Chinese riders win gold at UCI Track Cycling World Cup

World
Europe

China's cycling pair Zhong Tianshi and Lin Junhong bagged gold at the women's team sprint event at the Track Cycling World Cup in London on Friday.

They clocked a time of 32.771 seconds in the final, surpassing their record of 33.118 seconds at the Asian Games in Indonesia.

The German team came second, while their Dutch competitors ranked third.

Zhong, 27, was also first in the team sprint event in the 2015 Track Cycling World Championships with her ex-partner Gong Jinjie. The duo continued their victory march at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games and even set a record of 31.928 seconds in the qualification stage.

Lin, also 27, won gold at the 2009 Track Cycling World Cup in Melbourne. Her latest win was in April at the Track Cycling Asian Championships.

China's gold medalists Zhong Tianshi (L) and Lin Junhong celebrate during the awards ceremony for the women's track cycling team sprint at Asian Games in Jakarta, Indonesia, August 27, 2018. /VCG Photo

The London-based competition runs from December 14 to 16 at the Lee Valley VeloPark. It is the fourth event of a six-stage series organized by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), the governing body of world cycling events.

The previous events were held in France, Canada and Germany, and the next two stops will be in January next year in New Zealand and Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. Riders can earn qualifying points for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games through competing in the UCI matches.

Another highlight at the UCI London stop was the para-cycling events, which were featured for the first time. Alyda Norbruis of the Netherlands clinched gold at the C1-3 500m time trial final.

British riders triumphed at the para-events as well.

Kadeena Cox got past fellow Sarah Storey, who was the 2016 Rio Paralympic gold medalist, to win gold in the women's para C4-5 500m time trial. On the men's side, Jody Cundy continued his dominance in the C4-5 1km event. In the men's team sprint event, British trio, including Cundy, won the gold medal at the para-cycling event.