World track cycling champion Taylor Phinney may not test his mettle on the Olympic stage if the International Olympic Committee decides to eliminate the 4,000- meter pursuit in today’s meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland.
The IOC is pursuing more gender equity in track cycling and may add women’s team pursuit and the omnium, multievent competition. A men’s omnium, in which the Boulder native likely would excel, may also be added. But Phinney’s specialty is the individual pursuit, and USA Cycling doesn’t know which way the IOC is leaning.
“At this point, I wouldn’t be surprised at either outcome, whether they eliminate it or keep it,” said Steve Johnson, USA Cycling’s chief executive officer.
Johnson said USA Cycling coaches have lobbied to keep the event, and a petition with 4,408 signatures was sent to the IOC. However, it’s doubtful the IOC will be influenced by outside sources.
“There’s some concern that some of the traditional track events aren’t that interesting to noncycling observers,” Johnson said.
While Phinney is world pursuit champion, he would go up against Great Britain’s Bradley Wiggins. A road racer for Boulder-based Garmin-Transitions, Wiggins won the individual pursuit gold medal in Beijing, where Phinney finished seventh, and wants to defend his crown in front of his home fans at the 2012 Games in London.
“It’ll be a huge, huge battle,” Phinney, 19, said from Tucson, where he’s at a training camp with his Astana road racing team. “There are so many guys going so fast right now. With me on the rise and him possibly doing better at the Tour than he did this year, it’ll really be a big bummer and a letdown for the true fans of the sport. It won’t be like Beijing, where he dominated. It’ll be close.”
If the pursuit is eliminated, Phinney could compete in the omnium or the team pursuit, for which the U.S. men didn’t qualify in Beijing. The omnium combines the performances in a 3-kilometer pursuit, a 200-meter sprint, a criterium and a points race.
“I think omnium events are something all endurance athletes would be interested in,” Johnson said.
