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Natasha Hansen reached the final of the women’s sprint cycling today with two good rides.

In the qualifying round, the 26-year-old Aucklander qualified seventh with a New Zealand record time of 10.871s. Into the first round proper, she was up against Kate O’Brien of Canada and her time of 11.503s gave her victory by 0.183s.

Hansen was delighted to break the New Zealand record.

“Because of the different shape of this track with sharper corners and longer straights, you have to get the timing right,” she said.

“I knew I has strong legs, so it was good to get that right in the first round.”

Another New Zealander, Liv Podmore, was the first rider away in qualifying.  Her 11.315s effort left her in 23rd place, not good enough to advance. Podmore’s task was made more difficult by her heavy fall in the keirin yesterday.

Dylan Kennett completed the first three events in the men’s omnium today. In the 60-lap scratch race he was 10th, finishing a lap down on the first two riders.

However, an error cost him a much better placing.

Kennett thought he has outsprinted Tour de France star Mark Cavendish for the bunch sprint for fifth. 

But the bell that rang as he and Cavendish went across the line for what they thought was one lap to go was actually for the rider 5m off the back of the bunch. He was one of the riders to go clear earlier in the 15km race, but officials ruled he had not caught the bunch. Therefore he was technically in the lead.

Kennett sat up after the sprint over Cavendish as he cruised for what was deemed the final lap. Instead of finishing fifth, he was awarded 10th, which may prove a costly error.

In the next event, the individual pursuit, Kennett was timed at 4min 20.180s for sixth place. In the final event of the day, the elimination race, Kennett was 17th.

At the end of the first day, with three more events tomorrow, Kennett is in 10th place with 60 points. The leader is Italian Elia Viviani with 104 points.


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