Mactier claims gold as guys disappoint

Katie Mactier has won Australia’s seventh gold medal of the track cycling meet at the Commonwealth Games in the individual pursuit at Vodafone Arena tonight.

But the Aussie men disappointed, with Ryan Bayley, Shane Kelly and Shane Perkins taking silver in the team sprint and Ashley Hutchinson taking silver for Australia in the men’s scratch race.

Mactier, who is the world champion in this event, broke the Commonwealth Games record in her heat to qualify fastest and face fellow Australian Kate Bates in the final.

The favourite led Bates for all but one lap of the pursuit, and by the end Mactier claimed victory by over a second.

Bates will be happy with her efforts this campaign, however, as she comes away from the Games with a gold medal from the points race on Friday night and a silver from tonight’s event.

Scotland won gold over rivals England in the team sprint, with Australia knocking off New Zealand from bronze.

Despite being seen as favourite for the team sprint, Ryan Bayley said that the team was happy with the result.

“We came into this ride with an untested team – we’ve only ridden once together. We have probably trained a hell of a lot together, but it’s a very untested team.

“Shane Perkins came out with a beautiful lap in the first ride – actually, both rides – and we had a pretty good race. Our splits were pretty even with everybody elses, they weren’t very far off, we were just a little bit underdone.”

Bayley later admitted that his program and lack of sleep might have taken its toll in tonight’s event.

“I was going pretty quick, but I know that having six hours’ sleep in the past two nights hasn’t really helped me at all," he said. "I know I was a little bit tight coming into it (the team sprint), and I could see that my legs probably weren’t as good in the first few rides.”

In the final event of the meet, Mark Cavendish won the Isle Of Man’s first gold of the Games – and only the third in their 48-year Games history – in the men’s scratch race.

Cavendish completed the 80 laps in just over 23 minutes, with Australia’s Hutchinson clinching silver and James McCallum rounding out an excellent meet for Scotland by taking bronze.

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