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Great Britain took 17 junior athletes to the 2006 championships and five of them were women. Two of these, Anna Blythe and Lizzie Armistead, had won silver medals last year and were looking to go one better this year and bring home a jersey with the coveted rainbow stripes.
Day 1: 500m TT
For the women, the championships opened on the track with the 500m TT. GB had two riders, Anna Blythe and Lucy Ayres, among the start list of 24.
Both riders put in good efforts to ride under 37 seconds, but were just off the pace of the French girl, Claire Sandie, who rode a 35.223 to go one better than her European Silver and take the world title.
Result:
Gold: Sandie Clair (France) 0.35.223
Silver: Lubov Shulyka (Ukraine) 0.35.367
Bronze: Kaarle Mcculloch (Australia) 0.35.763
5. Anna Blyth (Great Britain) 0.36.764
9. Lucy Ayres (Great Britain) 0.36.995
Day 2: Women’s points
On day two the sprinters took a day off and Lizzie Armistead stepped up to ride the points race. Lizzie took silver last year and has developed significantly as a rider in the last year, taking a senior national title at the circuit championships this year.
Sadly it was not to be her day. Despite repeated attempts to get in the points, she was overhauled on the line and in the end had to settle for 15th place, in a race won by Denmark’s Mie Lacota.
Result:
Gold: Mie Bekker Lacota (Denmark) 17 pts
Silver: Elikse van Hage (Netherlands) 13
Bronze: Evgeniya Romanyuta (Russian Federation) 13
15 Elizabeth Armistead (Great Britain)
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Days 3 + 4: Women’s Sprint
There were 25 starters in the sprint competition, with the first 24 going through from the qualification round (a flying 200 m TT) to the first sprint rounds. Both of the female GB sprinters qualified well.
Result (qualification):
1 Lubov Shulyka (Ukraine) 0.11.428
2 Anna Blyth (Great Britain) 0.11.871
3 Vriginie Cueff (France) 0.11.911
8 Lucy Ayres (Great Britain) 0.12.214
Typically the higher up the rankings a rider qualifies, the easier the early rounds will be for them and that was certainly the case for Anna, who cruised easily through the early rounds of sudden death heats.
However, it was not the same for Lucy, who in the first round came up against a rider who should have been an easy match for her, but Lucy was disqualified for a riding infringement– a decision that could not be revoked.
Anna continued through the competition riding strongly. The 1/16 and 1/8 rounds were both sudden death and Anna cleanly disposed of her opponents. In the 1/4 finals, it was the best of three rounds, but Anna needed only two to dispose of Kiwi, Malinda Maclean and again in the semi’s versus Kaarle Mcculloch of Australia, where she secured her place in the major final.
In the gold medal ride off, both riders came to the match without dropping a point, but it was Lubov Shulyka from the Ukraine who was the strongest and Anna had to settle for Silver.
Results:
Gold: Lubov Shulyka (Ukraine)
Silver: Anna Blyth (Great Britain)
Bronze: Sandie Clair (France)
Day 3: Pursuit
Great Britain had hoped to have two women riding, but Lizzie Armistead did not start due to illness, which left Jo Rowsell, in her first world championships, as our only contender. Jo rode the 2,000 m distance in 2:32:410 to qualify 11th.
Results:
Gold: Lesya Kalitovska (Ukraine) 2.26.193
Silver: Lauren Marie Ellis (New Zealand) 2.30.545
Bronze: Peta Mullens (Australia) 2.28.214
Day 4: Scratch and Keirin
Scratch: Lizzie went into the event wanting to put the disappointment of the points race behind her and hoping for a medal. She took silver last year and with the additional experience it was a realistic aspiration, but despite this finshed just out of the medals in 4th.
1 Elise van Hage (Netherlands)
2 Evgeniya Romanyuta (Russia)
3 Tess Downing (Australia)
4 Elizabeth Armistead (Great Britain)
Keirin: this was the event when Anna Blythe struck Gold and became a Junior World Champion. Looking at the result it would be easy to think it had been a simple task. Far from it though, Anna had to fight her way through the repecharge to make the final after she was fouled by a rider who was later disqualified during her heat. In the final she took the race to them, riding on the front and more importantly, staying there over the line to win.
Result:
Gold: Anna Blyth (Great Britain)
Silver: Anastasia Rozhkova (Russia)
Bronze: Charlene Delev (Germany)
Road Time Trial
Of the women, just Jo Rowsell entered this event. Conditions were far from perfect and the course was very technical, but Jo rode to finish 9th overall. A top 10 position at this level bodes well for the future for Jo.
Result:
Gold: Rebecca Spence (New Zealand) 18.53
Silver: L Kalotovska (Ukraine) 19.15
Bronze: M Lacota (Denmark) 19.31
9. Jo Rowsell (Great Britain) 19.50
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Road Race
Great Britain entered three juniors for this event. Lizzie Armistead was the only one with the experience of having ridden this event before. Jo Rowsell has some recent international road racing (at the European championships) but for Lara Wann this was the very first time she had worn the GB kit.
83 riders took to the line for the race which was held over 68 km on a tough circuit and this, combined with repeated attacks and a number of crashes, broke the bunch up. Lara was the first to feel the pressure and was dropped off the main bunch to ride with a chasing group. Jo fought to stay with the lead riders and, as anyone who has ridden with her will know, the course and pace must have been relentless to cause her problems. This combined with a technical and she just could not get back to the bunch.
That left hopes of a top finish with Lizzie Armistead, who stayed with the leaders all the way to the end but was unable to find the best line for the sprint and finished 12th – a great result for her and one which means that she ends the championships on a high.
Result:
Gold: Rasa Leleivyte (Lithuania) 2.01.16 (33.64 km/h)
Silver: Marina Romoli (Italy) @ same time
Bronze: Eleonora Patuzzo (Italy) @ same time
12 Elizabeth Armistead (Great Britain) @ same time
64 Joanna Rowsell (Great Britain) @ 9.37
75 Lara Wann (Great Britain) @ 18.03
