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

Men's individual pursuit
at the Games of the XXIX Olympiad
VenueLaoshan Velodrome
DatesAugust 15 (opening rounds)
August 16 (final)
Competitors18 from 11 nations
Winning time4:15.977
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Bradley Wiggins  Great Britain
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Hayden Roulston  New Zealand
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Steven Burke  Great Britain
← 2004
Cycling at the
2008 Summer Olympics
Road cycling
Road racemenwomen
Time trialmenwomen
Track cycling
Individual pursuitmenwomen
Team pursuitmen
Sprintmenwomen
Team sprintmen
Points racemenwomen
Keirinmen
Madisonmen
Mountain biking
Cross-countrymenwomen
BMX
BMXmenwomen

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)

Date Time Round
Friday, 15 August 2008 16:55 Qualification
Saturday, 16 August 2008 16:30 Match round
Saturday, 16 August 2008 18:50 Final

Results

Qualification

[2]

Rank Heat Cyclist Nation Result Notes
1 9 Bradley Wiggins  Great Britain 4:15.031 Q, OR
2 8 Hayden Roulston  New Zealand 4:18.990 Q
3 9 Alexei Markov  Russia 4:21.498 Q
4 6 Volodymyr Dyudya  Ukraine 4:21.530 Q
5 2 Steven Burke  Great Britain 4:22.260 Q
6 3 Antonio Tauler  Spain 4:22.462 Q
7 6 Taylor Phinney  United States 4:22.860 Q
8 5 Alexander Serov  Russia 4:23.732 Q
9 7 Bradley McGee  Australia 4:26.084
10 5 Sergi Escobar  Spain 4:26.102
11 7 David O'Loughlin  Ireland 4:26.102
12 1 Brett Lancaster  Australia 4:26.139
13 3 Jens Mouris  Netherlands 4:27.445
14 4 Vitaliy Popkov  Ukraine 4:30.321
15 1 Fabien Sanchez  France 4:33.100
16 2 Carlos Alzate  Colombia 4:35.154
17 4 Alexandr Pliuschin  Moldova 4:35.438
18 8 Jenning Huizenga  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]

Rank Heat Cyclist Nation Result Notes
1 4 Bradley Wiggins  Great Britain 4:16.571 Q
2 3 Hayden Roulston  New Zealand 4:19.232 Q
3 1 Steven Burke  Great Britain 4:21.558 q
4 2 Alexei Markov  Russia 4:22.308 q
5 1 Volodymyr Dyudya  Ukraine 4:22.471
6 2 Antonio Tauler  Spain 4:24.974
7 4 Alexander Serov  Russia 4:25.391
8 3 Taylor Phinney  United States 4:26.644

Medal round

Bronze medal match[4]
Rank Cyclist Nation Result Notes
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Steven Burke  Great Britain 4:20.947
4 Alexei Markov  Russia 4:24.149
Gold medal match[4]
Rank Cyclist Nation Result Notes
1st place, gold medalist(s) Bradley Wiggins  Great Britain 4:16.977
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Hayden Roulston  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. ^ a b "Beijing 2008: Cycling - Men's Individual Pursuit Finals" (PDF). Beijing 2008. LA84 Foundation. 15 August 2008. p. 1309. Retrieved 14 October 2013.