Laura Trott confident of Worlds omnium success

Laura Trott insists she’s confident of winning gold in the omnium at the UCI Track World Championships this weekend, despite the improvement of her arch rival in the discipline, Sarah Hammer.

The 22-year-old is the reigning Olympic champion, beating American Hammer by a solitary point in the Lee Valley VeloPark velodrome in London.

And Hammer’s determination to overcome her weaknesses means the Brit has to be on top of her game throughout all six events if she is to come away with the gold medal.

“I am pretty confident about the omnium,” said Trott. “I have loads of respect for Sarah, obviously she is an incredible rider and she comes back, she keeps coming back.

“She didn’t win at London and bounced straight back in Minsk. She is incredible and obviously really driven by her weaknesses I guess.

“She has really worked on her 500m time trial and then she came back in Minsk and blew me away I guess.”

At the London Games, Trott beat Hammer in three of the five events, taking the win with a storming performance in the final 500m time trial. But the UCI has reshuffled the competition, which sees the points race – one of Trott’s weaker events – replace the flying laps as the final event.

While the changes don’t necessarily play into Trott’s hands, the five-time world champion admits the change puts less pressure on her going into the final race.

“Obviously it’s different but over the world cups it has given me a lot of confidence in the new format,” Trott said.

“When it came out I wasn’t sure I was going to like it or not, because I always sort of relied on the 500 at the end. But now you don’t actually have to rely on any one race because with the points race at the end you can make the points up.”