The Velodrome Suisse in Grenchen has passed the test for holding major international track events like the European Championships with flying colors. The large audience in attendance encouraged the Swiss riders towards excellent performances, and a world record also proved how fast the track really is.

The UEC European Track Championships for elite riders has been taking place in the Velodrome Suisse from October 14th to the 18th, and has attracted 8000 visitors to Grenchen. Stefan Küng, Individual Pursuit World Champion, and since Saturday evening European Champion in the discipline, talked about the “wall of noise”, which has driven him and his teammates to excel.

The team from Swiss Cycling has shown its best strengths at the championships taking place on their home turf. In the Team Pursuit on Thursday, Stefan Küng, Silvan Dillier, Frank Pasche and Théry Schir were beaten only by the British led by Sir Bradley Wiggins. That meant that the Swiss team, coached by Daniel Gisiger earned important points for the Olympic qualification. A few hours later, Tristan Marguet, a 28-year old rider from the Valais region, won a silver in the Scratch race. 

In the Points Race on Friday, Claudio Imhof succeeded in jumping on the podium by winning the last sprint; the rider from eastern Switzerland took away a bronze medal in the European Championships. Saturday was definitely dominated by the World Champion Küng. In the Final against the German Domenic Weinstein and in front of a sold out crowd, Küng improved upon his qualification round time, that he had only just set in the afternoon. In fact, with his winning time of 4:14.922, Küng not only set a new Swiss record, but posted the seventh fastest time ever in this discipline.

The Dominance of Holland and Great Britain

The Swiss were not the only team to show their best side this week. Holland brought its strongest sprinters both for the men and women’s competition. As evidence, the 21-year old Eli Ligtlee has two gold medals, one silver and one bronze medal to take home. Meanwhile, Great Britain dominated the Olympic disciplines like the Team Pursuit for the men and women, as well as the Omnium for the women (with Laura Trott), and as a result sits at the top of the medal table. For the men, the gold medal for the Omnium at these European Championships went to the high profile Italian Elia Viviani.

In women’s 500-meter Time Trial, the Russian Anastasiia Voinova delivered a ride that finally answered the question of how fast really is the Siberian pine track in Grenchen. With a time of 32.794, she set a new world record.

The organizing committee of Swiss Cycling and the Velodrome Suisse relied on the help of more than 100 volunteers over the course of the five days of competition, who ensured a smooth process through their tireless efforts. The European Championship was also well received by the television audience, as the numbers provided by the SRF show are proof: the viewing numbers from the Thursday night Sports Show hit 154,000 which represents a market share of 26.4%.