The proximity of the Olympics has been significant, with many leading cyclists deciding not to take part. Among them was Belarus’ top sprint athlete Olga Panarina, who chose to prepare for the forthcoming Games instead. Last year, the Belarusian team captured two golds and one silver but, this time, had to be content with mere participation — lacking their leading star. Former world champion Alexander Lisovsky finished 18th in the scratch, while the Belarusian trio of Tatiana Sharakova, Oksana Popko and Alena Dylko covered 3km in 3 minutes and 22.509 seconds in the team pursuit race — setting a new Belarusian record. However, their achievement failed to place them higher than 6th place overall. The UK team set a world record of 3 minutes and 15.72 seconds, becoming champions. The point race was difficult for Tatiana Sharakova, despite taking her first world championship gold in this discipline last year, and leading in Melbourne after the third intermediary round. However, she ended by being placed 9th.
The remaining events brought no joy to Belarusian athletes as well, with Tatiana Sharakova finishing 13th in the omnium and Maria Logvinova coming 21st in the time trial.
On the eve of the Melbourne event, a traditional presentation of the next tournament took place. Minsk is to welcome the globe’s top cyclists next year, with our squad intent on proving their true worth on Minsk-Arena track, following failure in Australia.
