Olympic Medalist from New Zealand, Simon Van Velthooven fought hard to win the silver medal at the Track Cycling World Championship being held in Belarus. He was competing in the Kilo time trial and had focused his attention to Kilo instead of Keirin because according to him, both complement each other.
Last year, in the World Championships held in Melbourne, he had won the bronze medal in the Kilo time trial event. But this time he got the silver which just shows that he had worked hard for the kilo event. As Van Velthooven was ranked as a top cyclist, he was the last to race in the Kilo, after Francois Pervis from France had set forward a blazing time record that Simon had to beat. The time record set by Francois Pervis was the fastest sea level record of the world.
Simon was not able to overtake the record set by Francois Pervis and so won a silver medal. Van Velthooven was seen following the footsteps of Harry Kent, the New Zealander who came second in the Kilo event of the World Championships and won the first medal ever for New Zealand in 1970.
Van Velthooven knew he had the capability to beat the sensational time set by Pervis but unfortunately he couldn’t beat it this time. Eddie Dawkins, another New Zealander participating in the event got the eighth position. Joachim Eilers from Germany won the bronze medal in the kilo event.
The twenty four year old New Zealander, Van Velthooven is very hopeful for the future and thinks there are plenty of chances for him to get hold of the world title. He believes that kilo should be a part of the Olympic events as well. He always loves taking part in the kilo events and he is also looking forward to the other events of the World Championships.