3 medals on 3rd day of Junior Track World Champs

Aug 20th, 11. The Kiwi's tally is up to six medals at the UCI World Junior Track Championships in Moscow after the team added three more medals on Day 3.

Waimate teenager Dylan Kennett made a remarkable recovery to grab a bronze medal in the gruelling two-day Omnium, Wanganui's Cassie Camerson won bronze in the Scratch race and Aucklander Stephanie McKenzie earned her second medal of the competition with her silver medal in the Sprint event.

Stephanie McKenzie - Sprint silver

McKenzie earned her second medal of the championships after winning the bronze with Paige Patterson in the team sprint on the opening day.

She dominated home country rider Tamara Balabolina in the semifinal, beating her in two straight rides to move into the final. McKenzie came up against the top ranked Russian Anastasiya Voynova in the gold medal ride. Buoyed with strong local support, the local rider had the edge to win in two straight rides.

It is Mckenzie's third Junior World Championships medal after pairing with Henrietta Mitchell to win silver in the team sprint in Italy last year.

"I definitely felt more confident this year after riding last year," McKenzie said. "I was the last rider off in the qualifying which was good for your confidence too."

The big track, at 333m and massive banking, was built to suit the Russian sprinters for the Moscow Olympics and remains one of the fastest in the world but presents some challenges for riders who usually race on a 250m track.

"It is huge for sure and the banking is quite steep. It was a bit weird because it is just two laps for sprints not three like usual. But the key for me was to watch the others in the races beforehand and see how they rode."

Dylan Kennett - Omnium bronze

Kennett seemed down and out after he got squeezed in an aggressive Elimination race to end the first day of the six-discipline Omnium in a distant 9th place. However he was impressive today to finish 3rd.

"I had to give it everything today. I was pretty disappointed for sure but everyone was so supportive from the rest of the team and coaches to the parents that are here. There was not one negative comment made. It was all mental for me today," he said.

Today Kennett was 2nd in the Individual Pursuit to move up to 5th overall, and then produced a stunning effort to win the Scratch race to move to 3rd overall.

He saved his best until last to win the 1000m Time Trial in a superb 1:04.01 to claim the bronze medal. His time was only 25/100ths of a second slower than the gold medal effort in the individual kilo contest.

"I knew I was the fastest after I won the Flying lap and was 2nd in the Pursuit. I told my parents on the phone last night I would do it."

As a first year junior, Kennett is fired up about next year when the World Championships will be staged at Invercargill.

"I know if I can improve my bunch riding then I can do really well. With the Worlds in Invercargill it will be massive for us and I am sure I will get lots of support there."

Cassie Cameron - Scratch race bronze 

Wanganui's Cassie Cameron, 4th in the women's Team Pursuit yesterday, produced an intelligent display to finish 3rd in the 10km scratch race final.

The Wanganui rider said she had to adjust to the big track.

"Not only is it big, the banking is high and there's lots more room to move around and therefore you are less likely to be boxed in here," Cameron said.

"I don't know why but the bunch spent most of the time riding above the blue line so we were made to do more work. I tried to position myself as low as possible to save energy and keep in touch. I moved up with six laps to go and managed to get into a good position or the final sprint.

"That was really pleasing. There's no way I wanted to come away without a medal after the team pursuit."

Women's Omnium

Alexandra's Sophie Williamson is in 9th place after the first day of the women's Omnium. She was 8th in the Flying Lap, 10th in the Points race and a solid 4th in the Elimination race with Australia's Taylah Jennings well clear after three wins from the three events today.

Day 3 results

Women's sprint

• Gold medal ride: Stephanie McKenzie (NZL) lost to Anastasiya Voynova (RUS) 2-0. 
• Semifinal: Mckenzie beat Tamara Balabolina (RUS) 2-0. Voynova bt Victoria Williamson (GBR) 2-0. 
• Bronze ride: Williamson bt Balabolina 2-0.

Men Omnium, second day

• 3000m individual pursuit: Roman Ivlev (RUS) 3:21:905, 1; Dylan Kennett (NZL) 3:24:434, 2; Caleb Ewan (AUS) 3:24:851, 3.
• Scratch race: Kennett 1, Thomas Boudat (FRA) 2, Takuya Takushi (JPN) 3.
• 1000m time trial: Kennett 1:04.101, 1; Ivlev 1:04.419, 2; Ondrej Rybin (CZE) 1:04.702, 3.
• Overall points: Caleb Ewan (AUS) 24 points, 1; Ivlev 29, 2; Kennett 32, 3.

Women Omnium, first day

• Flying lap: Taylah Jennings (AUS) 12.15, 1; Alina Bondarenko (RUS) 2, Sujeong Jeong (KOR) 3. Also: Sophie Williamson (NZL) 13.081, 8.
• Points race, 20km: Jennings 16 points, 1; Chiara Vannucci (ITA) 11, 2; Bondarenko 7, 3. Also: Williamson, 0 points, 10.
• Elimination: Jennings 1, Bondarenko 2, Vannucci 3, Williamson 4.
• Points after day 1: Jennings 3, 1; Boncarenko 7, 2; Ingrid Drexler (MEX) 16, 3. Also: Williamson 22, 9.

Scratch race, 7.5km

• Jennifer Valente (USA) 1, Georgia Baker (AUS) 2, Cassie Cameron (NZL) 3.