Hoy Goes for Gold, Gold, Gold!

Sir Chris Hoy is looking to break a new record at next week’s world track cycling championships in Copenhagen, and exorcise his demons in the process inside the velodrome where last year he experienced his worst ever crash.

The accident during a keirin race at the February world cup meet resulted in a badly-injured hip and his withdrawal from the 2009 world championships in Warsaw, Poland, preventing the chance for the three-time Olympic gold medallist in 2008 to continue his rich vein in form.

One year on, however, and the man who already has nine world titles to his name, as well as six silvers and four bronzes, is looking to become the first man in world championship history to win three golds in one meet in the individual sprint, team sprint and keirin, the races he struck gold three times at the Beijing Olympics.

“Although the French cyclist Arnaud Tournant is the only man to have ever won three world golds in one championship, no-one’s ever done it in the sprint, team sprint and keirin and that’s my goal for Copenhagen,” revealed the 34-year-old Scot, as he prepares for his first major global championships since China two years ago.

“I’ve been training well, I’m happy with my form and I’m confident. There seems to be a high level of expectation on me since Beijing. I get the feeling some see me winning world titles as a formality and I can assure you even winning national titles when you are up against British teammates who are also Olympic medallists is anything but a formality.

“It wouldn’t surprise me if I lose a race or two in Denmark, although I’m not expecting it to happen. If it does I’d be disappointed, of course, but everything from now until 2012 is a stepping stone to the London Olympics. I’d happily lose every race between now and then if it meant winning more gold at the London Games.”

One more title in London would make it five Olympic golds and a silver medal, beating Sir Steve Redgrave’s British Olympic record of five golds and a bronze, although Hoy does not agree that this necessarily makes him the better athlete.

“It would be an amazing accolade to become the most decorated British Olympian, of course it would, and I’d be very proud of the achievement. But you can’t compare eras, let alone different sports. It’s like apples and oranges. The bigger goal for me is to perform in front of a British crowd at the Olympics.”

The changes enforced on Hoy have prolonged his career at the highest level. Having being crowned Olympic kilo champion in 2004 the removal of the event meant he had to find new disciplines to excel in, with staggering results four years’ later in Beijing.

“It’s been a long career,” he admitted, having won his first major championship medal back in 1999. “I never believed it would go on for this length of time. I might have stopped after Beijing if they hadn’t changed my events after 2004, which means I’m still pretty fresh when it comes to the sprints and the keirin.

“Now I realise it did me a favour, and that’s how I see my crash last year, as well. In hindsight, with all the post-Beijing euphoria and functions, I may not have been as well-prepared as I should have been going into the world championships in Poland.

“At the time the crash seemed like the worst thing to happen to me but having ten weeks off brought home how much my sport still means to me, and the hunger I still have for more success.”

But what about the demons on his first return to the Danish capital since the accident? “If there were any demons then it would have been with the keirin rather than the venue,” Hoy explained. “I was a bit apprehensive the first time I raced in a keirin after the crash in France last summer. I was curious to see how I’d cope but it went pretty well.

“If I do think about the crash when I’m on the start line next week at the world championships then I’ll remind myself that Copenhagen is the velodrome when I won my first ever world titles in 2002, and also where I qualified for the 2008 Olympics keirin, so although I may have crashed there, I have also experienced great success. I’ll just make sure I’ll lean towards the positives.”  

Hoy’s goal of three world titles is the same objective for Victoria Pendleton, the Olympic women’s sprint champion who will be looking to defend her 2009 world sprint title, as well as strike gold in the team sprint and keirin, the three events she can now compete in at the London Olympics after the IOC reduced the endurance races in order to accommodate more sprint disciplines.

In a 19-strong team Jason Queally, the 2000 Olympic kilo champion who retired in 2008, makes a surprise return at 40 in the men’s team pursuit, Olympic team sprint champion and individual sprint silver medallist Jason Kenny will be expected to be among the medals, and the trio of Lizzie Armitstead, Wendy Houvenaghel and Joanna Rowsell will hope to defend their world team pursuit title.