Glenn O’Shea (R) of Australia leads Elia Vivani of Italy in the Men’s Omnium Tra…? Cameron Spencer/Getty Images CYCLING: Australia had three World Champions out on the track on Night 9- Glenn O’Shea in the omnium and Anna Meares and Shane Perkins in the sprint. Here is how the action unfolded: Omnium race 5 of 6: Scratch race costs O’Shea Australia?s world champion Glenn O?Shea has slumped to sixth overall in the omnium after finishing 14th in the 30km scratch race at the Olympic Velodrome. O?Shea, 25, from Bendigo in central Victoria, was leading the series after four events going into this afternoon?s final two contests, but now trails the leaders by six points. The Victorian was lucky to avoid a crash involving Dutchman Lasse Hansen and Great Britain?s Ed Clancy with 45 laps remaining of the 60-lap race. Hansen clipped Clancy?s back wheel and fell, but had five laps to get back into the race. O?Shea avoided the scrimmage by slipping through underneath, but missed a vital breakaway move involving eight riders which lapped the field. Hansen, to his credit, was the only able to bridge the gap, and also take a lap, which enabled him to snare a share of the lead, with only the 1km time-trial remaining. Hansen now has 25 points overall, and is equal with Italian Elia Viviani and Frenchman Bryan Coquard. German Roger Kluge, who was also in the winning breakaway, is fourth on 28 points, with Clancy fifth, who also missed the breakaway, on 29 and O?Shea sixth on 31. O?Shea now faces a mammoth task to bridge the gap in the final event, for which Clancy is strongly favoured. Clancy finished 10th in the scratch race, but one lap down, with O?Shea four spots behind him. The rider with the least number of points wins the series. In other Australian action Anna Meares cruised through her sprint heats to move into the quarter final, and Shane Perkins took care of American Jimmy Watkins to move into the semi final and will race Frenchman Gregory Bauge. Omnium race 6 of 6: 1km Time Trial Denmark’s Lasse Hansen has won gold in the first Olympic omnium. Hansen finished second in the 1km time trial to finish on 27 points overall, two points clear of Frenchman Bryan Coquard who finished fourth in the time trial but accumulated 29 points for the silver medal. Great Britain’s Edward Clancy won the time trial which was enough to land him the bronze medal on 30 points. Australia’s Glenn O’Shea was third in the time trial but finished equal fifth overall with Italy’s Elia Viviani on 34 points. Germany’s Roger Kluge held on to fourth spot after coming fifth in the time trial. Men’s and women’s sprint: Australia?s Commonwealth Games champion Shane Perkins was untroubled to advance to the semi-finals of the sprint event. Perkins, 25, the third fastest qualifier easily accounted for American rider Jimmy Watkins in straight heats in the quarter final. In the first heat, Perkins came from behind and accelerated away in the straight to win easily in a time of 10.520sec., and in the second he led the American out and duly saluted in 10.263. The other quarter finals also went as expected with Great Britain?s Olympic record holder Jason Kenny accounting for Malaysian Azizulhasni Awang in straight heats, as did Frenchman Gregory Bauge over German Robert Forstermann. Kenny, Bauge and Perkins were the only riders to break 10sec. in qualifying. The fourth heat went to Trinidad?s Njisane Phillip over Russian Denis Dmitriiev. Perkins will now meet Baugue in one semi final and Kenny and Phillip clash in the other, both scheduled for Day 10 of competition tomorrow. In the women?s sprint, Australia?s Anna Meares and arch rival Victoria Pendleton both easily advanced into the quarter finals, also scheduled for tomorrow. Meares will race against Lyubov Shulika of the Ukraine, and Pendleton against Olga Panarina of Belarus. Michael Stevens in London Olympics.com.au
