December 17/06 – Gina Grain (Victoria, BC) placed eight in the women's scratch race early on Sunday afternoon at the Krylatskoye velodrome, further winning World Cup points for Canada at the Moscow UCI Track World Cup # 2.

2006 World Scratch Race Vice-Champion Gina Grain (BC) finished eighth amongst a massive field of 27 starters in the scratch race today. It came out to a mass sprint as nobody gained a lap and the race was eventually won by known sprinter Annalisa Cucinotta, who was a keirin medallist for Italy at this year's Europeans. Lesya Kalitovska (UKR) earned the silver medal and Yoanka Gonzalez Perez (CUB) the bronze.

Also, yesterday evening (Saturday) Theo Bos broke Curt Harnett's 11-year long standing World Record (set in Bogota, Colombia, in 1995) for the 200m flying start. Having narrowly failing to break Harnett's mark of 9.865s in sprint qualifying, the Dutchman made a second, out of competition, attempt in which he set a new best of 9.772s.

"I am not surprised to learn that it was Theo who broke the record," said Curt Harnett to the Canadian Cycling Association in an interview from Europe today (Sunday). "I told Theo in Athens (in 2004) that I thought that he would be the one to break it. That kid is fast!

After a while, you forget about these things (to hold a world record), so to me it is more like getting woken up from a deep sleep. It was nice to hold it for so long but it was also a long time ago! It was a fun thing to have, but as the old saying goes - to some effect - records are made to be broken!

I am also NOT surprised to learn that it was broken in Moscow. It is a large (333 m), fast track that is suited for high speed," added the Mississauga, Ontario resident, explaining that he never did get to race in Moscow himself.

Moscow World Cup report, special contribution: Mat Booth, www.trackcycling.info (visit this website for more detailed reports)

For more reports on the Moscow Track World Cup:
Canadian Cyclist
Pedal Mag

Full official results available here

2006-2007 Track Cycling World Cup photos available on the UCI website (direct link to the photo gallery)