U.S. women earn two golds at Track World Cup in California

The United States grabbed a pair of gold medals in women’s track cycling at the UCI World Cup Los Angeles over the weekend.

Chloe Dygert capped the weekend in record fashion by winning Sunday’s individual pursuit in a track record time of 3:28.431. The race also marked Dygert’s debut in the individual race against the clock.

“Coming here, I had no idea what to expect,” Dygert said at the VELO Sports Center at StubHub Center, situated on the campus of California State University Dominguez Hills in Carson, California.

“I had done some training in the event, and it was really great to have Sarah [Hammer] here as the race is kind of her specialty — she helped me nail in what I should be doing in order to get a fast time. I couldn’t have done it without her help.”

Also grabbing gold for the U.S. women was the team pursuit squad on Saturday. Kelly Catlin, Dygert, Kimberly Geist, and Jennifer Valente put up a time of 4:19.990 in the final round.

As the reigning world champions, the Americans were the favorite entering the nighttime finals and they delivered with a win over New Zealand.

“Two things are really special about this,” Valente said. “Number one, it’s the only opportunity we will have to race in the world championship stripes, which is something that is special for anybody. Then, being at a home World Cup is incredible.”

Last summer, the U.S. women’s team pursuit squad won the silver medal at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics behind Great Britain.

The three-day event was the fourth and final World Cup on the UCI calendar. The next stop on the track circuit are the world championships, to be held in Hong Kong April 12-16.

Women’s results

Sprint
1. Kristina Vogel, Germany
2. Liubov Basova, Ukraine
3. Anastasia Voynova, Russia

Scratch
1. Tetyana Klimchenko, Ukraine
2. Jasmin Duehring, Canada
3. Elinor Barker, Great Britain

3km Individual Pursuit
1. Chloe Dygert, United States
2. Ashlee Ankudinoff, Australia
3. Jaime Nielsen, New Zealand

Madison
1. Australia: Amy Cure, Alexandra Manly
2. New Zealand: Michaela Drummond, Racquel Sheath
3. Italy: Rachele Barbieri, Maria Giulia Confalonieri

Team Sprint
1. Gazprom-RusVelo: Daria Shmeleva, Anastasia Voynova
2. Canada: Kate O’Brien, Amelia Walsh
3. South Korea: Won Gyeong Kim, Hyejin Lee

Team Pursuit
1. United States: Kelly Catlin, Chloe Dygert, Kimberly Geist, Jennifer Valente
2. New Zealand: Rushlee Buchanan, Michaela Drummond, Jaime Nielsen, Racquel Sheath
3. Canada: Laura Brown, Jasmin Duehring, Annie Foreman-Mackey, Kirsti Lay, Stephanie Roorda

Keirin
1. Kristina Vogel, Germany
2. Martha Bayona Pineda, Colombia
3. Natasha Hansen, New Zealand

Men’s results

Team Sprint
1. New Zealand: Eddie Dawkins, Ethan Mitchell, Sam Webster
2. Germany: Erik Balzer, Eric Engler, Max Niederlag
3. Poland: Maciej Bielecki, Krzysztof Maksel, Mateusz Rudyk

Scratch
1. Yauheni Karaliok, Belarus
2. Thomas Denis, France
3. Tom Seton, New Zealand

Omnium
1. Szymon Wojciech Sajnok, Poland
2. Campbell Stewart, New Zealand
3. Sanghoon Park, South Korea

Keirin
1. Fabian Hernando Puerta Zapata, Colombia
2. Hugo Barrette, Canada
3. Muhammad Shah Firdaus Sahrom, Malaysia

Madison
1. Ireland: Felix English, Mark Downey
2. Denmark: Julius Johansen, Casper Pedersen
3. New Zealand: Campbell Stewart, Tom Sexton

Sprint
1. Denis Dmitriev, Russia
2. Max Niederlag, Germany
3. Sam Webster, New Zealand