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Sprints
  Sprinters jockeying for position during a Thursday night sprint competition.  
 

What is a match sprint?
One of the most popular events on the track is the match sprint. This is an event that pits two riders against each other in a competition of both speed and wits. The basic goal is easy, ride three laps and finish before your opponent. The methods to do this however are much more complicated than a simple 100 meter dash in track and field.

200M: (200M description)
The first part of the match sprint is the seeding. This is where each rider attempts to go as fast as possible during the final 200M of a 3 lap time trial. Since the first two and 1/4 laps are not timed the rider has ample time to get up to speed and use one of two basic strategies (included in the 200M description) to get the best time. Riders are then seeded based on their times and between 9 and 24 riders advance the actual sprint rounds depending on the event.

Seedings: (see more later)
This is often an in an of itself. First you have to decide how many riders you want in the sprint tournament, then how many riders you want to race against each other in the first round. After this you must decide if you are going to allow riders to ride a repechage, or rep round to get back into the tournament, or is it single elimination. Then you have to make the same decisions again until you are left with only one rider. While most "true" sprinters hate anything but best 2 of 3 two rider matches, this just takes too long, and will tire out the sprinters as well. So it is usually a combination with more riders in the early rounds (3 is common) and more riders in the rep races (2 to 4 is common). This allows for riders who lose to get back in without adding too many rounds for the winning riders. Then it is fairly common once the semi-finals are reached to ride the Olympic style sprints with only two riders in a best two of three format.

The start: (stats and finish description)
In most cases the riders will line up two at a time with one rider drawn at random to lead the first lap at a walking pace. While the first rider can not stop during the first lap the second rider may decide to pass the first rider if they so desire. However most riders consider it an advantage to be the second rider so they will stay behind the first rider as long as possible. In most cases the first lap is done at a very casual pace and then the beginning of the second lap is where the tactics get more involved.

Track Stands:
Occasionally the front rider will do a "track stand" (stop and balance in one position without going backwards) to attempt to make the second rider pass. The second rider will then, if they are capable, attempt to match the speed by stopping as well. Riders need to remember that Alpenrose has a 12mph speed minimum in the corners due to the high banking (no track stands in the corners). This is much more a battle of strength than it looks as both riders are straining to hold their positions. Eventually one rider will concede and take the lead while the other rider follows waiting for the right moment.

The Kilo:
The second lap is a continual battle in which each rider tries to assess the best method to defeat their opponent. One of the strategies is already a moot point, the "Kilo". While a match sprint is normally a battle of between 100 and 300 meters, some riders like to make the true sprinters suffer. This means that one rider decides to go as hard as possible on the first lap and just keeps going to the finish. At Alpenrose this is over 800M which is more than many sprinters can handle. Before trying this you might want to compare your 1000M TT time to that of your opponent, or hope that your opponent is not ready for you to jump.

Sprinters high on the track
  Two sprinters high on the track.  
 
Back to lap two:
Ok, we are back on lap two of a "normal" non-kilo sprint and there is a rider in front, who normally will ride very high on the track. This allows the front rider to gain speed by dropping down the bank when the sprint starts. The second rider will try to ride behind in the first rider's blind spot, while the first rider will ride while just slightly looking behind to keep the second rider in sight. The riders may also decided to play a little and sweep up and down the track to try and catch the other rider off-guard. At some point one rider may even try a hard jump to either tire out the other rider or again to catch them off-guard.

Another of my favorites:
A very good tactic is to be in the second position going into corner 3 on the back stretch. Most riders who lead the second lap do so very high on the track, which means they gain speed dropping out of corner 2. They will then try to slow down to get you to pass on the back straight. Just keep behind them, then as the first rider starts to get close to corner 3 they will need to pay attention and ride hard to get up the bank. Just when they start to go up the bank you should sprint straight for black line at the bottom of corner 3.

This will allow you to avoid climbing the bank, while the first rider is caught off-guard trying to get up the bank. Even a good rider will give you a bike length, and an unaware rider will give you four and even more lengths. With less than a lap and a half to go this is a move for the win and you need to go all out regardless. Due to the slow speed that you started the sprint from, even if the rider catches you, you should still be able to accelerate continually around to the finish.

What was your 200:
Don't forget who has the top seed, i.e. 200M time. The rider with the faster 200M time will normally win, especially if this time is over 0.5 seconds difference. So make sure you know who you are riding and don't get caught playing games with a slower rider. By the same measure if you have a slower time, you might as well try to do something different.

What gear do you have: (Gear Chart)
Ok, you should have thought of this before the race, but make sure you know what gear you have, and try to know what type of rider your opponent is (spinner or masher). Gear selection can be critical in a match sprint as a rider with a bad 200M time might try to under or over gear to win the race. A rider with a small gear will try to take it short and keep the lead rider against the rail by slightly passing the lead rider. The rider with the smaller gear can more easily adjust their speed and use this to keep just in front and below the rider up higher on the track. As long as your handle bars are in front, you have control, but be careful.

If you go for the hold 'em high strategy then you will try to make sure the race doesn't start till just after the 200M line on the final lap, or even later if the other rider will let you. This means that it is an all out acceleration contest to the finish and the rider with the lower gear will have a big advantage. If you have the bigger gear you will want to get the race up to a fast speed (see kilo above) and keep it fast to the finish hoping to spin the other rider out of energy.

Jen Featheringill & Lynn Holland
  Jen Featheringill & Lynn Holland during the 2001 Oregon Sprint Championship.  
 

