O'Shea finishes fifth

Joel Peterson | Bendigo Weekly | 04-Aug-2012

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Glenn O’Shea in the 4km pursuit. PIC: Getty Images.
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BENDIGO cyclist Glenn O’Shea has finished in fifth position in the men’s omnium at the London Olympics. 

O’Shea, who won the omnium world championship in Melbourne in April, was in the gold medal position after four races of the six-event omnium, in which the lowest points tally wins.

O’Shea sat in third position after the events of the competition’s opening day after the 23-year-old finished third in both the 250m flying lap to open proceedings and the elimination race, with an eighth placed finish in the points race in between.

Another third place finish for the boy from Eaglehawk in the 4km individual pursuit saw him lead the eighteen-man field by two points heading into the 60 lap points race.

The points race proved to be his downfall however, as he was attacked from the outset and finished a lap down in 14th position to sit sixth, six points behind the gold medal position.

Facing a mammoth task going into the 1km individual time trial on 31 points, O’Shea had to close a six-point gap on the riders tied for the lead in Bryan Coquard of France, Lasse Norman Hansen of Denmark and Italian Elia Viliani.

O’Shea put in a spirited performance but after a heavy schedule – including taking silver in the men’s team pursuit – couldn’t close the gap, his personal best time of 1min 02.513sec only enough to move him up one place to fifth, on 36 points.

In a thrilling final event, 20-year-old Hansen started out slow – sitting 11th after the first lap – but used his elite pursuit skills to come home strong and take gold on 27 points, from Coquard and Great Britain's Ed Clancy.

O’Shea, a two-time Bendigo International Madison winner, now resides in Adelaide and is coached by former Bendigo cyclist Tim Decker. 

Decker is widely attributed with resurrecting O’Shea’s career over the past couple of years, after injury and illness threatened to bring a premature end to the career of the world champion and olympic silver medallist. 


EARLIER


Bendigo cyclist Glenn O'Shea has won a silver medal overnight in the Men's Team Pursuit at the London Olympics. 

O'Shea and teammates Jack Bobridge, Rohan Dennis and Micahel Hepburn were defeated by the Great Britain lineup of Geraint Thomas, Ed Clancy, Peter Kennaugh and Steven burke, who set a new world record of 3min 51.659sec. 

The British team eclipsed their own world mark set at the UCI Track World Championships held earlier this year in Melbourne, and became the first team in history to cover the 4km distance in less than 3min 52sec.

The Aussies finished nearly three seconds behind in a time of 3:54.581. 

O'Shea will have another chance to win gold on the track tonight, when the first of six Men's Omnium events gets underway at 10.30pm (AEST). 

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