NZ's van Velthooven makes Keirin quarterfinal

Manawatu sprinter Simon van Velthooven continued his strong form to push through to the quarterfinals of the keirin at the UCI World Cup in London yesterday.

van Velthooven dominated his opening heat, moving into the lead and covering all challengers as he moved through to tonight’s semifinals (local time).

Fellow sprinter Natasha Hansen qualified seventh fastest in the women’s sprints in 11.282, just 0.3s behind Olympic champion and top qualifier Anna Meares (Australia).

The Southland-based sprinter lost her round of eight clash against Australian Kaarle McCulloch, with a photo finish needed to separate the pair after Hansen attacked around the final bend and was a blink away from rolling over her opponent.

She lost to Spain’s Clara Sanchez in the B quarterfinal.

Commonwealth Games gold medallist Alison Shanks was second fastest in the women’s 3000m individual pursuit, clocking 3:33.578 in her qualifying ride to be 0.8sec behind Great Britain’s Joanna Rowsell and will ride off tonight for the gold medal.

In the omnium battles, Timaru’s Shane Archbold was 11th fastest in the individual pursuit in 4:32.769 to remain in 10th place overall with two events remaining. Compatriot Joanne Kiesanowski was 15th in the 250m flying lap in 14.932s and 19th in the points race.

The World Cup finishes tonight at the London Olympic Velodrome.