Women

Men

Who's going to be the dominant sprint lady of the 2009 World Championships? Since the RadSprint crystal bowl budget was slashed, we look at the past year and show all the key performances on one page.

But let's start with the historical facts and look at some numbers from the past year.

The big questions for the men's competition are:
Will Chris Hoy be recovered from his crash in Copenhagen in time for worlds?
Who will represent the UK?
Who can break through the phalanx of British and French racers?

But let's also start with a recap of the results the 2008 World Championships and the Olympic Games.

2008 World Championships, Manchester

2008 Olympic Games, Beijing

Sprint Keirin finalists and top 200m qualifiers.

2008/09 World Cup Series

Since the attendance of the various world cups was very selective we focused on times rather than the final places. Here's a table which summarizes the times of some of the top contenders.

The world cup series seemed to be mostly a proving ground for younger riders and doesn't say too much about who are the strongest contenders for Worlds.

Team discussion

On thing is for sure, it's not going to be boring. There's a broad international field of women who can make their way to the podium in Pruszkow. Let's discuss the teams and sprinters one by one.

UK

Victoria Pendleton has the strongest track record of all as the reigning sprint world champion and Olympic gold winner. After the first world cup in Manchester she disappeared for a couple of month, but returned with very fast times at Revolution 23 and the Copenhagen World Cup. Copenhagen, however, also showed that Victoria is beatable, she only finished 6th in the Keirin final and 5th in the 500m with 3 tenth behind winning Lisandra.

Victoria is RadSprint's top favourite for the sprint and a very strong contender the individual disciplines.

We will have to see who is going to join Victoria in Pruszkow, most likely Anna Blyth. We haven't heard much of Shanaze Reade after the Olympic Games. Defending the team sprint title will be tough.

Lithuania

Simona Krupeckaite is Lithuania, and she's the strongest overall contender in RadSprint's books. She had two very strong World Cup showings and has the speed as well as the experience for match sprint and keirin. We were most impressed with her 500m times of 33.681 (in Cali). Nobody comes even close to this right now, everybody else comes in above the 34 sec barrier.

Cuba

Lisandra Guerra Rodriguez is for Cuba what Simona is for Lithuana - a one woman medal machine. The defending 500m world champion had a good world cup season. RadSprint is expecting a showdown between her, Simona and a handful of other racers over the 500m.

China

All three of the Chinese woman Shuang Guo, Lulu Zheng and Jinjie Gong have the speed to make it on to the podium. The Chinese women are the top contender for the team sprint as far as RadSprint is concerned.

Australia

Anna Meares took a few month off between the Olympic Games and the end of 2008. At the Australian national championships, she was still relatively slow (11.5) but by Copenhagen she had already improved quite a bid (34.287). We will see if she can build up to a full peak for Pruszkow. One of the strongest contenders for the 500m and the team sprint, with Kaarle McCulloch who had a very strong season so far.

USA

RadSprint is currently trying to find out what Jennie Reed has been up to.

Netherlands

Willy Kanis missed the podium narrowly at 2008 Worlds and the Olympic Games. We expect a highly motivated Willy in Pruszkow. Together with partner Yvonne Hijgenaar we expect her on the team sprint podium.

France

Both Sandie Clair and Clara Sanchez could be good for a medal. The two also make one of the strongest team sprint pairs.

Germany

Germany will represented by Miriam Welte and Kristina Vogel (Christin Muche and Dana Gloess are still out due to injuries and Jane Gerish ended her promising career). Germany won the team sprint world cup, and we expect them to put up a strong fight for podium.

Ukraine

Lyubov Shulika won the world cup, but more through consistent attending (she competed in 4 of the 5 world cups while most other top riders participated only in two). However, she improved her 200m time in Copenhagen and won Bronze in a strong field. If she can still improve towards Pruszkow, she will be a force to reckon with.

Other

Italia's Elisa Frisoni and Malaysia's Fatehah are quite capable for a surprise in Keirin.

Team Discussion

The dominating teams are coming from the UK and France. For everybody else it will be a challenge to break through their barriers set up by these teams.

UK

It's not yet clear who will be representing the UK in Pruszkow. Chris Hoy is still having trouble with his hip after the crash in Denmark. But with or without Sir Chris, the Brits will have a super strong team.

France

The retirement of multiple World and Olympic champion and kilo world record holder Arnaud Tournant doesn't weaken the French team. The next generation is coming up very strongly, the latest addition to the team is 6x Junior World Champion Quentin Lafargue. The detailed team set-up is:
Individual sprint: Grégory Baugé, Mickaël Bourgain, Michael d'Almeida, Kévin Sireau
Team Sprint: Grégory Baugé, Kévin Sireau, Michael d'Almeida with reserve rider Mickaël Bourgain
Kilometer: Michael d'Almeida, Quentin Lafargue, François Pervis
Keirin: François Pervis, Kévin Sireau

Australia

The Aussie team, starting with Jason Niblett, Shane Perkins, and Scott Sunderland, looks pretty strong. Shane had a very good season and we would not be surprised to see him on the podium. The three will also be fighting for bronze in the team sprint

Netherlands

Theo Bos' decision to try his hand in road sprinting leaves a deep hole in the Dutch team. Ten Mulder of course will be good for a medal in any event he competes in. But defending the bronze medal in the team sprint will be tough. The next generation of Dutch riders may need a year or two to come up to speed.

Malaysia

Watch out for the tigers: the Malayans have strong contenders for the Keirin and the Kilo with Azizulhasni Awang and Rizal Tisin, respectively. Together with Joshia Ng, they also have a chance to muscle their way onto the team sprint podium.

Germany

Germany put together a very balanced team for Pruszkow. The line-up is: Maximilian Levy, Michael Seidenbecher, Rene Enders, Carsten Bergemann, Stefan Nimke and Robert Förstemann. They will be a stronge force in the team sprint and Max Levy and Stefan Nimke have the potential to make it onto the podium.

Other

Italy's Roberto Chiappa Japan's Kazunari Watanabe, Poland's Lukasz Kwiatowski and Greek's Christos Volikakis are always to be taken seriously.

Ukraine's Andriy Vynokurov crashed with Chris Hoy in the Keirin final in Copenhagen. We hope he will be well recovered and in good shape for worlds.

Young pursuiter Taylor Phinney is probably the most exciting addition to the group of sprinters. He's the reigning US Kilo champion and he also won the Kilo competition in Copenhagen with 1:01.641 (right after he smashed the competition in the pursuit).

China's Lei Zhang showed with his top 200m qualifying time of 10.173 and his sprint silver medal his potential. Let's see what he can do in Pruszkow.