On a golden day for Australia at the 2011 UCI Track World Championships in the Dutch city of Apeldoorn, Michael Freiberg became the latest World Track Cycling Champion with victory in the Men’s Omnium.
Considered one of the most gruelling track events spread across two days and spanning six different disciplines, the Omnium will make its debut at the London Olympics next year.
As the only Australian in the field, on Day 1 Freiberg placed 12th in the flying 250m lap and fifth in both the points and elimination races.
On Day 2 he again placed fifth in the individual pursuit before winning a scorching scratch race that moved him in to first overall with one event remaining.
Freiberg’s main challenger for gold was New Zealand’s Shane Archbold who set the fastest time, a sizzling 1:03.879 in the kilometre time trial, to move to the top of the rankings ,with only Freiberg and Spaniard Eloy Teruel Rovira left to race.
Freiberg knew he needed to finish at least four places ahead of Rovira and no more than eight behind Archbold to win the gold medal.
Despite being 13th fastest and under pressure at the halfway mark, Freiberg dug deep and as Rovira faded, Freiberg fired, grimacing in pain and wobbling over the final fifty metres to cross the line with the sixth fastest kilometre (1:04:729), taking the World Title four points clear of Archbold.
“I had to go out there with everything I had. Those last few laps, I was not seeing much,” an elated Freiberg said afterwards.
“You can’t hold anything back in the omnium. Every event, you’ve got to try and win it because it’s the points that matter.
“The points race is one of the hardest events, and having it at the beginning saps all your energy for the rest of the events.
“Then the elimination, it’s like a battlefield out there. It’s absolutely ridiculous. We averaged 50km/h for 20 minutes, and there’s guys hooking and bumping and everything. It’s one of the tightest races I’ve ever been in. I was within striking distance after the points score. But things didn’t quite go my way in the next two events.
“My pursuit this morning, I was a bit disappointed in that, but it made me dig deep and get my act together.
“The scratch race kind of fell into my hands. I managed to get a lap up (on the field) and that put a bit of distance between me and Shane (Archbold).
“I wanted to do well but to come away with a win in the World Championships in such an incredible field so close to the Olympics is unbelievable.
“This is a really great day for me. Six months ago I could never have imagined myself here.
“I have always just missed out on the national level teams. I have been around the mark but the teams pursuit has been one of the world class teams and to crack into that you have to be one of the fastest in the world.
“There is such a competitive attitude in the team. Every training ride on the road we are fighting for the best and it is always a competition and I have not let that get to me. Luckily for me, this position came up and I was able to seize the opportunity and I love this event now.”
Fellow Australians Anna Meares and Shane Perkins joined Freiberg as World Champions on Day 4 of the Championships with victory in the sprint and keirin respectively.