Day four was a must-see with a full roster of finals including: Women’s 500m Time Trial, Women’s Points Race, Women’s Individual Pursuit, Men’s Omnium, and Men’s Sprint.
In the Women’s 500m Time Trial, Team USA’s Emily Hayes (Rock Hill, S.C.) and Keely Ainslie (Fullerton, Calif.) closed out the morning session both advancing to the final in the third and fourth qualifying positions. Returning for an explosive start to the evening session, Hayes would take the bronze medal with a time of 34.923. Jessica Salazar Valles of Team Mexico, and World Record holder in this event, claimed the silver. Martha Bayona Pineda of Team Colombia won the gold.
Team USA’s Jennifer Valente (San Diego; TWENTY24 Pro Cycling) claimed her fourth gold of the week with a spectacular showing in the Women’s Points Race where she gained three laps and took three Sprints to finish with a total of 79 points.
Coming off Thursday’s victory in the Women’s Team Pursuit, Emily Ehrlich (Greenville, S.C.; TWENTY24 Pro Cycling) and Olivia Cummins (Fort Collins, Colo.; DNA Cycling) rocketed through the Women’s Individual Pursuit Qualifying, clocking the first- and third-fastest times to advance to the Final. Cummins battled against Ngaire Barraclough of Team Canada to win the bronze medal with a time of 3:34.891. Ehrlich went up against Aranza Villalon Sanchez of Team Chile in a powerfully paced pursuit where she won the gold medal with a time of 3:31.689.
Colby Lange (Edwards, Colo.) represented Team USA in the Men’s Omnium and went into the evening session in second place. During the morning session, Lange finished fourth in the Scratch Race and rode a beautifully paced Tempo Race where he won eight sprints and gained a lap. It ultimately came down to the last few laps of the final Points Race event where Juan Esteban Arango Carvajal of Team Colombia claimed the silver by just one point over Ricardo Peña Salas of Team Mexico who took the bronze. Chris Ernst of Team Canada would win the gold.
The Men’s Sprint Quarter-Final, Semi-Final, and Final continued to bring the heat all day long. In the Final, Santiago Ramirez Morales of Team Colombia and Jaïr Tjon En Fa of Team Suriname battled for bronze. Ramirez Morales would take it by 0.467 in the decider race. Nicholas Paul of Team Trinidad & Tobago would win the gold in a truly stunning Ride 2 photo finish against Cristian David Ortega Fontalvo of Team Colombia who took the silver.
Full results for day four, along with the schedule and live timing for day five, can be found here.
Photo: Craig Huffman
