麻豆社区

Despite finishing at the top of the pack in the scratch race, Watson Lake's Zach Bell was unable to reach the podium in the men's omnium this past weekend at the London Summer Olympics.

Bell, 29, was a medal favourite in the event after placing second at the World Championship in Melbourne, Australia in April and third in a World Cup test event in London this past February.

Bell placed eighth overall in the 18-member field.

The omnium is a six-stage cycling event composed of a one-lap sprint (flying lap), a 30-kilometre points race, a pursuit, a scratch, an elimination and a one-km time trial.

After getting out to a strong start in the flying lap and placing seventh with a time of 13.406 seconds, Bell was buried in the points race, where he placed 13th overall.

He was never able to recover, despite having a stronger second day that saw him finish eighth in the individual pursuit, first in the scratch and tenth in the time trial.

It was only the second time in his life that he's missed the podium in the event.

With his wife, Rebecca, seven months pregnant, Bell told reporters after the race that he's unsure if he'll be back at the 2016 Games.

This year marked the second Olympic appearance for Bell. He placed seventh and 12th overall in the points race and Madison event at the 2008 Games in Beijing.

A former wrestling star, Bell didn't make the transition to cycling until he quit the University of Calgary wrestling team in his second year at the school.

Bell showed his resilience by finishing first overall in the scratch race, despite being mathematically out of medal contention at that point.

"I won a race at the Olympics,鈥� he told reporters in the media interview arena following the event.

"It's not the whole thing but it's one event and it's a lot more than most of the guys here can say,鈥� he said.

"I've had a lot of people follow me, a lot of people behind me and a lot of people encouraging me to pick myself up after four sort of subpar races.

"To be able to do that, especially for some of the kids in the Yukon watching, that's what I wanted to do. I wanted to give them something to cheer about.鈥�

In the women's omnium, Canada's other cycling medal favourite, Tara Whitten, remains in contention.

The Edmonton athlete finished seventh in the flying lap, fourth in the points race and eighth in the elimination race.

She's currently in fourth place with 18 points entering the second day of competition.