Equal Race:
Once the end of lap 2 comes around and both riders are still jockeying for position it likely means that the race will be close. The riders will be getting the bell at the end of lap two and likely will have not started the real race yet. It is still considering taking it long (335 meters) to jump out of corner 4 just before the bell. Often though this is where the riders will fake going for the sprint. One rider jumping down track, trying to get the other rider to commit to the sprinters lane.

The Sprinters Lane:
Once the real race starts, whenever the riders commit to the finish, the rider who takes the lane (between red and black) while in the lead gets to keep it. It is the officials call if the behind rider takes the lane first, then the front riders drops into the lane on top of the other rider. Not only does the rider in the lane own the lane, but they may not make any harsh moves out of the lane either. A rider in the lane in the final sprint will likely be disqualified if they leave the lane and vice-versa a rider who drops into the lane on another rider will be disqualified. This is why you will often see riders just above the red line where they are allowed more freedom to move by the officials.

The Bell Lap:
As the riders get the bell and enter the final lap, they don't have very much time (about 20 seconds) to decide what to do. Committing to the lane too soon will require you to stay there (note some tracks/officials will let you slowly come out of the lane while others will not) and lead the race out. Not taking the lane could allow the other rider to take the lane and pass underneath you (this is legal if you leave the lane open). So it is a chess match to see who leads out the sprint.

The Finish:
As the speed picks up the rider in the lane has two basic ways to win, constant acceleration or just go as fast as possible. The fast as possible may seem better, but the rear/outside rider will have the better chance to win by staying a length behind then doing a slingshot around the lead rider going into and then out of corner four. By using a slower acceleration you can fake out the rear rider to get them side by side on the back straight. If the rider on the outside does not pull past on the back straight it is very unlikely that the outside rider will win. Once the corner starts the outside rider not only has to go farther but must climb a few feet as well. Even the slight downhill finish will not help unless the outside rider is just plain faster or has better gear selection for the current pace, when the outside rider and inside rider are shoulder to shoulder going into corner three.

If the outside rider times it just right, they will be one length behind and closing at the start of corner three. They will then use that speed to go up track one meter as they catch the lead rider in the between corner three and four (just below the Alpenrose sign). They should still have a slight speed advantage as well as a draft to continue gaining through the final corner and have their front wheel at the inside riders crank by the exit of corner. Then the more downhill finish will allow the outside rider to pull past the inside rider by the finish line some 50 meters away.

The inside rider may try to float to the outside at this point, but that will risk a crash and disqualification if done improperly. So remember if you took the lane you should keep it, but always ask the officials what the exact rule is before the race. It is usually either one meter of movement at a time (this is wider than the lane which is on 70cm) or you just can't leave the lane. It is up to the officials to keep the race safe, so any quick movement can cause a disqualification. Although a really good rider can fake a quick movement while staying in the lane causing the other rider to slow and lose the race.

That was just round one:
As mentioned earlier sprint tournaments involve many rounds to decide the winner. The reps or "Repechage" are the loser rounds that keep the race in a double elimination format. In the most common format of 24 qualifiers, 12 winners advance after one race, while the 12 losers square off to get 6 more winners to round 2. Round 2 will have 18 racers with 9 winners advancing and 9 losers doing a 3 up in the second rep round to get 3 more riders to the third round. Round 3 will have 12 riders with 6 winners advancing and the 6 losers again doing a 3 up to get 2 more into the quarters finals or round 4. The quarters are when it starts going best two of three and there is no longer a rep round for the losers. At this point a rider has done between 3 and 6 sprints depending on the number of rep rounds they had to go through.

AVC Sprint Final
  Men's sprint finals during the 2001 Alpenrose Challenge.  
 

Three Up:
During the rep rounds and in some formats even during the normal rounds the racers will start three or even four riders at once. This makes it almost like a mass start race and means that each rider now has two or three other riders to watch out for. This makes the race much more difficult for the riders and opens up many strategies as when one rider attacks, then other riders must consider that if they follow they are just bring the other riders to victory. Also the risk of being boxed in can occur if you are in second place and the third rider tries to pass. You would then have to back up to go around the third rider, meaning likely that you will lose. It is important to never be directly behind another rider during a three or four up and always leave yourself some room to pass by overlapping your wheel on the high side of the track.

It should be noted that there are many variations to the above process and each event will have it's own format for moving the riders to the Quarter Finals. However, unless it is a nine person qualifier, once the quarter finals are reached the format is fairly consistent with the following:

Two of Three:
As I mentioned once the quarters are reached, it is best two of three. This gives the riders with better endurance an advantage as they can risk going longer in the first ride to tire out the other rider. You also have a better chance to figure out your opponent as you have seen them race at least three other times and possibly will get to race them three more times as well. So make a plan, select your gear and go with it. The worst thing besides crashing is to just go out there and ride 3 laps. Try to figure out something, even something different than what I have mentioned here and then try it. If it works great, if not try something else, or try it again. You just never know what will happen till the race is over so try something and have some fun.

The quarter finals end with 4 winners going on to the semifinals and four losers going to a single 5th through 8th place four up race. The semifinals is again a best 2 of 3 and the winners will advance to the gold medal finals while the losers will fight it out for the bronze in another best 2 of 3. By this time most of the riders are a little fatigued and it is not just the fastest rider, but the smartest rider who used their energy well in the early rounds and is fit enough that will win the finals. But I still prefer to have the fastest 200M time as that makes it much more easier on the mind to just go lead it out.

- Jamie Mikami

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