 31 athletes, almost twice as large as the UK and Australia (16).

Belarus will be presented by 11 riders. Oksana Popko, Elena Dylko, Olga Masyukovich and Anna Gulik will compete in six women’s events: team pursuit, scratch, points race, omnium, print and keirin. 2008 World Champion Alexander Lisovsky, Oleg Agiyevich, Evgeny Shamsonov, Roman Romanov, Andrei Snitko, Roman Tishkov, Anton Muzychkin will compete in four men’s disciplines: team pursuit, omnium, scratch and points race.

The leaders of the Belarusian women’s national team will not take part in the world championships. Olga Panarina is receiving treatment at the institute of neurosurgery. Tatiana Sharakova is under the UCI investigation regarding positive doping test at the 2012 European Championships in Lithuanian Panevezys where she claimed the omnium gold and team pursuit bronze together with Oksana Popko and Elena Dylko.

A total of 19 medal events will be held in Minsk (10 in men’s events and 9 in women’s events). Four medal events will be held on the first day of the tournament, 20 February: men’s sprint, women’s individual pursuit, women’s team sprint and men’s team pursuit. The opening ceremony will take place at 18h30 local time. The World Track Cycling Championships will run until 24 February.