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Report courtesy of Andy Lee
@ USA Cycling. Hammer repeats as world
champion in individual pursuit
Palma de Mallorca, Spain (March
30, 2007)—Sarah Hammer (Temecula, Calif./Ouch Pro Cycling)
successfully defended her world title in the women’s
three-kilometer individual pursuit Friday at the 2007 UCI Track
World Championships. Hammer recorded a time of 3:30.213 to lower
her own national record for the third time since January as she
beat Rebecca Romero of Great Britain for the gold medal and
rainbow jersey.
“I couldn’t be happier,”
explained Hammer after her victory. “The first one, of course,
is always special, but I didn’t want to be non-world champion
this year. I mean I lived it out all year, so I didn’t want to
go another 365 days without the rainbow.”
Earlier in the day, Hammer
clocked a then-personal best time of 3:31.359 in the qualifying
round to secure the top seed and a spot in the gold-medal final
for the second consecutive year. The second-seeded Romero
surprised everybody but Hammer with a 3:31.894 in qualifying to
set the stage for an evenly-matched competition for the world
championship.
Remarkably, Hammer posted a
faster time in the final compared to the qualifying round just
hours earlier – a feat that is rarely seen.
“We said that tonight I was
going to throw it all the way down,” said Hammer. “This morning
I threw it down completely too, but was somewhat safe once I
heard my splits and knew where I was at. I knew I was on pace to
make it to the final. But once you’re in the final against one
other person going for that rainbow jersey, you can really kick
it.”
Hammer’s time in the final was
just over three seconds faster than Romero, who clocked a
3:33.409.
Women’s
3-Kilometer Individual Pursuit
1. Sarah
Hammer (Temecula, Calif.) 3:30.213
2. Rebecca Romero (GBR) 3:33.409
3. Katie Mactier (AUS) 3:36.306
4. Wendy Houvenhagel (GBR) 3:37.406
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