Mark Cavendish sixth overnight in omnium at World Championships
By Matt Westby
Last Updated: 04/03/16 11:01pm
Mark Cavendish lies sixth overall and 14 points off the podium at the halfway stage of the omnium at the UCI Track Cycling World Championships in London.
On a decent but not outstanding opening day for the Manxman, he finished sixth in the scratch race, 13th in the individual pursuit and second in the elimination race.
It leaves him on 84 points, 20 points adrift of overnight leader Elia Viviani, of Italy, and 18 points down on defending champion Fernando Gaviria, of Colombia, who is second after winning both the pursuit and elimination race.
Cavendish hinted before the championships that if he fails to finish on the podium, he could withdraw from the running to race in Rio this summer.
He will now have to produce outstanding performances in the 1km time trial, 200m flying lap and points race on Saturday to keep his career-long ambition to win an Olympic medal alive.
The final three events of the omnium are scheduled to take place at roughly 12.45pm, 3.45pm and 9.45pm on Saturday.
Earlier in the day, British duo Jason Kenny and Callum Skinner both booked their places in Saturday's quarter-finals of the men's individual sprint with impressive shows of form in the early rounds.
Kenny usually struggles with the 200m qualifying lap but this time clocked the second fastest time in the field, while Skinner also flourished to take fifth place.
They both the eased through the first round, before going on to beat high-pedigree opposition in round two.
Kenny crushed New Zealander Ed Dawkins with a dominant performance and then Skinner caused a huge upset by edging out nine-time world champion Gregory Bauge, of France.
Kenny will now face another Kiwi in the last eight, Sam Webster, while Skinner has been paired with Russia's Denis Dmitriev.
The quarter-finals are scheduled to take place at 2.45pm on Saturday.
