Sarah Lee fails to fire as she settles for fourth in 500m time trial

Hong Kong ace cyclist Sarah Lee Wai-sze will be presented with one last chance of a medal on Sunday after finishing outside the podium in the women’s 500-metre time trial, one of her pet events, at the UCI Track World Championships on Saturday night.

Lee managed fourth place at the Tseung Kwan O Velodrome after failing to improve her qualifying time set in the afternoon. And she was disappointed she was unable to add to her bronze medal collected in the sprint on Friday after completing the two-lap race in a disappointing 33.723 seconds after clocking an encouraging 33.647 seconds in the afternoon.

Lee won the world title in the 500-metre time trial in Belarus four years ago and she dearly wanted to win the event again in front of her adoring home fans, but she was outclassed in the end by a trio of powerful Europeans.

Russia’s Daria Shmeleva took the gold medal with a time of 33.282 seconds, followed by Miriam Welte of Germany in 33.382. The bronze went to another Russian sprinter, Anastasiia Voinova, the defending champion, who was fastest in qualifying, but only managed 33.454 seconds to settle for third place.