Petersone wins bronze at Pump Track World Championships

Latvian cyclist Vineta Petersone won a bronze medal at the Pump Track World Championships, held on a course in Mentougou, China. Pump Track is a cycling discipline in which riders try to post the fastest lap time on a closed track of bumps and rolling features. The medal is one of the biggest results of the year for Latvian cyclists in any cycling discipline.

Latvia is represented at the championships by two of its leading riders in the discipline, Petersone and Kristaps Veksa. The event takes place on a 250-metre track, with 54 riders in the men's competition and 36 in the women's. The same venue hosted BMX World Cup rounds two weeks earlier.

Qualifying and knockout rounds

In qualifying, Petersone posted 30.299 seconds, good for third place. Switzerland's Nadine Eberhard was fastest, 0.885 seconds ahead of the Latvian. Reaching the quarterfinals required a place in the top 16.

In the top-16 round Petersone was third again, 0.826 seconds behind Sabina Kosarkova of the Czech Republic. In the quarterfinal she set the second-best time, 0.823 seconds behind the same rider.

In the semifinal, contested by the four best riders, Petersone finished third with 30.566 seconds, missing the gold final.

Bronze final

She then faced Swiss rider Chris von Niederhausern for bronze. Petersone improved her lap time by more than 0.2 seconds and won by 0.354 seconds.

Eberhard won the gold final to become world champion, and Kosarkova took silver.

Veksa's result

Kristaps Veksa was seventh in qualifying with 27.659 seconds, 0.498 seconds behind the fastest rider, Love Silvan. In the top-16 round he rode slower, 28.418 seconds, and finished 15th, missing the top eight.